Detroit: then and now

Listen and fill in the missing words.

Reading comprehension
Read the article again and choose the correct option.

3 What was Detroit known as at 4 According to the first paragraph

the start of the 21st century? …

a the Paris of a Detroit factories made

cars and boats.
America
b everyone in Detroit
b Motor City owned their own home.
c the poorest city in c the car industry was an
America important employer.
 Read the article again and choose the correct option.

5 According to the first paragraph 6 According to the second paragraph,

… what interested journalists in Detroit?

a industry was based in the a the empty places

suburbs. b the number of poor
b the suburbs grew in the people
middle of the 20th century. c problems of old people
c the suburbs were poor
neighbourhoods.
Read the article again and choose the correct option.

7 How many reasons are given for 8 The main problem in Detroit
people leaving Detroit? was …

a three a crime
b four b health
c five c money
Read the article again and choose the correct option.

9 Bankruptcy meant that … 10 Which statement is true?

a $20 billion was given a 30 businesses received

back to Detroit. money to help them develop.
b Detroit could start b About 30 businesses open
again. every week now in Detroit.
c Everything was free in c There have been 30 new
Detroit business ideas in Detroit.
Vocabulary activity. Learn these keywords by using them
once in a sentence of your own.
Vocabulary practice: Look at how the adjectives in the
keywords box are used in the article. Then complete the
sentences. Use each adjective twice.

1 ‘You look very 2 I had a

_________ today.’ _________ dream
‘Thanks. I got a job about living on
interview. Mars last night.
Vocabulary practice: Look at how the adjectives in the
keywords box are used in the article. Then complete the
sentences. Use each adjective twice.

3 London’s Bond 4 The architects

Street is a very Zaha Hadid
_________ Street, designed
with expensive _________
shops and lovely buildings with very
buildings. unusual shapes.
Vocabulary practice: Look at how the adjectives in the
keywords box are used in the article. Then complete the
sentences. Use each adjective twice.

5 The children had 6 The man was

_________ very tall and had
behaviour. They very _________
were really shoulders.
naughty.
Vocabulary practice: Look at how the adjectives in the
keywords box are used in the article. Then complete the
sentences. Use each adjective twice.

7 The news about 8 We live on a

the earthquake _________ street
was _________. with lots of space
to park.
Matching exercise: Match the words on the left with the
meanings on the right.

1 suburbs a an area where people live on the edge of the

city
2 poverty b an extremely difficult or dangerous situation
3 global c people who put money into a business to
make a profit
4 crisis d the condition of being extremely poor
5 investors e worldwide
Grammar practice: Insert ‘than’ in the correct place in the
sentences 1-8 when necessary

1 We’ve lived here for less a year.

2 I earn less money in my new job, but I’m happier.
3 I eat a lot more vegetarian food before.
4 Since I moved to the country, I go to the cinema less often.
5 I watch English films more I used to.
6 Detroit is less violent 20 years ago.
7 Learning chess is more difficult I thought.
8 The town centre is much more attractive without cars.