Follow up. Disscuss with your partner and in class what information in the text you find absolutely new, striking and even shocking. Why? Would you like to live in this megalopolis? Why? Why not?

UNIT IV

URBAN AND RURAL LIFE.

Problems of city and country life.

Dialogue 1

- Where would you prefer to live in the city or in the country!

- If I could choose where to live I would have the best of both places as each of them has its own advantages to say nothing of disadvantages.

- What are the advantages of living in the modern city!

- Life in the city is much easier than in the country - developed transport system, sewerage (water drain) system, information, sports, shopping malls, etc. Modern men are too sophisticated for simple country pleasures. There is far more entertainment in the city than in the country. Cities offer high concentration of good things in life: big stores, restaurants, theatres, cinema, art galleries. Life is more convenient in a city: services are always better here, in the city people are more open-minded. It is possible to go out, make friends and never be cut off from them by weather conditions. Generally, people do not mind what you do in the city. In the city people have more chances to be employed, as the range of jobs is greater than in a village. Besides in the city people have more chances to succeed. Moreover, life is never dull in the city, people always have something to do here. The objections to city living are not convincing enough. People easily adapt to various incon­veniences of city life. For example, noise and traffic are hardly no­ticeable to city-dwellers. In the city especially in our country peo­ple live in apartments with central heating, telephone, gas, electricity, radio, TV, the Internet. Most people love cities. In 330 ВС Aristotle wrote that by nature man belonged to a city. Many people love the busy city life. It is enough for them to visit a coun­try at weekends.

- What brought about the growth of cities over the centuries? - Cities grew over the centuries because they served aims that could not have been served otherwise. Two thousand years ago most people lived in the countryside. It was not their choice. To­day, almost half of humanity lives in cities. It does so because it has to. Man has always lived in groups. It makes life safer and easier. Geography - rich soil, a safe harbour or navigable river, ample fresh water, easy defense, coal - was the start of many towns. In' Europe towns grew over the strongholds of a local lord. Most of them developed as buying and selling centres; trade needed a market, and markets needed people.

- How did towns serve their inhabitants?

- Towns served their citizens very well if they in turn were served by them. During the Middle Ages when harvest failed, the nearby town offered hope of survival. All successful towns satis­fied economic needs. For a peasant town was the only place where he might make a fortune. In the new industrial order, the city was the nerve centre, brining to a focus all dynamic economic forces: vast accumulation of capital, business and financial institutions, spreading railroad yards, factories, and armies of manual and cleri­cal workers. For example, in the USA villages, attracting people from the countryside and from the land across the seas, grew into towns and towns into cities almost overnight.

- Are there any disadvantages of living in the city!

- Pollution is the greatest disadvantage of the city life of to­day. Polluted air is hanging like a brown cloud over cities. Dirt and smoke are pouring from the buildings of cites and factories. Polluted urban air causes respiratory distress, particularly in children, and elderly people. The increased number of motor ve­hicles not only jam the city streets but pollute the city air as well. Cars give a collection of pollutants. In bright, calm weather, sunlight turns the chemicals into a poison smog. All big cities have problems with air pollution. There was still nothing any­where like «killer-smog» which caused some 3000-4000 deaths in London in December 1952. Mexico city's air is famously filthy, as is that of many Indian, Chinese, and East European cit­ies. The exceeding output of industries and urban communities is harmful to the city aquatic systems. The result is a foul-smelling body of water running for a bath or dish washing. Noise pollu­tion is the prоЫеm of big cities too. Urban garbage - like food; paper and caps - on the ground or in the street is one more prob­lem of cities. Peopte don't always put their garbage into the garbage cans. Urban garbage is ugly, it makes the sky look dirty, and it spoils the view.

- What are other disadvantages of living in a big cityl

- There are lots of other disadvantages of living in a big city. Today's cities are ballooning. Bombay in I960 was a jam-packed city of 4 mln people. Now Mexico city holds around 18 mln peopte. 'The rush-hour' with crowded streets, packed trains, full buses that happens twice a day is one of them. Cost of living is very high in the cities, in addition, people live under constant threat; life is not quiet in the cities, it causes stresses and heart diseases, in the city people lose touch with land, rhythms of nature. Everyone who ca­res about his health tries to move out of the city. Cities are not fit to five in, man are born for countryside. Most people in Europe and America try to live in non-industrial cities, which are set down near big cities and can not be killed by pollution and traffic.

- Do you like to stay in the countryside?

- Yes, I do. I like to stay in the countryside.

- Why do you like to stay in the countryside?

- Well, in the countryside I enjoy such simple things of primary importance as sunlight and fresh air. Besides, living in the country­side is cheaper and safer than in a city. It provides people with more security. There is less crime and, of course, there is less traf­fic there. Life in the countryside is quiet, peaceful, and healthy. I like to be close to nature. Here people are friendly and it is much more pleasant in the countryside than in the city. Unfortunately, life in the countryside is rather hard. Working and living condi­tions are difficult, social and cultural life in the countryside is not full of entertainment. And annually more and more young people flee from the countryside for a better life in the city.

- Is it difficult to find a job in the countryside?

- Certainly, the problem of employment in the countryside is very crucial today. It is especially acute for the young people and profes­sionals. As a rule there are few labour places for skilled agricultural workers and less for professionals. A great many villages need teachers and physicians, they can not provide them with nessesary facilities. There are few schools and clinics in the countryside. Some­times there is one secondary school for several villages and children have to wallk ten kilometres to study there. Usually either the village community is too poor to provide the children with a bus or the roads are too bad for the bus to run on them.

—Can this problem be solved!

- Surely, people should always be optimists and hope for a bet­ter life. Where there is a will there is a way. Nowadays we can witness the revival of some villages. So far they are few but annu­ally their number is increasing.

 

Follow up.

Read the text to study the problems of city and country life.

2. Make two list of advantages and disadvantages of a)city life; b) country life

Rate the advantages and disadvantages of city and country life. Discuss them in class.

Rate the problems of city life. Prove your point of view, make it well-grounded based both on the text and other sources.

Rate the problems of country life.

 

 

Dialogue 2

You are going to read two young people`s conversation. Briefly formulate the topic of their discussion. Rende its contentsin the indirect speech. Pay attention to the peculiarities of spoken English: ellipsis, hesitation words, tautology, break-in- the narrative, parenthetic words, etc.

 

(A = Alison; В = Bart)

A: Have you seen this? The article about that new survey...

B: Yes, I was reading it earlier. No surprises there I don't think... seems pretty obvious to me. You don't need a survey to tell you that, do you?

A: Yeah, well, I don't know, I mean, it's not that simple, is it? I mean, some реорlе like living in the country...

В: Yeah, and you can see why; less stress, less traffic, less smog... but I don't think it's just a simple question of what you like, you know...

A: ' No, it's more like... it seems like it's a question of work and money more than anything else, I mean...

B: Yeah, it said that, didn't it? The main reason was that they couldn't find a job in the country...

A: Well, it doesn't say that exactly, but yes, it says it's er, it's, you know, easier to find work in large cities and you reckon, that's true, don't you?

B: Yeah, but I don't think that's the main reason. I mean, it might be the main reason for older people... you know, no jobs, rural unemployment, whatever...

A: Yeah, there's a lot of that...

B: But it seems to be talking more about young people... I mean, the statistics here are referring to people under.thirty and you know, I reckon that, even if there were plenty of jobs in the rural areas, well, they'd still go to the cities, wouldn't they?

A: Do you think so? Maybe you're right. Maybe it's more a kind of lure of the bright lights...

B: Yeah, you know, nightlife, music, youth culture in general…

A: Yeah, it says something about that, doesn't it? That bit where it talks about, what is it... leisure time activities or something like that?

B: 'Free time facilities'.

A: Yeah, that was it.

B:... pubs and clubs more like!

A: Yeah, and cinemas and exhibitions and “such stuff” as well... B: Nah, discos and the chance to meet other young people more like...

A: Yeah, OK, the social side of things, but it's important, isn't it?

B: Yeah, this survey seems to reckon it's the second most important factor, in fact, after getting a job. You know, if young people decide to leave their homes in the country, then they reckon the social side of things is the second most important thing they consider. What other things do you think they mentioned?

A: Oh, I don't know. Maybe they said there were more opportunities for continuing their education, like going to colleges and stuff. They might be thinking about facilities for their families in the future, like being near good schools and stuff. Um, what about better living conditions... more modern houses which need less work doing to them and stuff?

B: Yeah, I suppose they're all things you'd have to think about, aren't they?

A: Yeah, the survey makes quite a lot of sense.

B: Mmm

 

Dialogue 3

Pre-reading.