The Urban and Rural Post

The Urban and Rural Divide
1 Imagine life in Los Angeles. Now imagine life in a neighbouring rural California town. Finally, picture life in Cairo, Egypt. Which of these last two places is more different from Los Angeles? Many people might mistakenly choose Cairo because it is in a different country. In fact, city dwellers all over the world tend to have similar lifestyles, so the biggest differences are between Los Angeles and its smaller neighbour. Urban people and rural people, regardless of their country, live quite differently. Perhaps some of the most notable differences in the lives of these two groups include the degree of friendliness, the pace of life, and the variety of activities.
2 One major difference between growing up in the city and in the country is the degree of friendliness. In large cities, we often hear of people living in huge apartment buildings with hundreds of strangers. These urban apartment dwellers tend to be wary of unknown faces and rarely get to know their neighbours well. The situation in a small town is often just the opposite. Small-town people generally grow up together, attend the same schools and churches, and share the same friends. As a result, rural people are much more likely to treat their neighbours like family and invite them into their homes.
3 Another difference is the pace of life. In the city, life moves very quickly. The streets reflect this hectic pace and are rarely empty, even late at night. City dwellers appear to be racing to get somewhere important. Life for them tends to be a series of deadlines. In the country, life is much slower. Even during peak hours, traffic jams occur less often. Stores close in the early evening, and the streets do not come alive until the next morning. The people here seem more relaxed and move in a more leisurely way. The pace of life in these two areas could not be more different.
4 A third difference lies in the way people are able to spend their free time. Although life in the city has its drawbacks, city dwellers have a much wider choice of activities that they can participate in. For example, they can go to museums, eat in exotic restaurants, attend concerts, and shop in hundreds of stores. The activities available to people in rural areas, however, are much more limited. It is rare to find museums or exotic restaurants there. Concert tours almost never include stops in country towns. Finally, people who enjoy shopping might be disappointed in the small number of stores.
5 Life in urban areas and life in rural areas vary in terms of human interaction, pace of life, and daily activities. Other important differences exist, too, but none of these makes one place better than the other. The places are simply different. Only people who have experienced living in both the city and the country can truly appreciated the unique characteristics of each.

1. What is the thesis statement?
2. In each paragraph, which location is always discussed first, rural or urban?
3. What paragraph talks about activities in each area? Which place offers more options for activities?
4. Some of the supporting sentences contrast the pace of life in the two areas. Write those sentences in the chart under the correct heading. Include the paragraph number.
Urban
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Rural
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4. 5. How many times is a form of the word ‘different’ used in the essay? 6. Does this essay use the block or point-by-point method of organization?