A place to live Lesson 4 2 Reading and speaking
A
a Read the facts on the right quickly and match them with the topics below. 1 Housing
___
4 Trash dumping
___
2 Traffic congestion
___
5 Water pollution
___
3 Air pollution ___ 6 Insufficient electricity
___
India’s capital, New Delhi, suffers frequent power cuts, especially in the summer months.
B Air pollution in Shanghai, China, is so heavy that it is comparable to smoking over 20 cigarettes a day.
C In 2004, more than 1,000 new vehicles were added to the streets of Bangkok every day. The average Thai driver spends more than 44 full days a year sitting in traffic jams.
D In 2002, 17% of the planet’s people did not have access to clean drinking water.
b Read the facts again. Check (✔) the statements T (true) or F (false). 1 In New Delhi they sometimes have power cuts.
T
F
2 Air quality in Shanghai is very poor.
T
F
3 Every Thai driver spends more than a month each T year in traffic jams.
F
4 A quarter of the world’s population cannot get clean water.
T
F
5 Access to decent housing is a major problem in Dhaka.
T
F
6 Tokyo has plenty of space for garbage.
T
F
E At least half the population in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, lives in slums.
F Tokyo buries its garbage in artificial islands in Tokyo Bay and surrounding areas. But it will soon run out of room for the 5.5 million tons of household garbage it generates every year.
3 Writing and speaking a In groups, imagine that you are city planners. First, decide what the main problems of your city or town are and write them down. There isn’t enough water for the population.
Then write suggestions for solving the problems. We should have rainwater collection systems for companies and public buildings. These could provide more water for the city.
b Compare your suggestions with those of other groups.
Unit 4
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