Louise Hidalgo considers life in the 21st century, with two-kilometre high buildings, and Japanese cities that touch the sky

Imagine a building one third of the height of Mount Everest, built by robots, and containing a whole city. Imagine you can walk out of your front door in a T-shirt and shorts on a cold winter's day and take a lift down 500 floors to school. Imagine you can see the sea a mile below you. Imagine you can never open a window. Imagine...

Well, if Japanese architects find enough money for their project, in the 21st century you'll be able to live in a building like that.

Ohbayashi Gumi has designed a two-kilometre high building, Aeropolis, which will stand right in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Over 300,000 people will live in it. It will be 500 floors high, and in special lifts it will take just 15 minutes to get from top to bottom. Restaurants, offices, flats, cinemas, schools, hospitals, and post offices will all be just a few lift stops away. According to the architects, Aeropolis will be the first 'city to touch the skies'.

'When we get to the end of this century, Tokyo will have a population of over 15 million people,' said design manager Mr Shuzimo. 'There isn't enough land in Japan. We're going to start doing tests to find the best place to build it. I hope people will like living on the 500th floor.' Won’t people want to have trees and flowers around them? 'We're going to have green floors, where children can play and office workers can eat their lunch-break sandwiches,' explained Mr Shuzimo. What about fires? 'If there is a fire, it will be put out by robots. I hope we'll get the money we need to build. As soon as we do, we'll start. This will be the most exciting building in the world.’

Appendix 2

Supplementary Texts

(Ecological Problems of Modern Cities)

TEXT № 1

The Protection of Nature

Nature is the source of Man's life since ancient times. People lived in harmony with environment for thousands of years and thought that natural riches were unlimited. The development of civilisation increased man's harmful interference in nature.

Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink. Every year world industry pol­lutes the atmosphere with about 1,000 million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Beautiful old forests disappear forever. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear for­ever, a number of lakes and rivers dry up.

The pollution of air and destruction of the ozone layer are the results of man's attitude towards Nature.

The protection of the environment is a universal concern. We must be very active to create a serious system of ecological security.

Слова к тексту:

destruction (n) – разрушение

dry up (v) – высыхать

harmful interference – вредное воздействие

industrial enterprises – промышленные предприятия

natural riches – природные богатства

ozone 1ауer [´əuzəun ´leıə] – озоновый слой

rare (adj) – редкий

source (n) [´sכ:s] – источник

substances (n) – вещества

suffer (v) – страдать

universal concern – всеобщая забота

upset (v) – зд. нарушать

Ответьте на вопросы:

1. What is the main reason of ecological problems?

2. What are the main ecological problems?

3. Why should the ecological problems be a universal concern?

4. What steps are taken to fight ecological problems?

TEXT № 2

Greenhouse Effect

Greenhouse effect is the term for the role the atmosphere in warming the earth’s surface. The atmosphere is largely transparent to incoming short-wave solar radiation, which heats the earth’s surface. Much of this radiation is reflected back by gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone in the atmosphere. This heating effect is at the root of the theories concerning global warming.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing by 0.4 per cent a year because of the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. The cutting of tropical forests has also been a contributing factor in the carbon cycle. Other gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, such as methane and halocarbons, are increasing even faster. The net effect of these increases could be a worldwide rise in temperature, estimated at 2˚ to 6˚ C (4˚ to 11˚ F) over the next 100 years. Warming of this magnitude would alter climates throughout the world, affect crop production, and cause sea levels to rise significantly. If this happened, millions of people would be badly affected by flooding.

Слова к тексту:

absorb (v) [əb´sכ:b] – поглощать

alter (v) [´כ:ltə] – изменять

affect (v) – влиять

be affected by – подвергаться воздействию

чего-либо

carbon dioxide [´kα:bən daı´oksaıd] – двуокись углерода, углекислый

газ

cause (v) – послужить причиной/поводом

для чего-либо

contribute (v) – содействовать, способствовать

estimate (v) – оценивать

flood (n) [flLd] – наводнение

fossil (n) [fכsl] – ископаемое

greenhouse effect – парниковый эффект

halocarbons (n) [´hælokα:bənz] – хлороуглероды

heating effect – эффект нагревания

magnitude (n) – величина

methane (n)[´mi:θeın] –метан

net effect – суммарный эффект

nitrous oxide [´naıtrəs´ oksaıd] – окись азота

root (n) – корень

surface (n) [´sə:fıs] – поверхность

transparent [træns´pεərənt] – прозрачный

Ответьте на вопросы:

1. How is the surface of the Earth heated?

2. What gases reflect heat back in the atmosphere?

3. Why is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increasing?

4. What can you say about possible worldwide rise in temperature in the next 100 years?

ТЕХТ № З

Global Warming

Global warming is an increase in the earth's temperature due to the use of fossil fuels and other industrial processes leading to a build-up of "greenhouse gases" (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) in the at­mosphere. It has been known since 1896 that carbon dioxide helps stop the sun's infrared radiation from escaping into space and thus functions to maintain the Earth's relatively warm temperature (this is called the green­house effect). The question is whether the increasing levels of carbon di­oxide in the atmosphere will lead to elevated global temperatures, which could result major climatic changes, and have serious problems for agri­cultural productivity.

Since 1850 there has been a mean rise in global temperature of approximately 1˚ C (1.8˚ F), but this rise could just be part of a natural fluctuation. Such fluctuations have been recorded for tens of thousands of years.

The potencial concequences of global warming are so great that many of the world’s top scientists have insisted on immediate action and have called for international cooperation on the problem.

Слова к тексту:

built-up (n) – накопление, увеличение

consequence (n) – (по)следствие

due to (prep) – благодаря, вследствие, в результате

elevated (p.II) – повышенный

fluctuation (n) – колебание

insist on (v) – настаивать на

mean (adj) – средний

Ответьте на вопросы:

1. What gases are called “greenhouse gases”?

2. What is a “greenhouse effect”?

3. What can be the potential consequences of global warning?

TEXT № 4