UNIT 4. 4F, page 35
Exercise 1
1 a multi-storey car park
2 a pedestrianised street
3 a chain store
4 disabled access
5 a cycle rack
6 a pedestrian crossing
7 a water feature
8 a shopping mall
9 a landscaped area
Exercise 2
1 proposals
2 criteria
3 renewable
4 conservation
5 within
6 affordable
7 developed
Exercise 3
Speaker 1 √
Speaker 2 -
Speaker 3 √
Speaker 4 -
LISTENING 8
Speaker 1 To my mind, schemes like this that encourage people to adopt greener lifestyles can only be a step in the right direction. Personally, I think it would be wonderful to live in the pollution-free environment of an eco-town and I would love the idea that everybody who lives there would be like-minded people who share the same attitude to the environment as me.
Speaker 2 The government is trying to persuade us that these carbon-neutral eco-towns are going to be environmentally friendly. Well, that’s not how I see it at all. The way I envisage it, they’ll just become commuter towns, where residents go home to sleep after a day’s work in the city. The roads around it will get congested so any savings on energy will be immediately wiped out by increased car use. I think they should concentrate instead on building sustainable buildings in existing towns. That would seem like the best option to me.
Speaker 3 I’m a resident of a village which is situated next to one of the sites which has been earmarked for an eco-town. For me a major drawback of the whole idea is that they’re going to tear up the beautiful green landscape in order to create a horrible, soulless town. How can they call that green?
Speaker 4 There’s a lot of controversy around these eco-towns. Some people are against them because they have concerns about
traffic congestion and I think that’s a fair point. But others are against them because they don’t want to see the countryside being concreted over. I’m afraid I don’t go along with that objection. I don’t believe affluent people with their big country houses have a right to complain about their views being spoiled when there arethousands of people from urban areas that can’t afford homes at all. So all in all, I couldn’t agree more with the government’s proposals.
Exercise 4
1 mind, step, right
2 Personally
3 how, see
4 best option to
5 major drawback of
6 fair point
7 afraid, go along
8 all, all, couldn’t, more