The key is below the text.
If you met Les and Jo or Kevin and Tania in England, you would not be surprised to learn that Les was a mechanic, Jo worked for social services,
Kevin in a steel works and Tania in an electronics factory. That is what they did several years ago before moved to Spain to work the land.
Six years ago, Les and Jo moved to the Alpujarras, a mountainous region between Granada and the Costa del Sol. Rural depopulation had
enabled Les and Jo to buy land fairly cheaply. The nearest village, Castaras, sits on a rocky promontory one thousand metres above sea-level, on the
flank of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Les and Jo's farm is in a green and fertile valley far below the village. You have to splash through a
stream to get to their tiny farm. It is a ten-minute walk from the end of a steep dirt track. Les and Jo come from Yorkshire and until recently were the
only foreigners living permanently in the valley.
Their life is hard, for Jo, taking her cheese to market means rising before dawn to saddle the mule to carry the produce. Kevin takes the
olives to the mill in a wheelbarrow. Sitting outside a bar on market day, Les, who is forty, explains his belief in a natural cycle of agriculture. He
breaks off to talk in the local dialect to a man to whom he sold a calf. But even among organic farmers, there can be few who rely so totally on man
and animal power. Les's method of threshing grain, using a mule on a stone platform, is centuries old. The steel irrigation system, built hundreds of
years ago, which made this one of the most productive areas of they Southern Spain, is virtually unaltered and the mule remains dominant on the
small, steeply terraced fields. The ancient olive trees must still be picked by hand, using canes to knock the fruit onto nets. This is the way that Les,
who used to work as a mechanic on farms in North Yorkshire, prefers to farm.
Les and Jo moved from their first smallholding two years ago to get more land and a house. They say they don't need a large income. They
say they grow most of their own food. They sell their cheese, made from the milk of one cow. They grow almonds, which go into their own
confectionery bars. The recipe came from a vegetarian cookery book but the bars are sold - six hundred a week in the summer - as a typical local
product in the tourist villages. Jo and Les accept their low income because they love the life, but they understand why local young people will not
follow the way of life of their parents.
'Being seen to work hard is very important if you are to be accepted into a country community anywhere. When we came, we hardly
noticed, we were so busy, but after a couple of years we found we were being introduced as "the foreigners who work hard". Sometimes we differ
from the local people. For example, over our refusal to use chemical fertilisers and pesticides. That is accepted.' They spend long hours listening to
the old people. 'I think they are glad they can pass on their knowledge to us,' said Les. Jo, who before coming here, worked in an old people's home,
added 'We both enjoy talking to elderly people.' Les admits, 'We owe everything we know about farming here to the Spanish people. I don't look at it
as two communities.'
Some miles away, Kevin and Tania are picking lemons, milking goats, collecting eggs and carrying hay. Five years ago, they lived in
Hampshire, a typical young couple on a modern estate with a mortgage and a car. 'Don't make the Alpujarras sound like paradise,' said Tania. 'It´s
not. It's hard work, but we are working for ourselves. In England, we were just working to pay the mortgage and run my car and Kevin´s motor bike
so that we could get to work to earn the money to pay the mortgage,' said Tania. Kevin had worked as a gardener and on a farm but ended up in a
steel works because the wages were double what he could earn on the land. Tania had worked with horses and then as a florist but eventually took a
job in an electronics factory. 'Why is it that the jobs you enjoy doing don't pay? When I left the factory, they told me I was making a mistake. I was
giving up a promising career. They could not understand what we were doing, she said. They had decided that they wanted to have some land. 'We
came here on holiday and decided it was the place to be.' Kevin recently made his first visit to England since settling in Spain and is more certain
than ever that he does not want to return”. It would mean working for somebody else.'
1 Before moving to Spain, the four people in the article
A had ordinary jobs.
B earned a lot of money.
C worked in agriculture.
D developed the skills they needed.
2 Les and Jo bought their land in an area where
A other foreigners had already settled.
B many local people had left.
C they can see the sea.
D the land is flat.
3 Les's method of working
A is the same as most local farmers.
B is one he strongly believes in.
C was imposed on him by his lack of machinery.
D was learned on farms in England.
4 What do Les And Jo think of tourists?
A They are a market for their products.
B They are a source of great profit.
C They are people who are easily deceived.
D They are responsive to new products.
5 Local people think Les and Jo are
A temporary residents.
B old-fashioned.
C making a great effort.
D taking advantage of local knowledge.
6 When Kevin and Tania lived in England they felt
A the work they did was productive.
B they would have to reduce their expenses.
C they were in jobs with good prospects.
D what mattered was how much they earned.
7 What is the continued attraction of living in Spain for
Kevin and Tania?
A They enjoy the hard work.
B They love the simple life.
C They want to be independent.
D They like eating their own fresh food.
KEY
1. A
2. B
3. B
4. A
5. C
6. D
7. C
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