Track21

[00:00.16] page 48, CD 2-21

[00:03.07] Listening 3

[00:05.48] 1.

[00:07.37] I could never buy a car at home because we pay a very high tax on cars.

[00:13.76] Only rich people can really afford to buy a car at home.

[00:17.67] Here in the US., I drive a nice new car and I can easily afford it.

[00:23.66] You don't have to be rich to own a car, which is great.

[00:29.15] 2.

[00:30.66] At home it only costs about $300 a month to rent a nice apartment.

[00:36.82] That's what I used to pay for a four-room apartment in a good neighborhood.

[00:41.46] Here in the U.S., I pay more than twice that for a much smaller apartment, and it's not in a very nice neighborhood.

[00:51.15] 3.

[00:52.91] I bought a lot of clothes in my country before I moved to the U.S. because everyone told me how expensive American clothing is.

[01:00.31] I was kind of surprised that I could get nice clothes here for very reasonable prices.

[01:05.16] In fact, it costs me less for clothes here than it used to cost me at home.

[01:11.06] 4.

[01:12.20] In my country, not a lot of people travel by plane because it costs more than most people can afford.

[01:18.42] But the U.S. is such a big country and the population is large, so you have a lot of people traveling by plane.

[01:25.16] That's what keeps the prices down.

[01:27.06] That means I can afford to fly here and I do it all the time.

[01:30.70] I couldn't do that at home.

[01:33.41] 5.

[01:35.16] Most people send their children to private schools at home because the public schools are not very good.

[01:41.16] You have to pay a lot to do that, so it's big expense for many people.

[01:46.17] Public schools are better in the U.S., and they're free, so most people here send their children to public schools.

[01:53.91] 6.

[01:55.92] Here in the U.S. you need to have health insurance because it costs a lot to see a doctor or to enter a hospital.

[02:03.42] At home, you don't have to pay much to see a doctor or go to a hospital because most of the clinics and hospitals are run by the government.