UNIT

8 The longer read

To bike or not
to bike?
Do you like the idea of riding a bike to
school or work? It can help reduce traffic
and it is good for you. Are you worried
about what to do when your bicycle
doesn’t work? Do you find cycling
too hard? Here are two ideas you can
think about.

Bike share
Nowadays, many cities have bikes for rent so you can move around more quickly than on
foot. It means that you don’t need to own a bike or worry about repairing one. In Taipei, for
example, you can find yellow U-bikes all over the city. There are hundreds of bike stations,
often near underground stations, where you can take or leave a bike. The programme started
in 2008. It costs about 25 pence for every 30 mins for the first four hours. Other cities such as
Shanghai and Paris have similar bike share programmes, but you can leave the bike anywhere.
You use an app to find one near you and then leave it on the street when you arrive at your
destination. These programmes had problems when they first began. People sometimes
didn’t find the bikes easily and there were problems with thieves. They are better now though.
Does your town have a bike-share programme you can use?

Electric bikes
Did you know the first electric bikes appeared in the 1890s? The design is similar to a normal
bike. The difference is that it has a small electric motor. You still use your legs to move the
wheels but the motor helps you go uphill and go faster. In fact, Howard Hughes, a famous
billionaire inventor, changed his bike to an electric one in 1917 when he was just 17. He used a
starter motor from a car and a car battery. Electric bikes didn’t become popular until the end
of the 20th century because they were too expensive and it was difficult to get the material for
the batteries. They became more popular in the 1990s when scientific improvements reduced
the price. So, perhaps you can buy or rent an electric bike to move around town. Maybe you’ll
start a new craze!

Fun fact @bikemad Love your

There are now around 120 suggestions. When I lived in
million electric bikes in China! London I used Santander cycle
share. It was great.

Get Involved! A1+ © Macmillan Education Limited 2021

 UNIT
8 The longer read
Subskill: Asking questions before you read
Before you read, look at the title and
photo and ask yourself what you know
about the topic. This helps prepare you
to read the text.
1 Read the subskill. Answer the questions.
1 How many different kinds of bike can you
think of?
2 How can you ride a bike if you don’t have
your own bicycle?
4 Word work: Replace the words underlined
2 Read the text and answer the questions.
1 When did the Taipei bike rental
programme start?
2 Where in Taipei can you leave the bikes?
3 Where in Shanghai and Paris can you
leave the bikes?
4 When did electric bikes first appear?
5 Why didn’t electric bikes become popular
in the early/mid 1900s?
6 How many electric bikes are there in
China now?
5 Answer the questions for you.
3 Read the text again and choose the
correct answer.
1 When you rent a bike, you …
a don’t need to repair it if it breaks.
b have to repair it if it breaks.
2 The bikes you can rent in Taipei are …
a red b yellow
3 In Taipei, it costs 25 pence to rent a bike …
a for four hours. b for 30 minutes.
Get Involved! A1+ © Macmillan Education Limited 2021
4 When the bike share programmes in
Shanghai and Paris started, it was …
a hard to find bikes.
b easy to find bikes.
5 When you go uphill on an electric bike …
a you use your legs.
b you don’t use your legs.
6 Howard Hughes …
a invented the electric bike.
b made an electric bike by himself.
7 @bikemad … a bike share programme in
London.
a used b uses
with one of the words in bold in the text.
1 We can travel to that place we want to go
by train or by bus.
2 The car moves because it has a machine
that gives it power to move.
3 Those people took our phones and ran
off with them. We need to call the police.
4 The price was £50 but now it’s £35
because they made the price smaller.
the price
5 This part at the back of the phone gives
the phone power to work.
6 I don’t want to buy the scooter. I just want
to pay some money to ride it, so I can use
it for a short time.
1 Which bike in the text do you
prefer? Why?
2 What different types of transport did you
use last year? Which one did you like
best? Why?