4.1

Unit 4. Traditions. Unit 4. See. Reading. Read and listen to the text and do the following exercises.

Life in the Middle Ages. A. The Daily Life. Most people lived in the countryside during the Middle Ages,

and they worked as farmers. The farmers used to work all year long. They grew crops like wheat.

They used to have gardens and grow fruits and vegetables. They raised chickens for eggs and cows for milk.

City life was very different from country life, but it was difficult too. The cities were crowded and dirty.

Most people in the cities used to work as craftsmen. Young boys used to learn a craft for seven years.

There were other people working as servants, merchants, bakers, doctors and lawyers.

B. The Houses. We often think of pictures of large castles when we think of the Middle Ages,

but most people used to live in small houses. The families were too crowded and generally everyone used to sleep in the same room.

In the countryside, even the animals like cows used to live inside the houses. The houses were usually dark and uncomfortable.

They also smelled smoky because of the fire lit for cooking.

C. The Clothes. In the Middle Ages, there used to be rules for clothing because they wanted to separate the rich people,

nobles from the poor people, peasants. The peasants used to wear clothes made of wool because they needed to keep themselves warm in the winter.

The nobles used to wear woolen clothes too, but their clothes were also made of high quality velvet and silk.

Men used to wear tunics, woolen stockings and cloaks. Women used to wear long skirts, woolen stockings and cloaks.

D. The Food. Peasants in the Middle Ages did not have a lot of food. They used to eat bread, beans, dried peas, cabbage and other vegetables.

They used to eat meat, cheese and eggs on special occasions. They didn't used to have ways to keep their food cold, so they used to eat it fresh.

They also used to salt and smoke the meat to protect it from rotting.

The nobles used to eat different types of meat and reach pudding dessert.