Unit 55: Comparing and Contrasting - English Collocations in Use UNIT 55: COMPARING AND CONTRASTING I. Lý thuyết (Collocations) Học tập các cụm từ cố định diễn tả sự so sánh, đối chiếu và tìm điểm cân bằng dựa trên giáo trình gốc: A. Comparing two places (So sánh hai địa điểm) Emily has been offered two different jobs. The jobs are fundamentally similar but they are in different towns – Alton and Belville. The two towns bear very little resemblance to each other. Alton is a small town by the sea; Belville is entirely different as it is a large industrial town. Alton is a beautiful old town which attracts a lot of tourists. This is in marked contrast to Belville, which is rather an ugly town. There is a wide variation in the cost of accommodation in the two towns. Emily could rent a flat much more cheaply in Belville. There is also a world of difference in the entertainment on offer in the two places. Both towns have several cinemas and theatres, but because there is a clear distinction between the types of people who live in each place – there are far more students and other young people in Belville – there is a yawning gap between what the cinemas and theatres show. Belville tends to have a lot of foreign films and original new plays, and those are much more to Emily's taste. The options for eating out also differ widely . Although Alton is smaller, it has a lot of good restaurants, though they do tend to be rather expensive. Belville is the exact opposite . It has a small number of relatively inexpensive restaurants. To sum up, Alton and Belville are in many respects polar opposites . Emily is finding it hard to make up her mind. As soon as she decides that the advantages of Alton outweigh its disadvantages , then someone reminds her of the other side of the argument . Which of these two strikingly different places do you think she should decide to move to? B. Finding a balance (Tìm kiếm sự cân bằng) * Tom: How's work going these days, Karl? Are you still at the bank? * Karl: Didn't you know I'd left? I decided to do something fundamentally different last year and retrained as a teacher. * Tom: Wow! That's a bit of a change! Your salary as a teacher surely doesn't bear comparison with what you got as an investment banker. * Karl: Yes, but in other respects teaching compares very favourably with banking. I find it very personally rewarding – the financial advantages of banking pale in comparison . * Tom: So, what appeals to you so much about teaching? * Karl: Well, a teaching friend of mine once drew a comparison between teaching and gardening. Teachers tend children in much the same way as gardeners tend flowers. I love gardening, so perhaps that's why I love teaching so much! * Tom: But lots of people say it's a very stressful job these days. * Karl: Perhaps. When I first started, I found it hard to strike the balance between being firm and being friendly. I wanted to be ...