Speakout Advanced p 92. The Amish: A People of Preservation. Extra Listening

In the topic of "Times Change", it is interesting to look at a community which has preserved its customs and traditions intact.

These people trace their heritage back hundreds of years, and yet, despite all the time that has passed and the many changes that have taken place in society, they still live and work much as their forefathers did. Their families and their farms are their top priorities, second only to God.
The Amish are very devout in their faith. They believe in the literal interpretation and application of Scripture as the Word of God. They take seriously the Biblical commands to separate themselves from the things of the world. They believe worldliness can keep them from being close to God, and can introduce influences that could be destructive to their communities and to their way of life.
They have been employing horse-drawn power since the days when horsepower had a whole different meaning! In comparison to our fast-paced society, the simpler, family-centered Amish way of life holds a special fascination.

  Listen and fill in the gaps:

1. What the Amish lose in speed they gain in fellowship. Work under the right circumstances is ________________________________.
2.  A tractor is allowed for belt power, but not to _______________________________.
3.  By _____________________________, the Amish also keep their old people from becoming obsolete as fast as the machinery of their youth is outmoded.
4.  Shared within the family, hard work _______________________________; you’ve done it before with your parents and you’ll do it again in the same way with your children. 
5. The Amish find their ________________________ in labour rather than in escape from it.
6.  Much of what seems different about the Amish is only their continuing to practise what everybody used to, long after almost _______________________________________.

KEY

1. What the Amish lose in speed they gain in fellowship. Work under the right circumstances is as enjoyable as play.
 

2. A tractor is allowed for belt power, but not to pull equipment in a field.

3. By resisting technological change the Amish also keep their old people from becoming obsolete as fast as the machinery of their youth is outmoded.

4. Shared within the family, hard work becomes a seasonal ritual; you’ve done it before with your parents and you’ll do it again in the same way with your children.

5. The Amish find their happiness and meaning in labour rather than in escape from it. 

6. Much of what seems different about the Amish is only their continuing to practise what everybody used to, long after almost everybody else stopped doing it.

Script

Their ancestors were Swiss mountain farmers from the canton of Bern, already a stubbornly rural and tradition-loving people, they sidestepped the priesthood in the reformation of the 1520s and began to read the Bible and meet in groups with lay leaders. In simple response to the teachings of Jesus they abandoned warfare, refused to take civil oaths and made baptism an act of voluntary adult commitment to the church.

What the Amish lose in speed they gain in fellowship. Work under the right circumstances is as enjoyable as play; shared work is, in many cases, the Amish man’s recreation. A tractor is allowed for belt power, but not to pull equipment in a field. That would be crossing an invisible technological line that the Amish define for the sake of their community. They sense just how much change their community can support without coming apart at the seams by getting on the uncontrollable escalator of progress. By resisting technological change or at least, slowing it down to controllable speed, the Amish also keep their old people from becoming obsolete as fast as the machinery of their youth is outmoded. Maintaining simple ways of farming lessens the distance between the generations.

Shared within the family, hard work becomes a seasonal ritual; you’ve done it before with your parents and you’ll do it again in the same way with your children. Greater speed and size in their implements might eliminate some labour, but the Amish find their happiness and meaning in labour rather than in escape from it. So much of what seems different about the Amish is only their continuing to practise what everybody used to, long after almost everybody else has stopped doing it. By not forgetting the art of the windmill, the Amish preserved for the rest of us a visual link with our own pre urbanized past.

Vocabulary

• Worldliness: / ˈwɜːldlinəs/ connected with the world in which we live rather than with spiritual things.
• Stubborn: determined not to change your opinion or attitude. Obstinate.
• Sidestep (something): to avoid something.
• Lay: not in an official position in the Church. Sp. Laico. E.g. a lay preacher (Sp. predicador).
• Belt: a continuous band of material that moves round and is used to carry things along or to drive machinery. Sp. Cinta.
• For the sake of somebody/something, for somebody's/something's sake: in order to help somebody/something or because you like somebody/something. Sp. Por (el bien de) They stayed together for the sake of the children. You can do it. Please, for my sake. I hope you're right, for all our sakes (= because this is important for all of us).

• Be falling/ coming apart at the seams: (informal) to be going very badly wrong and likely to stop functioning completely. E.g. She was falling apart at the seams, spending most of her time in tears. His little world fell apart at the seams.

•  Outmoded: / ˌaʊtˈməʊdɪd / no longer fashionable or useful. E.g.  an outmoded attitude. This organizational structure was now outmoded.
•  Implement: / BrE ˈɪmplɪmənt / a tool or an instrument, often one that is quite simple and that is used outdoors . E.g. agricultural implements