Pathways Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking 2e: Level 3 Unit 3 Name: _ Class: Date: 1. VOCABULARY 1:
Complete the paragraph with the words in the box. Not all words will be used. aspect concentration dense growth income productive spread out suburbs tend to urban
In major cities such as London or Chicago, it is common for house prices to go up year after year
after year. This (1) of modern life is a challenge for many people living in such (2)
areas because their monthly (3) is not enough to cover for
their housing payments. As a result, these people (4) move to the (5)
, where housing is cheaper. This can cause cities to (6) more, and this (7)
in turn can have environmental costs. Housing experts argue that
governments could minimize the problem by encouraging the construction of affordable housing. If cities had a greater (8)
of cheap apartments and houses, more people would be able to
live in them. Unfortunately, it may be some time before affordable housing becomes a reality in many cities around the world. VOCABULARY 2:
Complete each sentence with a word from the box. Not all words will be used. attempt basically consumption enhance increasingly industrial majority phenomenon safety varied
2. Surveys show that the majority of students prefer instructors who are passionate about
the subjects they are teaching.
3. As a city grows bigger in size, there will be a greater consumption of resources such as energy and water.
4. More and more people are moving from the countryside into cities. This phenomenon is called urbanization.
5. Cities like New York and Rome tend to have varied neighborhoods that look and feel
very different from one another.
6. Some high school students try to enhance their chances of being accepted at a good
college by volunteering to help others in the community.
7. In addition to a strong economy and efficient transportation, cities also need to have high levels of
safety to attract tourists and businesses.
8. It is becoming increasingly common for people in cities not to own a
car because of concerns bout the cost and impact on the environment. READING REVIEW:
Review these excerpts from the passages in Unit 3. Then match the opinion to the person who expresses it.
Living on an Urban Planet
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser is one person who believes that cities bring largely
positive benefits. According to Glaeser, cities are "the absence of space between people."
This closeness reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas, and allows people to
be more productive. Successful cities also attract and reward smart people with higher
wages, and they enable people to learn from one another. According to Glaeser, a perfect
example of how information can be shared in a big city is the trading floor of the New York
Stock Exchange. There, employees share information in one open, crowded space. "They
value knowledge over space," he says, "That's what the modern city is all about."
Another champion of urbanization is environmentalist Stewart Brand. According to Brand,
living in cities has a smaller impact on the environment than living in suburbs and rural
areas. Cities allow half of the world's population to live on about 4 percent of the land. City
roads, sewers, and power lines are shorter and require fewer resources to build and operate.
City apartments require less energy to heat, cool, and light than houses in other areas. Most
importantly, Brand points out that people living in dense cities drive less. They can walk to
many destinations and use public transportation. As a result, cities tend to produce fewer
greenhouse gas emissions per person than suburbs.
Because of these reasons, it may be a mistake to see urbanization as evil. Instead, we should
view it as an inevitable part of development, says David Satterthwaite of London's
International Institute of Environment and Development. For Satterthwaite and other urban
planners, rapid growth itself is not the real problem. The larger issue is how to manage the growth.
[...] Urban planners around the world continue to struggle with the problem of how to
manage urbanization. While they used to worry mainly about city density, urban planners
today are focusing on urban sprawl - the way big cities are spreading out and taking over more and more land.
Shlomo Angel is an urban planning professor at New York University and Princeton
University. He thinks rising incomes and cheaper transportation are two main reasons for
urban sprawl. "When income rises, people have money to buy more space," he says. With
cheaper transportation, people can afford to travel longer distances to work. In the second
half of the 20th century, for example, many people in the United States moved from cities to
suburban areas. This trend led to expanding suburbs, which led to more energy use and
increased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Today, many planners want to bring people back to downtown areas and make suburbs
denser. Some ways to densify suburbs include creating walkable town centers, high rise
apartment buildings, and more public transportation. This would make people less dependent
on cars. "It would be a lot better for the planet," says Edward Glaeser, if people are "in dense
cities built around the elevator rather than in sprawling areas built around the car." The Urban Visionary
When architect and urban planner Richard Wurman learned that the majority of Earth's
population lived in cities, he became curious. He wondered what the effects of global
urbanization will be. With a group of business and media partners, Wurman set out on a
five-year study - a project called 19.20.21 - to collect information about urbanization,
focusing on the world's largest urban concentrations, or megacities.
Interviewer: What draws people to cities? Wurman:
People flock to cities because of the possibilities for doing things that
interest them. Those interests - and the economics that make them possible -
are based on people living together. We really have turned into a world of
cities. Cities cooperate with each other. Cities trade with each other. Cities are
where you put museums, where you put universities, where you put the
centers of government, the centers of corporations. The inventions, the
discoveries, the music and art in our world all take place in these intense gatherings of individuals.
9. Who states that rapid growth is not a problem as long as the growth can be managed? a. Edward Glaeser b. Stewart Brand c. David Satterthwaite d. Shlomo Angel e. Richard Wurman
10. Who argues that cities appeal to intelligent people because they can earn more money? a. Edward Glaeser b. Stewart Brand c. David Satterthwaite d. Shlomo Angel e. Richard Wurman
11. Who says that people move to cities so they can enjoy a variety of interests? a. Edward Glaeser b. Stewart Brand c. David Satterthwaite d. Shlomo Angel e. Richard Wurman
12. Who compares modern cities to the work of people in the financial industry? a. Edward Glaeser b. Stewart Brand c. David Satterthwaite d. Shlomo Angel e. Richard Wurman
13. Who points out that urban living is better for the planet than suburban or rural life? a. Edward Glaeser b. Stewart Brand c. David Satterthwaite d. Shlomo Angel e. Richard Wurman
14. Who argues that cities have spread out because people can afford to pay for transportation? a. Edward Glaeser b. Stewart Brand c. David Satterthwaite d. Shlomo Angel e. Richard Wurman
15. Who argues that it is beneficial in some ways to have cities with dense populations? a.
Edward Glaeser and Stewart Brand
b. Stewart Brand and David Satterthwaite c.
David Satterthwaite and Shlomo Angel
d. Shlomo Angel and Richard Wurman e.
Richard Wurman and Edward Glaeser READING PRACTICE:
Read the passage. Then answer the questions. A
How to make traffic flow smoothly is a problem that city planners around the world struggle
with every day. Even when there is no construction or bad weather causing delays, major roads still
become congested with cars. Some optimists, however, think new technology will finally make traffic move. B
Perhaps the most ambitious project belongs to billionaire Elon Musk. Musk proposes a series
of underground tunnels that would transport vehicles around Los Angeles and other cities at high speed.
In Musk's plan, cars would be lowered onto moving sleds that would carry the vehicles through tunnels
to their destinations. Computers would control all movement and transfer cars from one tunnel to
another. Once a vehicle reached its destination, it would be raised to the surface and continue its trip in
a normal manner on surface roads. Musk claims that with such a system in place, a trip in crowded Los
Angeles that currently takes sixty minutes could be completed in less than ten. C
Musk's idea seems to have great potential. However, critics are quick to point out problems with
the plan, with the price tag being the first one. It is estimated that constructing just one mile (1.6 km) of
tunnel would require at least one billion US dollars. To create a whole system of underground tunnels
would be an enormous financial burden for any city or government. In addition, even if cities could
afford such a system, many claim the tunnels would suffer from the same problems as traditional roads. D
In the past, building more roads and highways did not solve traffic problems in the way city
planners had hoped. Instead, as soon as more roads were constructed, more drivers appeared and filled
up the extra space. Those skeptical about Musk's plan say the same thing would happen with the high-
speed tunnels. Another issue would be so-called "choke-points." Most traffic jams today occur where too
many people are trying to get on or off the road at a single narrow point. Like traditional highways,
Musk's underground tubes would face the problem of traffic jams at the entrances and exits. Without
some major innovations, the high-speed tunnels would have the same major bottlenecks. E
Even though Musk's system of high-speed tunnels appears impractical, there is another modern
solution that may be possible in the near future. As any driver will admit, it is very frustrating that many
traffic jams have no clear cause. Cars simply slow down for a period of time before the road opens up
again and traffic returns to a normal speed. Traffic experts have discovered that the main reason for this
is that human drivers have difficulty maintaining something called "flow." F
If drivers always slowed down and sped up gradually, there would be fewer traffic jams.
However, this is not what happens in reality. Because drivers can only see a short distance ahead, they
tend to brake suddenly in response to changes in speed that occur a few cars in front of them. This rapid
braking ripples backward through the cars behind them, disturbing the flow of traffic and leading to traffic jams. G
Now, though, advances in driverless cars may make the problems of maintaining traffic flow a
thing of the past. Engineers are already experimenting with driverless cars that can communicate with
other such cars on the road, even cars far ahead of or behind the driver's own vehicle. With a large
number of "smart" cars in constant contact with each other, it will be much easier to maintain a steady
flow of traffic and greatly reduce the number of traffic jams. Furthermore, in a driverless-car future in
which computers are in control instead of easily-distracted human drivers, it is expected that there would
be many fewer crashes as well. This would eliminate another major cause of traffic jams.
16. What is the best title for this passage? a.
Elon Musk's Ideas for Improving Traffic
b. Possible Solutions to Traffic Problems c.
The Many Benefits of Driverless Cars
17. What point does the author NOT make in paragraph B? a.
Musk's idea is for cars to drive at high speeds into tunnels.
b. If successful, Musk's plan would save travelers a lot of time. c.
Musk's proposal calls for computers to control traffic flow.
18. What point does the author make in paragraph C? a.
It is difficult to construct tunnels as long as roads.
b. Musk's plan would cost many billions of dollars. c.
Most cities have less money now than in the past.
19. What is the author's main purpose in paragraph D? a.
To outline possible issues with the plan for underground tunnels
b. To define the meaning of key expressions such as "choke-points" c.
To suggest traffic may not move at high speeds through tunnels
20. The word "skeptical" in the third sentence of paragraph D is closest in meaning to . a. misunderstood b. depressed c. unconvinced
21. According to the author, what causes some traffic jams? a.
The large number of slow cars with brake problems on the roads
b. The way drivers react to the actions of the drivers in front of them c.
The fact that drivers relax and drive slower when they feel "flow"
22. The word "them" in the third sentence of paragraph F refers to . a. cars b. changes c. drivers
23. What benefit of driverless cars does the author mention in paragraph G? a.
Accidents would happen less often.
b. People would spend less time in cars. c. Cars would consume less fuel.
READING SKILL REVIEW - ANALYZING VISUAL INFORMATION:
Look at the graph. Then indicate whether each statement is True or False. F
24. The horizontal axis of the graph shows 100 years divided into 10-year periods. F
25. The proportion of people living in large urban areas has declined in several regions. F
26. By 2050, around 60 percent of people in all regions will be living in large urban areas. T
27. In Latin America and the Caribbean, urbanization grew most rapidly before 2000. T
28. Compared with the situation in 1950, the average proportion of the world's population living in
large urban areas is predicted to double by 2050.
LANGUAGE FOR WRITING REVIEW - USING THE SIMPLE PAST AND THE PRESENT PERFECT:
Complete each sentence by writing the word in parentheses in the correct tense - either simple past or present perfect.
29. According to Richard Wurman, London (be) the largest city in the world in 1900.
30. Elon Musk, who (start) his first company when he was in his 20s, thinks he can solve
some of the traffic problems affecting cities.
31. Beijing (be) both the largest and most important city in China for hundreds of years.
32. Many scholars argue that the spread of agriculture about 10,000 years ago (allow)
humans to begin living in towns and cities.
33. Thousands of people (leave) Europe to move to the USA in the nineteenth century.
34. Increased urbanization (cause) a number of problems for people living in them,
including heavy traffic, rising crime, and loss of privacy.
WRITING SKILL REVIEW 1 - WRITING AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH:
Complete this introductory paragraph with phrases from the box. Not all phrases will be used. according to a study expensive alternatives in certain cities many of the decisions the average commuter ways to solve 35. (1) , last year (2) in the US wasted 42 hours stuck in traffic. Indeed, (3)
, such as Washington, D.C. and New York, it
was closer to 80 hours. Not surprisingly, many smart people have begun to think about (4) this traffic problem.
WRITING SKILL REVIEW 2 - WRITING A CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH:
Complete this concluding paragraph with phrases from the box. Not all phrases will be used. a majority of them and less stressful but carpooling in a traffic jam of their life seldom or rarely
36. In conclusion, cities will continue to have a lot of traffic, (1) and similar
schemes are likely to make the average commute shorter (2) . After all, who
wants to waste hours (3) sitting (4) ? WRITING PRACTICE:
In your view, which is the most serious problem affecting a city you know: overcrowding, heavy
traffic, air pollution, or lack of cheap housing? What is one solution to this problem?
37. Write a short essay with an introductory paragraph, one body paragraph, and a concluding paragraph.