The basic meaning of "pet" is an animal we keep for emotional rather than economic reasons. A pet animal is ___1___ as a companion, and we all need companions to keep as feeling happy. ___2___ pets offer more than companionship; they invite us to love and be loved. Many ___3___ feel their pets understand them, for animals are ___4___ to sense anger and sorrow. Often a cat or dog can comfort us ___5___ when human words don't help. We feel loved, too, by the way pets ___6___ us for a home, for food and drink. Dogs ___7___, look up to their owners, ___8___ makes them feel important and needed.
A pet can be something ___9___ to each member of the family, another baby to the mother, a sister or brother to a(n) ___10___ child, a grandchild to the elderly, but for all of us pets provide ___11___ and companionship. It has ___12___ been suggested that tiny pets ___13___be sent as companions to astronauts(宇航员) on space ships, to help reduce the stress(紧张) and ___14___ of space flights.
In this Plastic Age, when most of us live in large cities, pets are particularly important for ___15___. A pet in the family keeps people in ___16___ with the more natural, animal world. Seeing an animal give birth brings understanding of the naturalness of childbirth, and seeing a pet ___17___ helps a child to cope with sorrow. Learning to ___18___ a pet helps a child to grow up into a loving adult who feels ___19___ toward those dependent on them. Rightly we teach children to be good to their pets. They should learn, too, that pets are ___20___ for us human beings.