LESSON 8 Similarities and Difference : Compare and Contrast

Planting a garden is a lot like having a family. Both require a great deal of work, especially as they grow and as the season change. As summer days lengthen, your plants become dependent on you for sustenance, much like your children depend on you for food and drink. Like a thirsty child asking for a drink of water, your plants do the same.Thei bent, wilted body language, translated, issues a demand much the way your child requests milk or juice.When their collective thirsts are quenched, you see the way they both thrive in your care. The fussy child becomes satisfied, and the plant reaches toward the sun in a showy display. You might also find yhat you have to clean the space around your plants much like you would pick up toys and clothes that have been thrown helter-skelter in your toddlers room. Similarly, plants shed spent petals, roses need to be pruned, and weeds need to be pulled. To keep children healthy, parent protect their children against disease with medicine, and gardeners do the same with insect repellent. To nourish them, parents give children vitamins, and gardeners use fertilizer, as both promote healthy growth. As children grow and become adults, they need lees and lees care. Howefer, heres where the similarity ends. While plants die and become dormant during winter, children still maintain a vital role in the family unit.

1. What two things are being compared and contrasted here? Answer: The two things being compared and contrasted are a parent and a gardener. 2. In what ways are these two things similar? (There are four similarities; list them here.) Answer: Gardeners are like parents in that:

a. Plants are dependent on gardeners as children are on parents. b. Plants require care from gardeners as children do from their parents. c. Gardeners tidy up after their plants, as parents do after children. d. Gardeners protect their plants, as parents protect their children.

3. In what ways are these two things different? (There is one aspect that is different; write it here.) Answer: Gardeners are unlike parents in that their responsibility for their plants ends when the plant dies or goes into winter dormancy.