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[ti:Illusions of Pastoral Peace]
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[00:01.44]Lesson 41
[00:03.49]Illusions of pastoral peace
[00:12.95]What particular anxiety spoils the country dweller's visit to the theatre?
[00:20.29]The quiet life of the country has never appealed to me.
[00:24.44]City born and city bred,
[00:26.40]I have always regarded the country as something you look at through a train window or something you occasionally visit during the weekend.
[00:34.69]Most of my friends live in the city, yet they always go into raptures at the mere mention of the country.
[00:41.40]Though they extol the virtues of the peaceful life,
[00:45.01]only one of them has ever gone to live in the country and he was back in town within six months.
[00:51.36]Even he still lives under the illusion that country life is somehow superior to town life.
[00:57.27]He is forever talking about the friendly people, the clean atmosphere, the closeness to nature and the gentle pace of living.
[01:06.90]Nothing can be compared, he maintains, with the first cockcrow, the twittering of birds at dawn,
[01:14.67]the sight of the rising sun glinting on the trees and pastures.
[01:19.76]This idyllic pastoral scene is only part of the picture.
[01:24.45]My friend fails to mention the long and friendless winter evenings in front of the TV--virtually the only form of entertainment.