way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

47 Is it better to live in a (big) city or out in the country? Write down your ideas on why people might prefer to live in either place. Compare in class. Work with a partner. Person A reads the opinion piece below, person B reads the one on the next page. Take notes on the main points of your article, then tell your partner about it. Now read your partner’s text. Did he/she tell you about its most important points? SPEAKING 17 City-dweller or country-lover? READING 18 a M p. 18 b The case for living in the country by Heather Long Big city glamour? Balderdash. Try big city cost. If you want to live like a king (or at least be your own landlord), move to the country. It’s cheap. You have to actively try to spend more than $20 on a meal, even a good one. A movie still costs single digits. No one has a clue or cares what brand of clothing you’re wearing, let alone whether your shoes, purse or belt are this year’s season or last. And did I mention housing? You can live in a real house with multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms and a garage. Maybe even a pool. And you can own it for under $200,000. Yup, you read that right. I didn’t leave off any zeros. There’s space – for you, for your dog, for your kids, between you and your annoying neighbors. An ad on the NY subway sums up: “Raising a baby in an NYC apartment is like growing an oak tree in a thimble.” In the city, you live on top of each other. Your kids and your dog barely know what grass is. In the country, you have something called a yard. You run around, kick a football and chase fireflies. You go sledding and build snowmen on fresh snow that hasn’t been trodden by hundreds of others. You can actually identify constellations because you see lots of them each night. You are fascinated by a lot more interesting animals than squirrels, and your dog acts like a dog, you don’t have to carry around bags for its poop. There are no billionaires. And frankly, few millionaires. To put it another way, there’s a lot less income inequality. Since the cost of living is much lower, even those on the median family income 1 (about $50,000 in the US) can have a decent life. You don’t feel poor as you do in big cities, where even those earning six- figures still believe they’re “just getting by”. In the country, you aren’t constantly aware of your socioeconomic status. You worry a lot more about the weather. You aren’t reliant on public transport. You don’t have to push your way onto an overcrowded subway car only to find yourself squashed next to someone who smells or elbows you. You aren’t late because there’s been a delay and some robot-like voice has to tell you about it over and over on the speaker. You can drive yourself where you want, when you want. Even if there’s traffic (and there isn’t much outside of cities), you can usually find another way to go. You are in control, and there’s plenty of (free) parking. You don’t get suspicious when people are nice to you. People say “Hello” and “How are you?” and generally mean it. You go to the grocery store and have a decent chance of seeing at least someone you know. Your doctor actually calls you back the same day you call with a concern. People don’t size you up constantly based upon your job, social status or income. Volunteer work isn’t something you do for your résumé. You feel a part of a genuine community, not just one person out of millions. 1 median family income: the amount of money a family earns in a year on average Nur zu P üfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv