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City or Country?

City or Country?

Date: May 01 2009

Grammar: Comparatives and Superlatives

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

When you think of life in a big city, do you picture crowds, traffic, noise, and pollution? Or do you imagine soaring skyscrapers, an exciting mix of cultures, and endless restaurants, nightclubs, museums, and shops to visit?

Cities usually offer plenty of entertainment and excitement. But country life has its attractions as well. In the country, everything moves a bit slower. You can relax, lead a simpler life, and feel closer to nature.

Jason is sick of the city and thinking about moving to the country. But Ella grew up in the country. Find out if she thinks moving there is a good idea.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Ella

Ella

Jason:  I just moved in to a new apartment downtown to save on my commute time. But I’ve been feeling so claustrophobic that I almost just want to leave the city altogether, get out of the rat race, go out to the country.

Ella:  I don’t know. I grew up kind of in the countryside, in Florida. There was one bus stop, we had a sheriff, you know, less than 5,000…Everyone basically knew each other, there was like one grocery store…

Jason:  Did you like growing up like that?

Ella:  It was a good childhood. But it took forever to get to the mall. I mean, the beach was only a couple miles away, so that’s all we did, was like play tag or go to the beach or go to school. But everything was pretty far away to get to.

Jason:  It must have been easy to go camping and stuff. You don’t have to go far to get back to basics.

Ella:  Yeah, exactly.

Jason:  I mean, but do you think it was simpler? Did you feel calmer?

Ella:  It was nice to know everyone. You felt safe. I feel like if you live in the city you always have to watch your back and you’re not sure who’s out to get you. You get this kind of paranoid like, “Someone’s gonna rob me, someone’s gonna try to kill me!” You didn’t have that in the country. What do you think?

Jason:  That’s interesting. It seems to me like the country’s almost more dangerous. Like if you’re in the middle of nowhere there’s crazies out there…

Ella:  Well we’ve got that one sheriff.

 

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Discussion

Jason doesn’t like how crowded and fast-paced the city is, and he thinks he might prefer to live in the country. Ella grew up in a very small town in the countryside where there was hardly anything to do and it took a long time to get anywhere. She doesn’t think living there as an adult would be very fun.

Some people don’t like cities because they think they have a lot of crime. But New York, one of the biggest and most crowded cities in the United States, actually has a much lower crime rate than many smaller cities.

Do you think city or country life is better? Why? Did you grow up in a city?

 

Comments

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fadel san

fadel san

Saudi Arabia

I think each one has own advantages but I prefer city life rather than the country because I feel more free in the big city and I do what I wanna do so if I'm in the country the news will spread fast so there're no privacy.

I prefer to go to countryside to relax and enjoy the nature jut that.

03:52 PM May 03 2009 |

paulki

Morocco

 i beg your pardon

02:58 PM May 03 2009 |

xsmall

Hungary

I grew up in a country, and it was really good,I had a very amazing childhood, but many years ago I moved to the capital because of my job. I think it is more better than living in countryside. I like people, I have opportunity to go anywhere, to movie, or theatre, or a concert or a restaurant, or anywhere. I have a lot of friends here, much more, than in country. Of course, when I feel tired or exhousted, I go home to my parents, who live still in country, and I try to relax, to rest, and after a few days I come back to the city.

02:39 PM May 03 2009 |

tamas984

tamas984

Hungary

I like the country because it is closer to nature but unfortunately farer from the money

01:32 PM May 03 2009 |

BHC

BHC

China

I like country life, because i grow up in country , the flowers ,grass ,trees of country all better than city .

12:42 PM May 03 2009 |

teruakisang

Thailand

in thailand the city is bangkok,the only bigcity in there.bangkok have a good job,good education.but doesn"t have a good quility life.so i live in the small city,i think it good for me and my family.

07:21 AM May 03 2009 |

fionalee

fionalee

United Kingdom

I like country bcs nature make me fresh from pollution. The nature has soft beauty what is closely related with my mind.

07:20 AM May 03 2009 |

Lay_from_Panama

Panama

I was born and grew up in a city.  When I was a child I usually passed a week in the country with my mother, cousin and aunt, visiting my uncles.  We went to the rivers and other places and passed a good summer.  But when I was about 18 years old.  My brother invited me to pass 15 days of vacation in his house in the country and the true is that I hardly support one week.  It was so bored for me.  And it's such curious thing because I'm not an active person.  I'm calm, quite, I didn't usually go to parties and I like the calm but I think that I'm just accustomed to hear a certain amount of noise and receive certain amount of pollution.  So my conclusion is:  don't let forever the city but to have some beautiful place surrrounded by flowes and fresh trees in the country to forget the stress of the city an recover our energy and balance.

06:56 AM May 03 2009 |

teruakisang

Thailand

city better

06:46 AM May 03 2009 |

Selina Shu

Selina Shu

China

ok….0

06:30 AM May 03 2009 |

june.she

june.she

China

me too

05:14 AM May 03 2009 |

newruz

China

the class hard for me . because i am a new student

04:19 AM May 03 2009 |

lovinghae

Viet Nam

hi

03:10 AM May 03 2009 |

benhur_RS

Brazil

I was born in a small Brazilian country city in the middle of nowhere but when I was 6 years old I moved in to a bigger city full of skyscrapers. Once in a while me and my family do a road trip to visit our relatives in that peaceful country city. I prefer to live in a city but I hate commute everyday to work by bus. Sometimes I wish to get back to basics and get out of the rat race.

12:19 AM May 03 2009 |

firar

firar

Turkey

I think it is wonderful topic. We can say a lot of things about bad or good sides to live city or country.

08:31 PM May 02 2009 |

firar

firar

Turkey

I read hazamov's comment. Yes, you are right, hazamov. good career or excellent rest… If I had a chance, I would prefer excellent rest. 

08:30 PM May 02 2009 |

hazamov

hazamov

Russian Federation

The best – is mix. Living in country can't let to get good education and good job. Living in city make you far from nature.. But if you live in city, and often attend country-areas, – you will have good career and excellent rest.

07:32 PM May 02 2009 |

firar

firar

Turkey

I wrote something about this issue my blog on 5 April. Actually, we don't already go to visit musuems or nightclubs or cinemas or theatres every day, so we dont have to stay cities for them. In Turkey, people who have got enough money start to prefer countries, or at least getting "hobby gardens" recently.

When I was a child, I wondered why we lived in big cities. I couldn't understand why we put up with ordeal of metropolitians. Air pollution, traffic, noise… Sometimes we would go to the village where my grandfather and grandmother lived. I would like there so much. We would get up early and be playing out during day.  I have grown in the big cities and been still living in big-city, but I have not been able to understand why we put up with ordeal of metropoles. 

Do you think why we live in big cities?

 

07:26 PM May 02 2009 |

s id

Saudi Arabia

    i grew up a croweded  city  and i m used to live in  city  i think  city is better then country side  but some time i would like to go in village because there is green and this is  the  best for health  to live in village Kiss

04:30 PM May 02 2009 |

Liem

Viet Nam

great lesson.These days.I'm making a topic..about the difference between living in country side and city…My friends..how do you think about this lesson

04:16 PM May 02 2009 |

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