_______________________________
There has been a strong reaction to plans to expand Heathrow, already one of the biggest and busiest airports in the world. The plans mean building a third runway and a sixth terminal building, and people are very unhappy.
The government would like the third runway to be operating by 2030. The transport secretary* says that Britain depends on Heathrow as a link to the world economy. She believes that Heathrow will lose some of its reputation as a world airport if it is not expanded, and she warns that some of the 170,000 jobs at the airport could be lost.
People opposed to the expansion have set up an action group and called it NoTRAG (No Third Runway Action Group). A spokesman says that noise from planes on a new runway will affect more than fifty towns. He adds that building a sixth terminal will mean destroying around 700 homes, including one whole village. However, the transport secretary says that modern planes are becoming cleaner and less noisy and that the problem would not be so great.
The company that runs Heathrow Airport is BAA. Their chief executive says that the airport has been running at full capacity for more than 15 years and that it must expand. He believes that a third runway could be worth around £10 billion a year to the economy.
The spokesman for NoTRAG says that a third runway would mean around 900 flights more each day, and that other methods of transport should be developed instead. The shadow transport secretary** agrees. She believes that a third runway will mean more noise and pollution and feels that high-speed rail links are a much better option.
* Transport secretary – the person in the government who is responsible for transport. ** Shadow transport secretary – the person in the opposition party (the party not in power) who is responsible for transport.
E Check the key on page 172. how many questions did you answer correctly?
F Tick the sentences about the reading task that are true for you and think about how you can answer more questions correctly next time.
1. Skimming the text first helped to get an idea of what it was about. 2. I tried to read the topic sentences and then skim the rest of each paragraph. 3. I knew what was a fact and what was an opinion. 4. I was happy with how quickly I answered the questions. 5. I am getting better at guessing the meaning of new words and phrases in context. 6. I am happy with the number of questions I answered correctly.
Key vocabulary in context
Use words from the text to complete these sentences. The paragraph in which you can find the word is given in brackets.
1. I’m going to tell my boss that I’m leaving my job. I don’t know what his __________ will be. (1)
2. We had no electricity for an hour, but the machines are __________ again now. (2) 3. The restaurant is expensive, but it has a very good __________. (2) 4. Of course, most smokers are __________ to a smoking ban. (3) 5. The fire destroyed the __________ building. There was nothing left. (3) 6. I’m afraid the room’s __________ is 45 people. I can’t let anybody else in. (4)
∫ WB For focus on reading skills, go to Workbook page 159.
92 Pathway to IELTS 1
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