learnenglish magazine town or country mouse support pack
Podcasts Themes City vs. country Introduction Download the LearnEnglish Themes podcast. You ll find more information on this page: http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-podcasts-themes.htm This support pack contains the following materials: " the article that you can listen to in the podcast " an optional language activity based on the article " links to other activities on the LearnEnglish website on this theme (city vs. country). Read the article Town or country mouse? by John Russell Once upon a time, there were two mice Alex, however, lives in a small village in the cousins. One lived in the town and the other in countryside. He cycles to work down country the country. The town mouse was a very superior lanes every morning, the sound of tractors, birds mouse, who thought that living in the town was and animals in his ears. In the evening, he far better than living the country. So one day, he relaxes at home in front of the fire with a good invited his country cousin to stay with him in his book to read. At weekends, he goes for long town house and experience the civilized lifestyle walks in the fields with his dog. of the town. They sat down to a meal, which to Unfortunately, life is not as simple as stories the country mouse was a feast. Goodness me make it. A lot of today s town mice such as he said. If I was in the country, I would be having Maria would be happy to live in the country. Many only simple bread and cheese in the quiet of my modern cities have very large populations (Tokyo peaceful home. Suddenly, there was a loud or Mexico City - over 25 million) and can be noise at the door. Don t worry, said the town crowded, dirty and dangerous places to live. mouse, that s just my neighbour - the dog, he More than half the world s population now lives in wants to join us for dinner. The country mouse cities. In much of Europe and North America this ate a little faster. Another noise was heard can be as high as much as 80% of a country s outside, even louder this time. Oh dear said the population. (According to the United Nations, town mouse, the cat who lives facing my house approximately 1 billion people in cities are living wants to join us too. Quickly eating the last of his in slum conditions overcrowded and unhealthy). meal, the country mouse said, thank you, but I think I will return to the peace and quiet of my own house after all! Then he ran back home as fast as his legs could carry him. This simple tale (taken from Aesop s famous stories) shows that what may be a good place to live for one person, may not be good for another. A modern version of this story might look like this: Maria lives in a big city surrounded by the speed and convenience of urban life. She works in an office with 1000 other employees, and travels too and from there on a crowded Metro. Her home is a flat overlooking a busy city-street, which is always alive with the sound of traffic and people passing by. After work she meets with friends in a The 18th Century marked the beginning of the bar or restaurant before going on to a disco or Industrial Revolution, the depopulation of the nightclub. Weekends are spent in the shopping countryside, and the move to towns. The towns became places of mass employment in factories mall with its numerous shops, multi-screen and offices. Today, many town dwellers wish to cinemas, fast food and entertainment complexes. Page 1 of 2 The United Kingdom s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity. Podcasts Themes City vs. country reverse this trend and return to a slower pace of people are to be persuaded to stay in the life like Alex, our modern country mouse . Yet, a countryside, other benefits of the city need to be modern country existence is not without its available (employment, healthcare and problems; poor transport, lack of access to education). Conversely, the introduction of city hospitals and education, and services found in parks and forests, and traffic free zones, has towns such as large shops, banks and helped in bringing a little of the countryside to the entertainment. city streets. The debate between town and country is The UN World habitat day (4th October) this year meaningless these days, as so many people live looks at this issue. It emphasises the need for in towns, and very few people are actually able to strong links between town and countryside, and choose where they live; this is dictated by their their mutual dependence upon each other. work or birth. The internet and other mass media Are you a town mouse or a country mouse? have linked country areas to the world, providing access to information even to remote areas. If After reading Exercise 1: Below are 10 sentences from the text, but the words are in the wrong order and the punctuation is missing. Can you put the words in the correct order and put in the punctuation? 1. civilised mouse town the city life thought was 2. peace quiet the and country missed mouse 3. maria s a busy house overlooks street city 4. the shopping weekends goes to maria mall at 5. reading of the alex enjoys front in fire 6. large very modern have cities populations 7. to are live slums places overcrowded 8. in 18th moved to countryside people city the from century 9. internet in information the people to provides local areas 10. the is world un in october day habitat More activities on this topic You ll find links to all the following activities connected to the theme of city vs. country at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-themes-city-country.htm " Word game: Town and Country puzzles. Practise idioms containing the word "town" in the town jigsaw puzzle. Practise different expressions containing the word "country" in the country jigsaw puzzle. " Poems: Town & country. In 'Progress', Osbert Sitwell provides negative images of the city and conjures up fond memories of the country. In 'The City', Charles Hanson Towne does the opposite. Compare them! " Trivia: Everything you (n)ever wanted to know about city vs. country. " There is also a city vs. country-related cartoon, a poll and some carefully selected external links. Answers to language activity: 1. The town mouse thought city life was civilized. 2. The country mouse missed peace and quiet. 3. Maria's house overlooks a busy city street. 4. At weekends Maria goes to the shopping mall. 5. Alex enjoys reading in front of a fire. 6. Modern cities have very large populations. 7. Slums are overcrowded places to live. 8. People moved from countryside to cities in the 18th century. 9. The Internet provides information to people in remote areas. 10. The UN World Habitat Day is in October. Page 2 of 2 The United Kingdom s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.