The Reading / Listening - New York City - Level 5

New York City is sinking by up to four millimetres a year under the weight of all its skyscrapers. The United States Geological Survey calculated New York has around 1,080,000 buildings. They weigh around 764 billion kilograms. There is additional weight from furniture, the transport infrastructure, and the weight of the city's 8.5 million inhabitants. Dr Tom Parsons said the gradual sinking and rising sea levels could make New York prone to natural disasters. He said new high-rise buildings could increase flood risks, especially along coasts and rivers.

The researchers compared New York City to Venice and Jakarta. Venice is experiencing more floods despite its new $5.3 billion system of sea walls. Indonesia is building a new capital city from scratch because Jakarta is sinking. The United Nations forecast that 70 per cent of the world's population will live in cities by 2050. Dr Parsons said: "When you build a city and it gets full of people, you end up with subsidence." He said New York was typical of a place where many people move to and then has a high concentration of new buildings.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    New York City - Level 4 or  New York City - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/nyregion/nyc-sinking.html
  • https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230523-new-yorks-skyscrapers-are-causing-it-to-sink-what-can-be-done-about-it
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/23/world/nyc-sinking-sea-level-climate-scn/index.html


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. New York City is sinking by up
  2. under the weight of
  3. New York has around
  4. They weigh around
  5. the transport
  6. the weight of the city's 8.5
  7. new high-rise buildings could
  8. especially along coasts
  1. million inhabitants
  2. 1,080,000 buildings
  3. infrastructure
  4. all its skyscrapers
  5. increase flood risks
  6. 764 billion kilograms
  7. and rivers
  8. to four millimetres

Paragraph 2

  1. Venice is experiencing
  2. its new $5.3 billion system
  3. building a new capital city
  4. the world's population will
  5. you end up
  6. He said New York
  7. a place where many
  8. a high concentration
  1. people move to
  2. live in cities
  3. of new buildings
  4. more floods
  5. was typical
  6. from scratch
  7. with subsidence
  8. of sea walls

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

New York City is sinking by up to four millimetres a year (1) ___________________ of all its skyscrapers. The United States Geological Survey calculated New York has around 1,080,000 buildings. (2) ___________________ 764 billion kilograms. There is additional (3) ___________________, the transport infrastructure, and the weight of the city's 8.5 million inhabitants. Dr Tom Parsons said the gradual (4) ___________________ sea levels could make New York (5) ___________________ disasters. He said new high-rise buildings could increase flood risks, especially (6) ___________________ rivers.

The researchers compared New York City to Venice and Jakarta. Venice is experiencing (7) ___________________ its new $5.3 billion (8) ___________________ walls. Indonesia is building a new capital (9) ___________________ because Jakarta is sinking. The United Nations forecast that 70 per cent of the world's population will (10) ___________________ by 2050. Dr Parsons said: "When you build a city and it gets full of people, you end (11) ___________________." He said New York was typical of a place where many people move to and then has (12) ___________________ of new buildings.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

NewYorkCityissinkingbyuptofourmillimetresayearundertheweightof
allitsskyscrapers.TheUnitedStatesGeologicalSurveycalculatedNewY
orkhasaround1,080,000buildings.Theyweigharound764billionkilog
rams.Thereisadditionalweightfromfurniture,thetransportinfrastruct
ure,andtheweightofthecity's8.5millioninhabitants.DrTomParsonssa
idthegradualsinkingandrisingsealevelscouldmakeNewYorkproneton
aturaldisasters.Hesaidnewhigh-risebuildingscouldincreasefloodris
ks,especiallyalongcoastsandrivers.TheresearcherscomparedNewYo
rkCitytoVeniceandJakarta.Veniceisexperiencingmorefloodsdespitei
tsnew$5.3billionsystemofseawalls.Indonesiaisbuildinganewcapital
cityfromscratchbecauseJakartaissinking.TheUnitedNationsforecast
that70percentoftheworld'spopulationwillliveincitiesby2050.DrParso
nssaid:"Whenyoubuildacityanditgetsfullofpeople,youendupwithsub
sidence."HesaidNewYorkwastypicalofaplacewheremanypeoplemov
etoandthenhasahighconcentrationofnewbuildings.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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