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II. Let’s talk about life in the city and in the country

It’s common knowledge that tastes differ. Nowadays there are a lot of people who prefer to live in big cities, and, at the same time, there are others, who dream of living in the country.

It goes without saying that life in a big city has a lot of disadvan¬tages. The first and foremost is an air- and noise-pollution. The car ex¬haust contains several pollutants and one of them is lead, which is par¬ticularly harmful to children, because their brains and nervous systems are more vulnerable than those of adults are. Besides, life in a big city is much more stressful and expensive than that in the country or in a small town.

Everyone grumbles about exorbitant rents that must be paid for tiny flats. Apart from accommodation, the cost of living is very high. A citi¬zen runs into a lot of extra expenses paying for the public transport, snacks, food delivery and entertainment.

There are too many people living together in one city, and the streets are crowded. Minsk has a population of 2 mln people, St. Petersburg has a population of 5 mln people, London - 8 mln people, New York - 9 mln people, Tokyo - 12 mln people. It also takes people a lot of time to get to work by metro, as there are long distances between the stations. In big cities drivers suffer from traffic jams, accidents and car crashes. Pedestrians suffer from the rush hour, constant queuing and irregularity of public transport.

But whatever the disadvantages are, I’m charmed with the speed of city life and great possibilities it gives. Living in a big city gives you a lot of advantages nowadays. Firstly, life in big cities is more anonymous. You can be what you want to be and do what you want to do without anybody getting upset about it, whereas in the country almost everybody knows you and expects you to live and behave in a certain way.

Secondly, there is so much going on in the city. You have access to a huge range of concerts of different types of music - pop, classical, jazz, rock - whatever you are looking for. There are a lot of theatres, ci-nemas, museums, art galleries, libraries to visit as well as big shopping centres where you can buy any goods you need.

Big cities are beautiful. They look modem with their tall buildings, interesting architecture and design. City dwellers are sociable and com-municative. I find the city an easy place to make friends in. In fact, in a big city you have a much wider range of people to choose from and to make friends with.

I’d rather quote Samuel Johnson’s words, who said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” To my mind it is true. If you are tired of fun, pleasure, comfort and excitement a big city offers you, you are either tired of life or, most probably, you need some relaxing break in a small town or in the country for a change.