Vocabulary

Video

Transcript

Newscaster, Male: For centuries America’s Amish communities have avoided the trappings of the modern world. Nowadays many of them refusing to drive or use mains electricity. They often dress as if they had stepped out of a Jane Austen novel with bonnets and britches.

Newscaster, Female: BBC reporter Justin Roland was given rare chance to film Amish families. And he found that their way of life is under threat.

I’ve been given an invitation to one of the most closed communities in America.

Journalist: “Can I help? Although I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not great with horses.”
Elam Graber: “Oh these bite. But other than that they….”

I’ve been invited to stay with an Amish family.

The Amish are a Christian sect that settled in America in the eighteenth (18th) century. They are known as the Plain People because they’ve traditionally shunned modern technology like electricity and motor vehicles.

For centuries, the Amish have kept themselves separate from the rest of the world. But now that is changing.

As I talk to Elam, the elder of this family, it is clear that Amish lifestyles have already changed a lot.

Elam and his family are Old Order Amish.

Elam Graber, Amish Community Member: “My dad, when he was a young boy, they sugar, and that was one of the only things that they bought. And the rest of the stuff they made on the farm.”

Just how much Amish lifestyles have changed becomes clear in Elam’s home. His wife Rachel still lights the gas lamps, but they have mains electricity too. And ice.

But no television or radio.

They won’t let me help with the washing up, but say I can help with the chores in the morning.

There is a LOT to do.

It turns out that only one out of Elam’s six children is still Amish. The rest, like Leah, are Born-Again Christians.

Journalist: “But you wear kind of Amish clothes?”
Leah Graber, Amish Community Member: “We don’t have a code, a dress code. But I believe in dressing modestly.”

Elam believes the reason young people are leaving the Amish community is because the self-sufficiency farming lifestyle his parents followed is possible anymore — land is just too expensive.

Elam Graber, Amish Community Member: “EVERYONE farmed when I was a little kid. There were no factory workers.

Now all the younger generation, younger than me works in a factory. Or works carpentry work or works away from home.

And that’s what’s it’s bringing the rest of us down.”

He believes the Amish way of life is doomed.

Elam: “Plain life, the simple life is just not possible anymore. And when the young generation comes along, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Questions

Horse. Is it normal or unusual for the Amish to invite strangers to their homes?

Cow. The Amish drive cars, watch TV, listen to radios and use electricity. True or false?

Pigs. Is Amish life easy and convenient? Can outsiders easily adapt to the traditional Amish lifestyle? Why is it hard for outsiders to live an Amish lifestyle?

Ducks. Amish people wear suits and ties, jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers, short dresses and skirts. Is this right or wrong?

Goose, Geese. These days, do the Amish only do farmwork?

Sheep. Are Amish families small, medium-sized or large? Do they have lots of children or few children?

Chickens. Elam thinks that the traditional Amish way of life will last forever. Is this correct or wrong? Why is it changing?
 
 
 
Goats. In your country, are there people who live like the Amish?

Fruit Trees, Fruit Orchard. My friends and I want to live like the Amish. Yes or no?

Wheat. What are the advantages of an Amish lifestyle?

Corn. Can ordinary people learn something from the Amish? Can the Amish teach others a lesson in life?

Fields. Are there any disadvantages of the Amish way of living?

Vegetables. Some modern, city people would like to live like the Amish. What do you think?

Barn. Nobody, not even the Amish, can resist or withstand globalization. Do you agree? What will happen in the future?