UNIT

1 Life in the countryside

Alexander/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR
Language in action
ƒƒ Create debate
posts
ƒƒ Make
comparisons
and use the
superlative
ƒƒ Talk about
advantages and
disadvantages

Senior couple in the

garden with a basket of
harvested vegetables,
in Idaho (USA), 2014.

Alf Ribeiro/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR

Traffic in São Paulo (SP), 2014.

12 iadams/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR Não escreva no livro.

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_010A013.indd 12 5/31/16 2:44 PM

 LEAD-IN

Available at <http://www.debate.org>. Accessed on April 30, 2016.

Is Country Life Better

Available at <http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-country-life-
better-than-city-life>. Accessed on April 30, 2016.
than City Life?

65% Say Yes 35% Say No

Living in the country is healthier. OK, I admit it! City life is awesome. It rocks…
The country life has less opportunities but think Let’s be real, everyone wants to have a comforting
about it... it’s much healthier. Your kids will live in a life and that is what city life is all about. It’s exciting,
clean air environment. And everyone knows comfortable, and easy. There are many
everybody, your kids will have close friends and will opportunities available in cities like good medical
love it. Don’t do it for yourself, do it for your children. :) treatment, transportation, information technologies,
entertainment, and you know all the things that
make your life easy. Therefore I strongly believe that
city life ROCKSSS……
Report Post Report Post

Like Reply 0 4 Like Reply 1 1

Load More Arguments

Adapted from <http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-country-life-better-than-city-life>. Accessed on April 14, 2016.

1. Is country life better than city life? What is your opinion about that?

2. What are the website users’ opinions?

3. Are the text fragments above part of an online survey, a debate or research?

4. In these fragments, are people stating arguments, personal opinions or others’ ideas?

5. What are the arguments in favor of life in the countryside?

6. What are the arguments in favor of life in the city?

PART 1 – Life on earth

7. Imagine you are a user of the website. Is country life better than city life? Why? With a classmate, use some
arguments to defend your point of view.

Não escreva no livro.

13

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_010A013.indd 13 6/1/16 4:11 PM

 LET’S READ!
Before you read…
HINT
ƒƒ Would you change your life and move to the city or to the countryside? Why (not)?
Elementos
paratextuais,
1. Before you read the text below about life in the city, read the activities on the next page.
como título,
imagens,
conhecimentos
sobre o(s)
autor(es) e
a instituição
Why Should People Put Up with Life in the City? responsável
Sylvia Wang from Hong Kong
pela publicação,
entre outros,
Can you imagine exchanging the ajudam a
Marco Flagg/Bloomberg/Getty Images

A
glamour of city life for a quiet life in the prever o que
countryside? encontraremos
em um artigo.
Many people want to move from the
country to the city because they think that
life in the city is more exciting and better
than in rural areas, especially younger
people who like new, modern things.

Often people like to be fashionable and

feel they can find the latest styles only in
the city.

Other people are interested in technological things and high tech jobs and think
they can find them only in a big city. If they want to find a job, especially a good
position in a company, they feel they have to live in a city. To enjoy these jobs, they
are willing to put up with many of the disadvantages of city life such as crime, high
traffic, and pollution.

However, it is now possible to enjoy a higher quality of life in the countryside and still
enjoy some of the advantages of living in the city.

Nowadays, travel is fast and information is

IMAGEMORE Co, Ltd./Getty Images

B
available on the Internet, so many people
are able to do their work in home offices.

Because they have e-mail and personal

computers, they don’t have to be in big
cities to conduct their business. It is
not important where they actually work
because the results of their work can Topics-mag.com is an
online magazine for
be sent everywhere with technology. learners of English.
So, why should they put up with all the It offers learners
the opportunity to
disadvantages of the city any longer? express and publish
UNIT 1 – life in the countryside

Now they can escape hectic city life their ideas in

to enjoy life in the countryside and still English for an online
audience. This is
be able to do good business and have what happened to
successful careers. Sylvia Wang. She had
her text published in
Issue 21 (Reflecting
on Life).
Adapted from <http://www.topics-mag.com/edition21/life/city-country.htm>. Accessed on April 14, 2016.

16 Não escreva no livro.

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_014A017.indd 16 5/31/16 2:45 PM

 2.

Cesar Diniz/Pulsar Imagens

Which two of the following verbs can replace the
phrasal verb put up with, in the title of the text?
Write them down in your notebook.
a) install d) place
b) move e) endure
c) tolerate

3. According to Sylvia Wang, what are some of the

reasons why people decide to live in cities?

4. What are some of the negative aspects of living

in the city, based on the text?

5. The following sentences are captions of the

pictures that illustrate the text on the previous Quilombola taking care of his bean plantation in Caxias (MA), 2014.
page. In your notebook, write the correct
combination of letters–numbers to match each

Bikram Rai/AP Photo/Glowimages

picture to its caption.

nI It is now possible to enjoy a higher quality of

life in the countryside […].

n
II Many people think that life in the city is
more exciting than in rural areas.

6. Which argument is used by the author to

convince us that it is now possible to have the
advantages of both the city and rural life?

7. What is the author’s final conclusion about living

in the city and in the countryside?

8. After thinking about the topic and reading the

author’s point of view, decide which of the
sentences below best describes your opinion. Traffic jam in Kathmandu, Nepal, 2015.
Share your ideas with a classmate.

I live in the city and I want/don’t want to move to the country.

I live in the country and I want/don’t want to move to the city.

I haven’t made up my mind yet.

9. Look at the pictures on this page. What characteristics of the city and of rural life do they represent?

BEYOND THE LINES...

PART 1 – Life on earth

a) The author is from Hong Kong. Do you think country life and city life in China are the same as here in Brazil?
b) Do you notice any stereotypes in the way you and your friends refer to people who live in the city or people
who live in the countryside?

Não escreva no livro.

17

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_014A017.indd 17 5/31/16 2:45 PM

 Let’s listen and talk!
Before you listen…
a) What do you know about organic farming?
b) Take a quick look at the text below. What kind of problem does it address?

Could Organic

Daniela Buoncristiani/Cultura Creativet/AFP

Farming Solve
the World’s
Food Problems?

T he world’s food problem is not that

n
there isn’t A food. It’s the fact that, the
problem lies within the distribution of food.
And, and, where there are food problems, (*1)
arguably, you could (*2) say there are food
problems in this country with obesity, (*3)
but generally, the problems where there isn’t

n
enough food tends to be in B countries, C n
countries. (*4) It is much more sustainable
Man potting plants in his backyard.
to have farmers using (*5) nature (*6) as a

n
way of building their fertility and controlling their pests, (*7) than getting them D on expensive pesticides and other

n
chemicals. And what happened to India, during the E revolution, was that (*8) chemical companies (*9) marketed
their produces at these poor, poverty stricken farmers, (*10) promising them increased yield. But, actually, what
happened was, they then got locked into this cycle of dependence on chemicals, and they couldn’t afford to buy
them, and then they couldn’t afford to feed their families, and send their children to school. (*11) It is a much more

nF way of farming to use nG methods. And, certainly, what’s happening in Ethiopia, (*12), the poster boy of poverty and
famine, is that the agriculture minister is encouraging farmers to (*13) use n
H methods because they see that as the

most n I , surefire way to feed their population.

Available at <http://www.videojug.com/interview/organic-farming>. Accessed on April 14, 2016.

2
1. You are going to listen to Melissa Kidd, Soil Association Information Officer, giving advice on an important
current issue: organic farming. Listen to the recording and do the activities.
UNIT 1 – life in the countryside

a) Choose the adequate adjectives from the box to replace each capital letter. Use your notebook to write the
correct combination of letters–adjectives.

organic sustainable enough natural

poorer
dependent important developing green

18 Não escreva no livro.

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_018A021.indd 18 5/31/16 9:45 PM

 b) In this recording, there are some typical features of spoken language. We have
2
numbered in the transcription on the previous page some of the moments where they
can be identified. Listen again and, in your notebook, number the cases and expressions
below accordingly. See an example: “I mean”: *1.

repetition of words “you know”

“I mean” “uhm” “and so on”

“so” hesitation

2. In pairs, come up with some ideas on organic products you could grow. Brainstorm the
type of garden (greens? herb? medicinal? etc.). Exchange ideas on where you would grow
your products. Make a short oral presentation to your classmates.

YanLev/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR

Useful language
ƒƒ Growing… could be a good idea because…
ƒƒ I think we could grow… in… (our backyard, clay pots, recycled containers…)
ƒƒ The type of garden I would choose is…
ƒƒ A good idea is to grow…
ƒƒ One possibility is to grow…
ƒƒ We decided to choose this type of garden because…

Pronunciation spot – syllables

3
1. Listen to the recording and write in your notebook the number of syllables in the following words.

quiet young sustainable poor green

important natural high organic enough
PART 1 – Life on earth

long dependent late

2. In English, we find out the number of syllables in a word by counting the number of vowels in the word or the
number of vowel clusters in the word?

Não escreva no livro.

19

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_018A021.indd 19 5/31/16 2:46 PM

 Let’s focus on language!
Did you
know…?
1. Read these excerpts from the text “Why Should People Put Up with Life in the City?”
and answer the questions in your notebook. Good and bad
I. “ Many people want to move […] to the city because they think that life in the city is have irregular
comparative and
more exciting and better than in rural areas, especially younger people who like
superlative forms:
new, modern things.” for good the forms
II. “However, it is now possible to enjoy a higher quality of life in the countryside […].” are better and
best, while for
a) Does the author mean that life in the city is the same as life in rural areas?
bad the forms are
b) Is the quality of life in the countryside the same as before? worse and worst,
c) Which structures are used to state that they are different? respectively.

We use comparatives (superiority and inferiority) when we want to say how a

person or thing is different from another.

2. Replace the numbers with the appropriate words from the first box to complete the
rules about how to make comparatives. Use your notebook.

longer than one-syllable

How to make comparatives

n
With II adjectives, use more/less
n
With I adjectives, add -er. before them.

With adjectives ending in -y, n

Use III when the two people or things
replace -y with -ier. compared are explicit.

3. Read another excerpt from the text “Why Should People Put Up with Life in the City?”
and answer the questions.
“Often people like to be fashionable and feel they can find the latest styles only in the city.”
a) Does the author compare one style to another?
b) To what does she compare styles?

We use superlatives when we want to compare a person or thing with the entire
group they are in.

4. In your notebook, write down the correct combination of numbers-letters to complete

the rules about how to make superlatives.

nI longer nII the n

III one-syllable
UNIT 1 – life in the countryside

How to make superlatives

n
With A adjectives, add -est. n
Start a superlative with B .

With adjectives ending in -y, n

With C adjectives, use the most/least
replace -y with -iest. before them.

20 Não escreva no livro.

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_018A021.indd 20 5/31/16 2:46 PM

 5. Look at some facts about our world. In your notebook, write the
complete sentences with a superlative form of the adjectives below.

deep

ayzek/iStock/Getty Images
Sarunyu_foto/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR
high
large
low
old
populous
small
spoken
tall
Flag of China. Flag of Namibia.

n
a)  A language in the world is Chinese Mandarin, with over one billion

fcknimages/iStock/Getty Images
speakers.

n
b) The continent with B number of countries is Africa, with 54
countries.
c) Mongolia and Namibia are the two countries with C density. There n
are only two people per square kilometer.

n
d) D country in the world is Russia, with 17,098,246 square
kilometers.

Flag of Mongolia.
emarto/iStock/Getty Images
Sarunyu_foto/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR

Prakash MATHEMA/AFP

Flag of San Marino.

Flag of Russia.

n
e) The Arctic ocean is E one in the world, with 15,558,000
square kilometers.
n
f) F ocean in the world is the Pacific Ocean.
g) San Marino is G country in the world. n
h) Mount Everest isV H mountain, with 8,848 meters. n
PART 1 – Life on earth

i) South America is the fifth I continent, after Asia, Africa, n

Europe, and North America.
Adapted from <http://www.worldatlas.com/geoquiz/thelist.htm>.
Accessed on April 14, 2016.
Mount Everest, 2009.

Não escreva no livro.

21

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_018A021.indd 21 5/31/16 2:47 PM

 6. Below is a text contrasting the cost of living in different cities. In your notebook, replace
the letters with the correct comparative or superlative form of the words in parenthesis.

Worldwide Cost of Living 2015

Which city is the n
A (expensive) to live in?
Which city is the n
B (cheap)?
A summary from The Economist Intelligence Unit

The findings of the nC (late) Worldwide Cost of Living Survey

An unchanged top five
n n
Singapore remains the world’s D (expensive) city as the E (late) ranking delivers no changes among the top
five cities. This façade of relative stability is deceptive, however, and it is extremely rare for an identical top
five to be achieved in ranking the global cost of living. In fact, midway through 2014 Singapore lay in fourth
n
position, and the reassertion of an identical top five comes with a F (strong) US dollar and G (weak) euro n
pushing euro zone cities back down later in 2014.
n
Singapore remains consistently expensive in other categories. It is the joint H (expensive) place in the world
alongside Seoul to buy clothes, with the malls of Orchard Road offering a price premium that is over 50% I n
(high) than in New York. Most significantly, Singapore’s complex Certificate of Entitlement fee system makes
n
car prices excessive, and transport costs in Singapore are almost three times J (high) than in New York.
When looking at the most expensive cities by category, it is interesting to note that Asian cities tend to form
n n
the K (pricy) locations for general grocery shopping, with Seoul becoming the L (expensive) location for
n
everyday food items. However, European cities tend to be M (pricy) in the recreation and entertainment
n n
categories, with Zurich the N (expensive), perhaps reflecting a O (great) premium on discretionary income.

nP (cheap) cities reflect low costs in South Asia

The n Q (cheap) cities in the ranking have a familiar feel to them, both in terms of geography and
consistency. While Asia is home to some of the world’s n R (expensive) cities, the region is also home
to many of the world’s n S (cheap) cities. Within Asia, the n
T (good) value for money is in the Indian
subcontinent (defined as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka). Karachi and Bangalore
are the joint n
U (cheap) locations in the survey, and five of the six nV (cheap) cities surveyed hail from
Pakistan and India.
Everything/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR
UNIT 1 – life in the countryside

Sidewalk of Orchard Road, in Singapore, 2014.

Adapted from The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015. Available at <http://ifuturo.org/documentacion/WCOL-March.pdf>. Accessed on May 18,
2016.

22 Não escreva no livro.

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_022A025.indd 22 5/31/16 4:09 PM

 Profession spot
Agronomist
1. Look at these pictures. What are these professionals doing? What do you know about
this career?

Alamy/Latinstock
People in an Atlantic Forest seedling nursery (in Brazil). Palê Zuppani/Pulsar Imagens

4
2. Listen to the recording and answer these questions in
your notebook.
a) What are the speakers talking about?
b) Who is the intended audience? Women in an organic vegetable production
(Lima, Peru, South America).

4
3. Listen to the recording again and notice that the text is organized into four parts, as shown in
the first chart.

nI Definition of agronomy
nII What agronomists focus on

n
III What careers agronomists work in

nIV Where agronomists are found

Now, in your notebook, match the pieces of information below to the four parts in the chart above.
See an example: I. Definition of agronomy: study of the environment, study of plants, study of soils.

crop consultant
study of the environment
plant science and biotechnology
study of plants
protecting the quality of the environment
consulting and production
rangeland manager
sales rep for seed
study of soils
PART 1 – Life on earth

soil and environmental science

conserving vital soil and water resources
sustaining the world’s food production

Não escreva no livro.

23

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_022A025.indd 23 5/31/16 4:10 PM

 Profession spot
4. What else could you understand from the passage in terms of possible careers for
agronomists?

5. Where are agronomists found?

6. What do agronomists do?

7. Talk about these questions with a classmate.

a) Do you know any agronomists?
b) What is the importance of agronomy to the world’s sustainability?
c) Would you follow this career? Why (not)?

Suzana/Shutterstock.com/ID/BR

Rice plantation in Ninh Binh, Vietnam, 2016.

Capifrutta/iStock/Getty Images
UNIT 1 – life in the countryside

Scientists working at a laboratory with plants.

24 Não escreva no livro.

AH3_PNLD2018_EM_ING_LA_P01_U1_022A025.indd 24 5/31/16 7:44 PM