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Religion in the U.S.

While people of most wealthy countries place less
importance on religion, many
Americans view religion as an importantor centralpart of
their lives, in fact, the
United States is the only wealthy, developed country whose
people say that religion is
significant to them. Six out of ten Americans say that religion
is very important in their
lives. This is four times greater than the people of Europe
and twice that of the people
of Canada. The U.S. is more similar to a poorer nation in
religious devotion than to
other wealthy, developed nations, and despite an ostensible
separation of church and
state, religion is often very closely tied to politics in the
United States.
Why is religion so important in the U.S.? It could stem from
the reason some of the first
colonists came to this country. The pilgrims, for example,
came to the New World to
escape religious persecution. They wanted the freedom to
worship as they chose and
not as the monarchies of Europe told them to. The freedoms
they enjoyed in the New
World drew other religious groups, first in the form of
Christian sects from Europe and
then later as people of every faith from every corner of the
world. Freedom of religion
was written into the American Constitution, and a thirst for
this religious freedom was
just one of the engines that drove immigration into the United
States, making it a very
powerful aspect of the culture of this country. Religion has,
predictably, continued to
occupy an important position in American life.
But religion, like so much else in the United States, is a very
diverse issue. Even though
certain religious groups are outspoken and very actively
involved in public and political
life, no one religious group can claim to speak for a majority
of Americans. According to
the American Religious Identity Survey*, conducted in 2001
by sociologists from the
Graduate School of the City University of New York, over 75
percent of Americans
identify themselves as Christian, but this identity ranges from
Episcopalians to
Methodists to Roman Catholics to Mormons to Evangelicals.
*The data from this survey can be found online at
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/aris_index.htm ;

Lesson 12: She'll Win by a Landslide! 123

1.5 percent of the population is Jewish, and Muslims,
Hindus, Buddhists, UnitarianUniversalists, and other groups each account for less than 1
percent of Americans. Over
13 percent of the population identifies itself as non-religious
or sectarian, and the numbers
of followers of Sikhism, Baha'i,Taoism, and Native American
beliefs continue to rise.
Naturally, how Americans practice their many religionsif
they have one at allvaries
greatly as well, both from region to region and from person
to person. lt is perhaps safest to
treat religion, then, as a personal matter when dealing with
an individual American,
because even though statistics show that it is probably
important in that person's life, it's

very hard to predict exactly what religion means to him or


Lesson 12: Answer Key

Practice Exercise 1 1. must be burning, 2. may/might/could be giving, 3. must not
be working, 4. should be
studying, 5. could/may/might be getting, 6. must be voting, 7. should be cleaning,
8- must be
kidding, 9. should be reading, 10. must be visiting
Practice Exercise 2 1. Would ...rather go, 2. would rather vote... than, 3. would
rather take... than, 4. would
rather not go, 5. would rather have become... than, 6. would rather not have
been, 7. would rather
have gotten ... than, 8. would rather be sleeping, 9. would rather be giving...
answering, 10.
would rather be feeling
Practice Exercise 3 1. could/was able to say, 2. could/was able to speak, 3.
couldn't/wasn't able to go, 4. could/was
able to get, 5. could/was able to watch, 6. could/was able to pass, 7. could/was
able to climb, 8.
could n't/was n't able to take, 9. couldn't/wasn't able to beat, 10. could/was able
to win
Review Exercise 1 1. c, 2. h, 3. e, 4. j, 5. g, 6.l, 7 a, 8. i, 9. d, 10. b, 11. n, 12. k,
13. f, 14. m
Review Exercise 2 1. must be starting, 2. could/may/might be pulling, 3. should
not be talking, 4. should be
getting, 5. might/may/could be announcing, 6. should be campaigning, 7. should
not be
discussing, 8. must be running
Review Exercise 3 1. would rather have, 2. Would ... rather read, 3. would rather
live ...than, 4. would rather have
listened ...seen, 5. would rather not have had, 6. would rather be going. ..than ..
staying, 7.
Would... rather betaking, 8. would rather be working
Review Exercise 4 1. could/was able to gain, 2. could/were able to read, 3.
could/were able to decide, 4.
couldn't/weren't able to believe, 5. could/were able to get, 6. couldn't/weren't able
to sleep, 7.
couldn't/wasn't able to list, 8. could/was able to feel
Review Exercise 5 1. lucked out, 2. ran away with, 3. stick with, 4. bringing down,
5. turn ...around, 6. stands up
for,7 trail behind, 8. catch up, 9. take off, 10. cleaned up
Listen Up! 1. No. Millard and Linda Fuller founded the organization. 2. No, they
were wealthy. 3. Yes. 4. No,
it is a partnership between new homeowners and volunteers. 5. No.

Pride of Ownership
Are you interested in buying a house? Lesson 13: Pride of
Ownership is packed with
information about buying a home, along with important
vocabulary words related to real
estate. You will also learn:
Past Forms of should and shouldn't
Be supposed to and be to
Making Suggestions with could
Phrasal Verbs for Buying and Selling a House
You'll learn a few real estate idioms in Real English, and
then you'll read about the
American dream of home ownership and why it's so
important to own a home in the U.S.
But right now let's take a look at some reductions for could
and should.


Turn on your recording to practice more reductions in
natural, conversational English.


Dialogue: Who Needs Buyer's Remorse?

Kareen has been looking at houses for several months.
She's found a house she wants to
buy, but she's feeling pretty nervous about making such a
big financial commitment.
Listen in as she speaks to Nancy, her real estate agent, on
the phone.
Kareen Hello?
Nancy Hi, Kareen! Nancy Plumber.
Kareen Hi, Nancy. What's the good word?
Nancy Well, I talked to the agent for Carlton Street, and I
think we can get
them to come down on their price. Their appraisal didn't
come in as
high as they thought it would.
Kareen Nancy, I don't know. I mean, it's so much
money... How much do you think

we could get it for?

Nancy I think we can get them to come down by about
$25,000, maybe.
Kareen Really? But that's still so much money. I just
don't know if I'm really
ready for this. It needs some work, and I can't afford to
pay for a big
mortgage and then pay to have some work done on it,
Nancy Why don't we see what kind of a loan we can get?
We could either put
zero down or make a down payment of 5 percent, and
then you could use
your cash to fix it up. There are all kinds of ways you
can get money to fix
up a place without paying a whole lot out.
Kareen But then I'd have to pay P. M. I., wouldn't I?