The City and the Man
Answer the following questions using information from Background Information section.
1. What caused the growth of cities in the United States in late 19th and early 20th centuries? Find several reasons for the trend.
2. Why did the living conditions in big cities quickly deteriorated? How was the situation managed?
3. What factors facilitated the move to suburbia?
4. What problems do modern suburban communities experience?
5. What are the possible future tendencies in the lives of American cities?
DEVELOPING THE TOPIC
Rural America
Follow the link below and read the first three chapters (Introduction, Rural America and Rural Change) and the Conclusion of the information bulletin. As you read, find the answers to the questions asked in the Preface.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/understd.htm
US Cities
Visit the following web site:
http://www.theusaonline.com/cities/index.htm
Scan the pages about US cities and fill in the table below:
A. City
| B. Nickname(s)
| C. Famous landmarks (buildings, institutions etc.)
| D. Aassociations
| E.g.
Washington D.C.
| The Nation’s Capital
| Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, The White House, The Capitol
| 1st US President, Cherry Blossom Festival, Government
| 1. San Francisco
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| 2. Los Angeles
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| 3. Philadelphia
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| 4. Boston
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| 5. Chicago
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| 6. New York
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| 7. Detroit
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Choose a city from the table and read the complete article about it. Be ready to share the information you learned with others!
The City and the Man
1. Read the lecture The Metropolis and Mental Life by a German sociologist Georg Simmel and
2. answer the questions that follow each section of the work.
This lecture was given by Simmel more than one hundred years ago. Is it as topical today as it was in 1903? Do you agree with Simmel’s conclusions about life in a big city and the city’s influence on a person?
3. The influence of cities has been a common theme in American literature. Read the two short stories attached here (one by O’Henry and one by John Cheever). Double-click on the tags below to open the documents.
1 O'Henry. Squaring the Circle
2 John Cheever. The Enormous Radio
What issues of city life are raised in the stories?
How are Georg Simmel’s ideas reflected in the fiction?
Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1518
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