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Ghost village
Lesson code: 1ZTE-93KA-A85T UPPER INTERMEDIATE +
1 Key words
Match the words/phrases to their definitions below.
2. How many people in China are expected to move out from villages and into cities by 2030?
a. 10 million b. 250 million c. 1 billion
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Ghost village
A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH
1 A Chinese man has been living alone in a remote village for a decade, it has emerged.
2 Liu Shengjia was left to fend for himself after resources became scarce and families either moved away or
gradually died in Xuenshanshe village.
3 When his mother and younger brother passed away 10 years ago, Mr Liu said he became accustomed to
only having sheep for company in the remote part of Gansu province.
4 "In the beginning, I wasn't able to sleep at night while listening to the howling of the wild dogs," he told
Chinese newspaper the People's Daily.
5 "But after I started to tend a few sheep and they've become my companions, I slowly got used to living
alone."
6 He continues to work for the local forestry protection station and earns 700 yuan, or about ¿74, a month
but must still travel long distances to buy food and fetch water.
7 Mr Liu said despite enjoying the advantage of being able to choose whichever house he wants to live in, he
still hoped to move somewhere with more people in in the future, according to CCTV News.
8 "Surviving here is not a problem for me, but I still prefer to move to a more populous area when the time
comes," he said.
9 The phenomenon of "ghost villages" has been on the rise in China as many rural labourers move to the
eastern cities to find work.
10 Yet some of the cities in the centre of the country built expressly to accommodate the country's 1.3 billion
citizens - about 20 per cent of the entire population of the world - are still under construction and many
remain mostly empty.
11 The Chinese government has previously said it hopes some 250 million people will move out of the
country's villages and into its cities by 2030, as part of a push for urbanisation and increased domestic
consumerism.
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Ghost village
A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH
3 Checking understanding
Put T(True) or F (False) next to the statements below. Explain why the false statements are false.
Now make your own sentence for each of the words from this exercise.
5 Collocations
Match the adjectives on the left with the nouns on the right to form collocations from the text.
1. a remote a. consumerism
2. scarce b. population
3. the entire c. resources
4. domestic d. village
Now make your own sentence for each of the phrases from this exercise.
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Ghost village
A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH
6 Prepositions
Complete each sentence from the text with a suitable preposition:
1. Resources became scarce and families either moved or gradually died in Xuenshanshe village.
2. The phenomenon of "ghost villages" has been the rise in China
3. Some of the cities in the centre of the country are still construction.
4. About 250 million are expected to move of the country's villages and its cities
2030.
7 Talking point
Discuss any of the following questions:
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Ghost village - Key
A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH
1- Key words
1. a 2. e 3. d 4. b 5. c
3- Checking understanding
5- Collocations
1. d 2. c 3. b 4. a
6- Prepositions
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