THE CHANGING OF AMERICAN FARMERS’ LIFE

All big cities are quite similar. Living

in a modern Asian city is not very
different from living in an American
city. The same cannot be said about
living on farms, however.
In many parts of the world, farmers and their families live in villages or towns. In the
United States, however, each farm family lives on its own field, often beyond the side of any
neighbor. Instead of traveling from a village to the field every morning, American farmers
stay on their land throughout the week. They travel to the nearest town on Saturday for
shopping or on Sundays for church. The children ride on buses to large schools which serve
all of the farm families. There are a few farm families whose children walk to school.

Of course, life keeps changing for everyone, including farmers. Today, there are cars,
good roads, radios, and televisions sets. And of course, there are modern machines for
farming. All of these have changed farm life. For many years, however, farming in America
was often a mere way of living. Farmers had to deal with their own problems, instead of
getting help from others. They learned to try new methods and trust their own ideas instead of
following older ways.

READING COMPREHENSION

1. What is the similarity of living in 6. How do the children go to school?

Asia and in America?
2. Where do farmers live in many
parts of the world?
3. Where do American farmers live?
4. When do they go shopping?
5. When do they go to church?
7. Is the life of farmers changing?
Give an example of that changing.
8. What have changed farm life?
9. What did the farmers had to deal
with?
10. What did they learn?

READING DISCUSSION

1. Share five things that you know about farm life.

2. Do you like farm life? If you do, give five reasons why. If you don’t, also five
reasons.
 3. If you have a farm, what plant do you want to grow and what animals do you want to
take care? Why?

LIFE IN JAKARTA

Why is Jakarta growing so fast? Where are all

these people coming from? They are coming to
the city from the countries. Life is hard on the
farms in the countries. Most people on farms
have to live a very simple life. They have no
extra money for modern things. People think life
in the city is much better. So they leave their farms and move to the Jakarta.

Jakarta is the center of everything. State’s life is controlled in this city. It is the center of
trade and commerce, industries and services. It has many places of interest accompanied by
tons of entertainment. Indeed, Jakarta also provides so many job opportunities. That is why
many people move in there to make living. That also makes the city so crowded. We can see
its density clearly from the traffic.

Have you ever been in a traffic jam? It is a bad experience and definitely not an easy one
to forget. Trucks, buses, taxis and cars stand bumper to bumper and the drivers blow their
horns. Cars move slowly or cannot move at all. Traffic jams are common in Jakarta. It is very
busy in the rush hour. The peak of the rush hour is from seven to nine in the morning when
many people go to work, and in the afternoon when they return home.

Life in Jakarta, just like in any other big cities, is hard. Everyone has to be better and
quicker than the others to catch the opportunities where they can make money. Indeed, it
feels like an endless day-to-day competition. Everyone must stand their guard to secure their
career and let no one move ahead of them. Because without doing so, their living would be at
risk.

READING COMPREHENSION

1. Why do many people move to

READING DISCUSSION
Jakarta?
2. What can people find in Jakarta? 1. What does an endless day-to-day
3. How is life in Jakarta? competition look like to you? What
do you feel about it?
2. Which one do you prefer, living a
simple life in the country or small
 cities or living a more modern life in big cities like Jakarta?

A DARK TIME IN AMERICAN

HISTORY

“Black Thursday” is a day that many

Americans will never forget. It was
October 24, 1929, the beginning of the
Great Depression. Before that day,
business in America was growing fast.
Between 1914 and 1929, it grew about
62%. But on “Black Thursday”
everything changed. On that day, American business suddenly stopped growing. In fact,
many stopped completely. The next few years in American history are called the Great
Depression. These were terrible years for business and for the people. Five thousand banks
and 85,000 businesses failed. Many people lost all their money. About 12 million Americans
lost their jobs.

The Great Depression of the early 1930s surprised many people. They did not think
American business could have such terrible problems. For a long time, they did not believe
the problem was serious. Even President Hoover did not think it was serious. He told the
people that the problems were going away. But this was not true. Millions of Americans did
not have jobs, even homes or food. Life was so hard and it did not get easier for many years.

The Great Depression finally ended for several reasons. One reason was a new government
with new ideas. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt became President of the United States. He
made many changes in the laws to help people. New laws helped American banks and
businesses. Other laws gave people jobs and housing. But Roosevelt’s government was only
one reason for the end of the Depression. The other reason was World War II. In the late
1930s, the United States began to get ready for the war. New factories were built for war
planes and ships. That meant more jobs. These jobs gave many people a chance to change
their lives.

READING COMPREHENSION 2. How did the Great Depression end?

3. What happened before the Black
1. What happened during the Great
Thursday?
Depression?
READING DISCUSSION 2. What would you do, if you were in
that difficult time?
1. What do you think would happen if
the Great Depression in America
happened today in Indonesia?

3.