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1 Read the first sentence of each paragraph in the text about Mexico City and match the headings a-c with the correct paragraphs 2-4.a A beautiful city b Bad air c Too many people 2 🔊3.07 Read and listen to the text. Check your answers to exercise 1.3 Read the text again and answer the questions.1 What are the natural environmental risks that people living in Mexico City face? 2 What do the houses in the shanty towns lack? 3 When is the air quality especially bad? 4 How is the city laid out? Mexico City: a megacity 1 Mexico City is the capital of Mexico. It's an exciting, noisy and busy place to live, but it's also vulnerable to natural disasters. It sits on an ancient lake surrounded by mountains and volcanoes and is in constant danger of earthquakes and flooding. 2 With a population of more than 18 million, overcrowding is a major issue in Mexico City and the housing supply is inadequate. As a result, shanty towns, called barrios, have appeared. People who are desperate for somewhere to live in the city put up these shanty houses in any spare corner of land. The houses ought to have proper foundations, but they have been built quickly on top of the land and when the floods come, water sweeps the houses away. Disease spreads quickly in megacities like Mexico City - overcrowding could be a reason for this. Sometimes, as many as ten people live in one room, sharing toilets, water and cooking facilities. In the 21st century, we should have the technology to provide toilets and clean drinking water for everyone, but this isn't the case in shanty towns. | 4 USE IT! Ask and answer the questions in pairs.1 What do you think the Mexican government ought to do to improve the shanty towns? 2 How can they improve the air quality in the city? 3 What kind of public transport does a city need? 4 Would you like to live in a megacity? Why /Why not?
3 Pollution is another health hazard. Smog covers the city from November to May and tens of thousands of people die from health issues relating to it. A programme called Hoy No Circula has been introduced and cars must stay off the road for orne day a week. The government is also trying to encourage commuters to find a different way to travel to work: there is a new bicycle sharing service called Ecobici and a Metrobus system. 4 Despite its problems, Mexico City is vibrant and lively with a rich cultural life, fantastic shopping, amazing restaurants and plenty for its citizens and visitors to do. There are more than two hundred museums and galleries and there is a wonderful zoo. Architecturally, it is very interesting with a wonderful checkerboard layout and splendid architecture, which dates from the 16th century. |
