Farming in the United States has changed dramatically over the past decade but continues to be a very exciting and rewarding profession that generally involves a person’s entire family. Farms generally are much larger than in the past and generally involve more specialization.
There are still many smaller farmers who farm less land, however, farms are growing ever larger. The children on a farm are very fortunate because they have many opportunities that children who live in cities do not have.
When farm children reach the 8th or 9th grade often they are able to run tractors by themselves.
Other chores include such things as building the fences that keep the animals in a field and going after cattle that are out grazing on pasture. Sometimes a farmer will have a special machine that goes over the hills very quickly and has small wheels and a motor like a motorcycle.
Often farm children must ride buses a long way to school and they must get up very early to do chores and get cleaned up for school. To reward a child for working so hard a farmer often will allow a young member of his family to own some animals or to plant some crops and to care for the crops or the animals and then sell them and make a profit to be spent or saved. In this way young farm children learn to care for money and to plan on spending it on the things they want. If they have money they have earned from an enterprise of their own effort they are able to feel much pride as they purchase something they want. Once again, it is an opportunity a city person does not have in the same way.
Farm children often have friends or a family from the city and they enjoy going to visit and learn about what it is like to live in city. Often also they have a family or friends who live in the city who want to come and spend time with them on the farm to learn about their lives. It is a special event, usually in summer, when a friend or relative will come to spend some time in the country with his friend and also it is special when the farm children got to go to their city friends’ homes. Many farmers try to plan out such events because they want their families to have the opportunities that are also available in the cities and the young farm child needs to experience that first-hand. As the number of farmers in the United States get smaller and farms get bigger it is even more important for the cultural exchange to occur for young people to property learn about their entire culture. It also makes an interesting event for the young farm children and they love to host their city friends and to go and visit. Often they return with stories and experiences that are treasured by the child.
Farming is changing as all things must change overtime, however, the one thing that remains the same is that young people who have the privilege of growing up on a farm in the United States are generally very happy and have a very special set of opportunities. If you are ever able to visit the United States, it would be a wonderful thing to ask a farmer to demonstrate his farm to you and to join his family for a day or two to experience the joys of farming first-hand.
Ex. III. Compare list of rewards living on the US farm for children. Discuss them in pairs. Compare the good things living on the US farm and in your homeland.
Audition: Online Trading Information System
Ex. I. Listen to the text after you’ve consulted your dictionary for the words below. Answer the questions.
Word list:
1. cyber-trading
2. launch
3. sky-rocket
4. bid
Questions:
1. In what way is floor-trading replaced?
2. What is the difference between Western online trading sites and the Ukrainian ones?
3. What is the problem with an Internet connection in Ukraine?
Unit XII
Part I
Ex. I. Think and answer:
1. Would you like to be an owner of a multimillion business?
2. If so, where would you start having just a small capital to invest?
