Unit One Chapter 2: Death of the Big Top
Final Check

Directions

Choose the words that best complete the sentences in the reading below. Then click "continue." Note: each word is used once.

Question

Death of the Big Top

For generations, the traveling circus was a part of the American landscape. The excitement would begin with the arrival of a caravan of trucks loaded with freakish performers and unusual animals. Crowds from (1) towns would gather, (2) by the sight of workers putting up “The Big Top”—the tent that housed the performance. “When are you going?” would be the question on everyone’s lips. No one would think of missing such a show!

But today, few traveling circuses exist. They have disappeared for several reasons. First of all, entertainment is everywhere today. With multiplex cinemas, wide-screen TVs, on-demand shows, social media, and YouTube, people don’t need to go to the circus for amusement. Compared to other forms of entertainment, a tightrope walker or a clown in “The Big Top” seems old-fashioned.

Another reason for the decline of circuses is the growing concerns about how circuses (3) animals. While the sight of elephants standing on their hind legs or tigers jumping through fiery hoops once (4) cheers and other expressions of (5), today's audiences care about the welfare of animals. Too often, circus animals were put through strict, (6)“training” that also included being beaten, frightened, and starved to make them perform. Furthermore, the animals were forced to live in cramped cages as they traveled from one town to another.

For years, animal rights groups worked to (7) these practices, which they consider amoral. Using such tools as secret cameras, they produced (8) evidence of abuse, such as photographs of wounds on animals. In response, adamant protests against animal cruelty (9), and circus crowds grew smaller. Fewer people were willing to attend performances.

Although traveling circuses were a colorful part of America’s history, they are becoming (8). From the animals’ point of view, that is a good thing.

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