Before answering questions, please listen to the audio access
Source: SPEAK UP
Speak Up - Issue 281 – WALKING THE BRIDGE (B1)
A – Before you start
Answer the questions with a partner.
1. Have you ever been to San Francisco? If so, what do you remember about the Golden Gate Bridge?
2. What famous bridges are there in Brazil? (e.g. in Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguaçu, ...)
3. Why do many people find bridges fascinating?
B – Read and answer
Part 1
Look through the main article and find the answers to these questions as quickly as possible.
1. Where in San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge situated?
2. What does it cross?
3. When was it built?
4. Who designed it?
5. How much does it cost to maintain it?
6. What improvement works are engineers carrying out at the moment?
Part 2
Read the main article and the Information Box and write T (true) or F (false) next to these sentences.
1. The Golden Gate is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
2. Over 200,000 cross it every day.
3. President Franklin D Roosevelt went to San Francisco to open the bridge to motorists.
4. Cars weren’t allowed to cross the bridge on the first day.
5. Hundreds of people work on the bridge.
6. In the past ten years about 1,500 people have committed suicide by jumping from the bridge.
7. The bridge has a lane reserved for cyclists.
8. Motorists have to pay to cross the bridge.
C – Listen and answer (Optional)
N.B. This interview is graded as C1. So don’t be discouraged if you find it difficult. Try to understand the main points.
Read these statements. Then listen to the interview with Mary Curry, without reading, and write T (true) or F (false).
1. It’s said that Mark Twain complained about the fog in San Francisco.
D – Listen, read and check your answers
E – Learn it! Use it!
F – Ready for PET? (Paper 1: Writing, Part 1)
G – Write about it
2. Mary Curry says there’s a risk of fog between May and September.
3. She says the best time to visit is autumn and winter.
4. Cycling used to be more popular in San Francisco.
5. You can hire a bicycle on the bridge.
6. Some people cycle across the bridge, then take the ferry back to San Francisco.
7. When you walk on the bridge, you feel it move and notice the noise of the traffic.
D – Listen, read and check your answers
Listen to the interview while reading the text.(If you did Exercise C, check your answers while reading.)
E – Learn it! Use it!
Complete these sentences with words from the glossary. (You may have to adapt the expression in some way; e.g. change the verb tense or change from plural to singular.)
1. The restaurant in our hotel wasn’t very good so we usually ate at a ________ restaurant.
2. The tennis club disco was a huge success. Over two hundred people _______ _____.
3. Joe has had to face some difficult situations in his new job but he doesn’t mind because he enjoys a ________.
4. When it starts raining like this, it goes on for _______ _____ _______.
5. The company launched its new mobile phone recently but it hasn’t ________ _____ because it’s too expensive.
6. The driver lost control and his car went up onto the ________ and smashed into a shop window.
7. In many parks there’s a fence around the children’s play area to ________ dogs from entering.
8. At the end of some motorways, there are often long queues at the ________ ________.
F – Ready for PET? (Paper 1: Writing, Part 1)
Complete the second sentence with 1 to 3 words so that it means the same as the first. (They are constructions used in the article.)
1. When the bridge opened, the city celebrated with a festival which lasted for a week.
When the bridge opened, the city celebrated with a __________ festival.
2. About 1,500 people have committed suicide by jumping off the bridge.
About 1,500 people ______________ themselves by jumping off the bridge.
3. There are plans for the installation of nets under the bridge.
They are ________________ nets under the bridge.
5. From May through August there can be a lot of fog.
From May through August it can ______________.
4. I came here 19 years ago.
I’ve ______________ 19 years now.
6. Sometimes the bridge is almost invisible.
Sometimes you can ___________ the bridge.
7. Some people can’t come here in winter.
Not ____________ come here in winter.
8. Other forms of transport are starting to be popular.
Other forms of transport ______________ on.
G – Write about it
Write about a historic Brazilian bridge.
- Where is it?
- What does it span?
- How old is it?
- Do you know who designed it?
- Why is it famous?
- Are there any legends or stories associated with it?
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What a great post. Congrats
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