Early in the 19th century Speaking task exercise Read aloud 25
practice
126 Read aloud
Early in the 19th century, Wordsworth opposed the coming of the steam train to the Lake District, saying it would destroy its natural character. Meanwhile, Blake denounced the “dark satanic mills” of the Industrial Revolution. The conservation of the natural environment, however, did not become a major theme in politics until quite recently.
127 Read aloud
In the distribution of wealth, America is more unequal than most European countries. The richest tenth of the population earns nearly six times more than the poorest tenth. In Germany and France, the ratio is just over three to one. The United States also has the largest proportion of its people in long-term poverty.
128 Read aloud
Chaucer was probably the first English writer to see the English nation as a unity. This is the reason for his great appeal to his contemporaries. A long war with France had produced a wave of patriotism, with people no longer seeing each other as Saxon or Norman but as English.
129 Read aloud
What can history tell us about contemporary society? Generally, in the past, even in Europe until the 18th century, it was assumed that it could tell how any society should work. The past was the model for the present and the future. It represented the key to the genetic code by which each generation produced its successors and ordered their relationships.