Essay: Nutria as a pest. Preparation for TOEFL. TOEFL Bank

The article introduces the topic of an animal that is spreading around the world and becoming a pest. This animal is called nutria. More specifically, the writer discusses some strategies to control this pest. The lecturer in the listening passage disagrees. He believes that those strategies are not enough and attacks each of the claims made in the reading.

In the reading, the author begins by stating that people can build some walls of tough materials to avoid this animal to enter to the farms or other places. The lecturer, however, disagrees. He states that the fences or walls do not stop the nutrias    because they can dig underground and cross the other side of the fence.

The author also claims that people can drain the water close to their places because it is the habitat of this animal. Again, the lecturer believes that there are flaws in the writer’s argument. The speaker holds that making wet places dry is not a solution since most of the farmers need water for irrigation. Therefore, it would cause a big impact in the economy of the farmers.

Another reason why the author feels that the people should not control the spread of nutria is because people can eat the nutria meat since it has a lot of nutrients. The professor in the listening passage is doubtful if it is accurate. He suggests that the nutria meat is not beneficial for the human beings because it has bacteria and parasites that can produce several diseases.