2. This activity focuses on some of the words and phrases that can be heard in the talk.
- Explain the meaning of any unfamiliar words, if necessary.
- Play the recording without pausing. Ask Ss to listen and underline the words or phrases that they hear.
Key a, b, d, e, h
Audio script
People have very different opinions about the cities of the future. Those who are pessimistic think that our cities will become more and more polluted, so they will no longer be safe and healthy places to live in. Pessimists point out that both global warming and pollution have increased rapidly over the past twenty years, but governments have no effective ways to control them. There are no signs that this problem will be solved in the future. In addition, more and more people are leaving the countryside and moving to big cities to look for work. As a result, cities will become overcrowded. This means there will be more people, more waste and heavier traffic. All these factors will lead to more pollution.
On the other hand, optimistic people believe that city dwellers will have a better life thanks to important achievements in technology and medicine. Modern machines and well- equipped hospitals in cities will provide better, quicker and more effective treatment for people. How about environmental problems? Optimists also think that scientists will find ways to cut down the cost of renewable energy sources and make them available to everybody. They hope that these energy sources will step by step replace fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil in the next twenty years. Then city dwellers will live in a cleaner and healthier environment.