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9B Reading and Speaking
9B Reading and Speaking
It's a city of great wealth but also extreme poverty, and there are many homeless people.
Because of this social imbalance, it can be a dangerous city, too, with high levels of
crime, especially kidnapping. In fact, there are boutiques that sell a rather special line in
men's clothes: the shirts, sweaters, and jackets look completely normal, but are in fact
bulletproof, made of reinforced Kevlar.
But despite the crime, the traffic, and the pollution, Andrew Marr describes Mexico City
as “a friendly, liveable place” and the most enjoyable megacity of all that he visited.
1.- READING & SPEAKING
a) What do you think a “megacity” is? Read the introduction to the text to check
your answer. With a partner, in two minutes list what you think are probably the
biggest problems for people who live in a megacity.
For me, megacities have millions of inhabitants, with space problems, where a space to
live has very high prices and is difficult to acquire
There are overcrowding problems as mentioned in the text, in 30 or 50 years 70% will
live in cities and this will cause a big problem of not being able to supply people's
needs, and the poverty and contamination that already exists will grow. Problem in
megacities for example the space where they live and poverty.
b) Read the article once. In which city are the things you discussed in a a) problem:
Tokyo, Mexico City, both, or neither?
The problem is in both countries, in Tokyo due to space problems, alienation and
loneliness and in Mexico security problems, poverty and environmental contamination,
but you also have positive things, as Tokyo is very safe and well organized, that
megacity and Mexico its culture.
c) Read the article again. Then, in pairs, using your own words, say why the
following are mentioned.
TOKYO
33 million eight million a letter from the train company
driving schools 270 square feet the Hikikomori
Rent a friend the Hashiriya
MEXICO CITY
taco stands Mariachi bands two-and-a-half hours
social imbalance kidnapping Kevlar
The difference between these two countries is great, in Tokyo they have advanced
technologies, they are highly organized in every aspect, while in Mexico there is great
cultural wealth
d) Find words in the article that mean...
TOKYO
1 AUTOMATED adj operated by machines not people (paragraph 1)
2 UNTHINKABLE adj impossible to imagine (paragraph 1)
3 UNEMPLOYMENT noun the number of people who don't have a job (paragraph 1)
4 OVERCROWDED adj with too many people in it (paragraph 2)
5 ALIENATION noun a feeling that you don’t belong to a community (paragraph 3)
6 LONELINESS noun the feeling of not having any friends (paragraph 3)
MEXICO CITY
7 POLLUTION noun the process of making air (and water) dirty (paragraph 2)
8 WEALTH noun the state of being very rich (paragraph 2)
9 POVERTY noun the state of being poor (paragraph 2)
10 HOMELESS adj not having a house (paragraph 2)
e) Talk to a partner.
1 If you had to go to work or study in either Mexico City or Tokyo, which would
you choose, and why?
If I had the opportunity to work or study it would be in Tokyo, because I consider that
Tokyo can teach me how to be disciplined and technology is very advanced, I think
there would be more opportunities to live better
2 What do you think are the main advantages of living in a big city?
The main advantages would be job opportunities and other things, in addition to leading
a better life.
3 What’s the biggest city you’ve ever been to? Why did you go there? What did
you think of it?
I consider that the largest city I have visited is Lima, I went to visit my aunt on vacation,
it was very stressful with all the problems that exist in Lima, as car traffic.