Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

108 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

2. a. The greatest urban growth has occurred in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
   b. Since the 1900s, the urban population has more than tripled.


3. a. Tokyo is the world’s largest megacity.
   b. Megacities are growing, but not as rapidly as smaller cities.


4. a. Despite the beneits of an established infrastructure, cities have a negative
   ecological footprint.
   b. Toronto needs an area 200 times the size of the actual city to meet its needs for
   resources and waste absorption.


5. a. Poorly managed cities experience serious human health and social problems.
   b. Cities in developing countries are characterized by overpopulated slums, poor
   sanitation, high crime rates, and social unrest.


6. a. City oicials are often more concerned with getting elected than with solving
   problems.
   b. City governments have diiculty dealing with problems due to a lack of funding
   and vision.


7. a. Urban ecology and sustainable cities can ofer a higher quality of life based on
   ecological principles.
   b. Agenda 21 speciies a plan for the sustainable development of cities.


8. a. Curitiba and Hammarby Sjöstad were afected by trends in population growth.
   b. Curitiba and Hammarby Sjöstad are examples of successful eco-cities built on
   environmental principles.

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EXERCISE

Reading for details For each of the following sentences, choose the correct answer

to ill in the blank.

1. The number of people living in urban communities exceeded 50 percent in the year
   .
   a. 1950
   b. 2000
   c. 2007


2. Megacities are classiied according to.
   a. population
   b. total area
   c. their ecological footprint


3. The world’s largest megacity is.
   a. New York
   b. Mumbai
   c. Tokyo