SPEAKING Please describe what you see in the following pictures.

Urban America vs Rural America

Population

Politics In 2013, 77% of rural Americans were represented by a House Republican. In 2013, 77% of rural Americans were represented by a House Republican. Today, almost all big cities, even those in conservative states such as Missouri, Indiana and Texas, favor Democrats for president. Politics hangs on culture and lifestyle more than policy These divisions emerged in the 1960s with the Civil Rights movement and the rise of such social issues as abortion and school prayer, which distanced culturally conservative rural voters from the Democratic Party.

Household Income Rural economies have suffered as automated farming and companies took over for many family farms. Decrease in manufacturing have cost jobs, fewer jobs mean fewer opportunities for young people, driving away those with more skills and education. Cities rely on the rural areas for resources and food just as most rural areas count on cities for tax subsidies. Urban centers tend to specialize in knowledge-based work, attracting scientists, engineers and executives. Rural America has more jobs for machinists and makers. Not only have these hands-on jobs been lost to foreign countries and technical changes, but they also tend to pay less than desk jobs.

Education

Culture Religion remains a dividing line. Urban dwellers are more than three times as likely as rural residents to say religion is "not that important to me” Nearly 60% of rural residents say homosexual behavior is a sin compared with 40% of city residents, a Pew Research Center poll found last year. With a lack of a young population, aging rural communities have grown more resistant to cultural change. The rates of obesity is 39 percent for rural Americans compared to 33 percent for urban Americans," said Christie Befort, an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center

Culture Cont... Rural poverty rates remained relatively unchanged from 2009, when it was 16.5%, to the 2010 rate of 16.6%. Urban poverty, increased from 13.9% in 2009 to 14.9% in For a long time the generally-accepted view is that the divorce rate for urban areas is higher as compared to rural areas. However, the current trend in the US seems to say otherwise. Rural areas are catching up. With the main reasons like education and income, more and more couples decided to get divorced.

Suburbs As of 2010, more than one in four people who live in the suburbs were poor —and one in three poor Americans lived in the suburbs According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of heroin users in 2011 (620,000) was higher than the number in 2007 (373,000) Heroin use in women has increased from what was a very small percentage of about 20 percent back in the '50s to about 52 percent of the current population. Once viewed as a ideal place to start a family, the suburbs are no longer immune to the challenges facing all of society.

Vocabulary Conservative adj. keep existing conditions, institutions, or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. Liberal – adj. favor progress or reform, to embrace change Minority – n. a smaller group opposed to a majority, as in voting or other action. Poverty – n. the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor Resistant – n. Resist – v. to oppose; to be against Emerge – v. to come into existence; develop Hands-on - adj. active personal participation in an activity; individual and direct Sin – n. an offense against a principle or standard, usually regarding religion Immune – adj. exempt or protected something, usually negative.

Writing The Baruun Urt government wants more people to live in BU, they need to convince married couples to move to BU. Your job is to write a letter to convince these couples to move to BU. Please tell these couples what’s good about BU, and why they should move here. Please pick 1 couple. Munkhjargal and Amarzaya they have a son he’s 10 yrs. old and a daughter who is 7 yrs. old. Boloromaa and John, they have no children but they are both English teachers. John is from America he has never been to the countryside. Bat-Erdene and Zolzaya are chefs they want to open an American restaurant but they don’t like UB because of the pollution, traffic and most importantly competition from other restaurants.