Unit

9 CITIES OF THE WORLD

A. VOCABULARY
I. VOCABULARY LIST

Continents and countries

Africa /ˈæfrɪkə/ (n) There are a lot elephants and gira es in Africa.
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Antarc ca /ænˈtɑrktɪkɑ/ (n) Penguins must love living in Antarc ca.
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Asia /ˈeɪʒə/ (n) The culture of Asia is so rich and colourful.
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con nent /ˈkɒntɪnənt/ (n) I have never travelled to another con nent.
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Europe /ˈjʊərəp/ (n) Europe in spring is so beau ful!
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Cities and landmarks

capital /ˈkæpɪt(ə)l/ (n) Do you know the capital of France?
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design /dɪˈzaɪn/ (n) The design of this museum is so crea ve.
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exhibi on /ˌeksɪˈbɪʃ(ə)n/ (n) We are going to the exhibi on of modern arts.
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historical /hɪˈstɒrɪk(ə)l/ (a) Historical places should be preserved.
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journey /ˈdʒɜː(r)ni/ (n) The Journey to the West is a famous movie.
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landmark /ˈlæn(d)ˌmɑː(r)k/ (n) This is one of Europe’s most famous landmarks.
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monument /ˈmɒnjʊmənt/ (n) This monument is made of stone.
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palace /ˈpæləs/ (n) The palace is a marvelous sight to admire.
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skyscraper /ˈskaɪˌskreɪpə(r)/ (n) Many more skyscrapers are being built around the world.
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symbol /ˈsɪmb(ə)l/ (n) Ei el Tower is the symbol of Paris.
tower /ˈtaʊə(r)/ (n) ..................................................................................
temperature /ˈtemprɪtʃə(r)/ (n) The temperature will drop a degree tomorrow.

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UNESCO World /juːˈneskəʊ wɜː(r)ld (n) All UNESCO World Heritages are highly valued.
Heritage ˈherɪtɪdʒ/
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well-known /wel nəʊn/ (a) This lake is a well-known sightseeing spot.

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II. VOCABULARY PRACTICE

1. Read the passage and choose the best word (A, B or C) to put in each space.
Hoi An is one of the 1 ............ towns in Viet Nam. It 2 ............ on the lower sec on of the Thu
Bon river. It is a very beau ful town with a lot of colourful 3 ............ which are hung 4 ............
the town. Hoi An is famous for one- 5 ............ tailoring. Customers order clothes 6 ............ the
morning and get them in the 7 ............ . The price is not really 8 ............ . If you want to nd the
place of the 9 ............ me, Hoi An is a 10 ............ choice.

1. A. newer B. newest C. oldest

2. A. are B. is C. are being
3. A. lanterns B. stars C. balloons
4. A. on B. around C. up
5. A. month B. week C. day
6. A. at B. in C. on
7. A. night B. a ernoon C. evening
8. A. expensive B. cheap C. more expensive
9. A. modern B. old C. new
10. A. best B. worst C. good

2. Put the words into two groups (/əʊ/ and /aɪ/)

me smile old cold rose kite
nose drive low wine hole light

/əʊ/ /aɪ/

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 3. Complete the following sentences with comparatives and superlatives.

SUPERLATIVE OF LONG ADJECTIVES

Long adjec ve: 2-syllable adjec ves not ending in –y (famous, peaceful)
& 3 or more syllables adjec ves (expensive, delicious)
Superla ve of long adjec ves: the + most + long adjec ve
(the most famous, the most expensive)

1. Pho is the .............................................. food I’ve ever tasted. DELICIOUS

2. Ho Chi Minh City is .............................................. than Ha Noi. BUSY
3. Va can City is the .............................................. country in the world. SMALL
4. I think Bangkok is .............................................. than Manila. MODERN
5. Is Tokyo one of the .............................................. ci es in the world? EXPENSIVE
6. The popula on of London is .............................................. than that of Paris. BIG
7. It’s the .............................................. service we’ve ever had in New York. GOOD
8. The weather in Cairo is .............................................. than that in Berlin. BAD
9. Shanghai is one of the .............................................. ci es in the world. NOISY
10. Many people say that Hue is the .............................................. city in Viet Nam. HISTORIC

4. Find the word with a different stress pattern from the others.
1. A. Antarc ca B. con nent C. landmark D. journey
2. A. musician B. Europe C. capital D. monument
3. A. heritage B. symbol C. design D. skyscraper
4. A. temperature B. lantern C. palace D. vaca on
5. A. industry B. climate C. century D. pollu on

5. Put the verbs in brackets in the present perfect or the simple past tense.
1. We (never/ watch) ................................. that TV programme.
2. We (watch) ................................. a good TV programme on TV last night.
3. He (read) ................................. that novel many mes before.
4. He (read) ................................. that novel again during his last vaca on.
5. I (have) ................................. a li le trouble with my car last week.
6. However, I (not/ have) ................................. no trouble with my car since then.
7. I (not/ see) ................................. John for a long me. I (see) ........................... him 3 weeks ago.
8. The school bell (ring) .................................. We must go now.
9. I (meet) ............................... Mary last night. She (become) ............................... a very big girl.
10. He is very thirsty. He (not/ drink) ................................. since this morning.

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 6. Give the correct form of the word given to complete the sentences.
1. New York is an .............................................. city with many skyscrapers. EXCITE
2. There are many modern .............................................. in Ho Chi Minh City. BUILD
3. William Shakespeare is a famous .............................................. in the world. PLAY
4. Britain’s most common leisure .............................................. are watching TV and ACT
lms and listening to the radio.
5. Merlion is a ...................................... with the head of a lion and the body of a sh. CREATE

7. Choose the correct answer A, B, C or D to inish the sentences.

1. We ............ to Ho Chi Minh City for our last summer vaca on.
A. go B. went C. are going D. have gone
2. My father ............ Kuala Lumpur three mes.
A. visit B. will visit C. visited D. has visited
3. The noise in the street usually ............ me awake at night.
A. keeps B. is keeping C. kept D. has kept
4. ............ to a na ve speaker of English, Phuong?
A. Have you ever talked B. Do you ever talk
C. Did you ever talk D. Are you ever talking
5. We some mes ............ out when we lived in the city.
A. eat B. will eat C. have eaten D. ate
6. Vinh ............ home for school yet.
A. didn’t leave B. hasn’t le C. isn’t leaving D. don’t leave
7. Amsterdam is one of the ............ ci es in the world.
A. peacefullest B. peacefuller C. most peaceful D. more peaceful
8. I think Seoul is ............ than Jakarta.
A. cleaner B. cleanest C. more cleaner D. most cleanest
9. Ei el Tower is the most ............ landmark in the world.
A. been B. looked C. designed D. visited
10. Britain’s most popular ............ is sh and chips.
A. drink B. place C. food D. lm

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 B. LISTENING

1.1. People are comparing two cities. Listen and circle the city each person
prefers.
1. a. Washington, D.C. 2. a. Los Angeles 3. a. Singapore 4. a. Sydney
b. New York b. San Francisco b. Hong Kong b. Melbourne

1.2. Listen again. Which city do the words describe? Check ( ) the correct
answer.

Washington,
1. New York 3. Singapore Hong Kong
D.C.
more exci ng more beau ful
more
more beau ful
comfortable
cheaper
clean
restaurants
be er theater polluted

San
2. Los Angeles 4. Sydney Melbourne
Francisco

huge more exci ng

more
beau ful
beau ful

boring be er prices

fast-moving more relaxing

2.1. People are talking about good experiences they had in different cities.
What happened to each person? Listen and circle the correct answer.

1. a. She didn’t have to speak any Spanish. 4. a. She went snorkeling.

b. She spoke Spanish every day. b. She ate some fantas c sh
2. a. The taxi driver gave her a free ride. 5. a. He saw a famous actor in a restaurant.
b. The taxi driver returned her wallet. b. He o en went to the theater.

3. a. He met a Greek family on the boat. 6. a. She went to Tokyo Disneyland.

b. He stayed in a great hotel. b. The weather was great.

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2.2. Listen again. Are these statements true or false? Check ( ) the correct
answer.

True False
1. Someone stole her lunch.
2. She got food poisoning from seafood.
3. He had to sleep at the bus sta on.
4. She got a great suntan.
5. He ran out of money.
6. She brought too much warm clothing.

C. READING
1. Read the passage and choose the correct answer for each question.
Every year, thousands of people come to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, to be part of
the Edinburgh Fes val. For three weeks every August and September the city is lled with
actors and ar sts from all over the world. They come to Edinburgh for the biggest arts
fes val in Britain. During this me, the streets of the city are alive with music and dance from
early in the morning un l late at night. You can see ar sts paining pictures on the streets!
Tens of thousands of tourists come to the Fes val to see new lms and plays and to hear
music played by famous musicians. This year, you can see over ve hundred performances
with ar sts from more than forty countries.
The ckets for these performances are quite cheap, and it is usually easier to see your
favourite star in Edinburgh than it is in London. So come to Edinburgh next summer.

1. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland.

A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
2. The Edinburgh Fes val is a month long.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
3. The Edinburgh fes val is in October.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
4. Actors come to the Edinburgh Fes val from lots of di erent countries.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
5. You can hear music all day.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
6. Edinburgh Fes val is the biggest fes val in Great Britain.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

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 7. The ar sts on the streets only paint pictures of scenery.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
8. More than ten thousand students come to the Edinburgh Fes val every year.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
9. It is expensive to go to the theater in Edinburgh.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say
10. It is usually more di cult to see famous actors in London than in Edinburgh.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Doesn’t say

2. Read the following test and choose the correct answer for each question.
London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, is the largest city in Europe. It is
located on the River Thames and has a history of about 2,000 years. Over eight million
people live in London. Thousands of people travel each day into London to work.
London has an oceanic climate, but generally it is a dry city. However, London is o en very
cloudy. On average it rains mildly just about every other day. Temperature extremes for all
sites in the London are range from 38.1°C at Kew during August 2003, down to -16.1°C at
Northolt during January 1962.
London’s largest industry is nance. Together with New York, the city of London is one of
the world’s largest nancial centres, making London a major world in uence.
However, like many big ci es, London has problems with tra c and pollu on. Millions of
people use the London Underground a day, but there are s ll too many buses and trams in
the streets. The air isn’t clean, but it is cleaner than it was 100 years ago.

1. How old is London?

A. About two centuries B. Approximately twenty centuries
C. About two hundred years D. Over eight million years
2. In general, the temperatures in London ............ .
A. are not high B. stay the same C. change greatly D. change suddenly
3. Which of the following is NOT true about London?
A. It is a very large city. B. It has so many vehicles.
C. It has an oceanic climate D. It rains a lot every day.
4. We can see that compared to New York, London is ............ .
A. just as important B. more industrious C. much larger D. the same size
5. What is one of the problems in London?
A. There are too many tourists. B. The air is dir er than it was.
C. The popula on is too large. D. There are too many buses on the streets.

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D. SPEAKING
1. With your partner, describe a landmark of your choice.
Ques ons You Your partner
What landmark is it?

Where is it?

How was it built?

Have you ever visited

it? When? With whom?

What is special about

this landmark?

Why do you like this

landmark?

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 2. Describe an interesting historical building.
You should say:
 Where it is
 What its signi cance is
 Why we should preserve it
and how you feel about the building.
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Sample:
The building I want to talk about is Edinburgh Castle, in the capital city of Scotland. I went
there on holiday about ve years ago and I really enjoyed my visit. I can’t remember the
speci c details, but it was many hundreds of years old, which really impressed me. In fact, it
might have been almost a thousand years old! If you go to Edinburgh, you can see the castle
from all around the city because it sits on top of a hill with really steep sides, so it stands
out. It is important in Sco sh history because that’s where the kings and queens of
Scotland lived, and so it’s been at the center of the country’s past.
Edinburgh Castle is s ll important today both as an historical landmark, and also as a
military base. That’s right! The castle is s ll being used by the Sco sh military a er all
these years! I feel that there is no ques on that the government will con nue to support its
maintenance and that the castle will play an important role for years to come. I really
enjoyed my visit to Edinburgh Castle and I would recommend it to anyone visi ng the U.K.
Edinburgh is a great city and the castle can hold your a en on for hours. It is fun, and you’ll
learn lots of interes ng stu !

Academic Structures & Vocabulary:

base (n) Terrorists have been using this abandoned warehouse as their base.
castle (n) I always find castles magical and mystical.
detail (n) Can you give me some more details about that Ha Long cruise?
impress (v) He will try hard in the next football match to impress his crush.
maintenance (n) Old historical buildings need constant and careful maintenance.
military (n) The military works hard every day to protect our country.
recommend (v) I highly recommend that restaurant. It has the juiciest steak!
sit on (v) Stand up, you are si ng on a grape!
stand out (v) They stand out in the crowd with their neon pink hair.
steep (a) The mountains in this area are all very steep.

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