Чтение и письмо: сопоставление текстов (whereas, both, while)
Слова урока · 4
- extract /ˈekstrækt/отрывок
- stance /stɑːns/позиция
- draw on /ˈdrɔː ɒn/опираться на
- extended /ɪkˈstendɪd/развёрнутый
Фразы урока · 2
- Read both extracts before answering — the two writers take opposite stances.Прочитайте оба отрывка перед ответом — два автора занимают противоположные позиции.
- Draw on both texts and write an extended response.Опирайтесь на оба текста и напишите развёрнутый ответ.
Текст: «Два отрывка: должны ли города платить жителям за отказ от машины?»
Pay people not to drive? It sounds absurd until you look at what driving already costs the rest of us. A single parking space in a town centre is worth about £2,000 a year in lost rent; a car-free household saves the council roughly £600 a year in road wear, air-quality measures and accident costs. Ashford tried it in 2023: £500 a year to any household that gave up its car, paid as a bus-and-bike credit. Uptake was modest — 340 households in the first year — but the town centre lost 200 parked cars and gained a market square. Critics call it a bribe. I call it a refund: those households were subsidising drivers for years. The scheme is not perfect — the credit can't be spent on trains, which is absurd — but the principle is sound. If we already pay to build roads, we can pay to need fewer of them.
EXTRACT B — from a letter to the same newspaper
Your columnist admires Ashford's scheme, and admittedly the market square is lovely. But three things are missing from the account. First, who gave up their cars? The council's own report says 70 % of the 340 households were in the two central wards, where nobody needs a car anyway; they were paid for a choice they had already made. Second, the £500 came from the parking budget — that is, from charges paid by residents in the outer villages, who have no bus after six and cannot give up a car if they wanted to. Third, the scheme cost £170,000 in its first year and freed 200 spaces: £850 per space, every year. A single cycle lane on Station Road would have cost less and helped everyone. I am not against fewer cars. I am against paying the people who least need help, with money from the people who most need a bus.
Задание
Напишите развёрнутый ответ (extended response, 220–260 слов) на вопрос «Should our town copy Ashford's scheme?», опираясь на оба текста: изложите позицию каждого автора с меткой источника и степени уверенности (the columnist argues / concedes; the letter writer counters / points out; according to the council's report); назовите совпадение и расхождение (both agree that …; where they differ is …); оцените доводы (compelling, flawed in one respect, this overlooks); свою позицию с основанием, уступкой и опровержением (on the grounds that; admittedly; nonetheless; far from); обоснованный вывод с условием (on balance; provided that); связки и отсылки; регистр статьи для местной газеты.
Образец ответа
Should our town copy Ashford's scheme?
Both writers want fewer cars in the town centre; where they differ is who should be paid, and by whom. The columnist argues that paying households £500 a year to give up a car is a refund rather than a bribe, on the grounds that car-free households have been subsidising drivers — a parking space, she notes, is worth about £2,000 a year in lost rent. She concedes one flaw: the credit cannot be spent on trains. The letter writer counters with three points drawn from the council's own report: 70 % of participants lived in central wards where a car is unnecessary; the money came from parking charges paid largely by villagers without an evening bus; and at £850 per freed space, a cycle lane would have been cheaper.
In my view, the letter is the more compelling of the two, but it is flawed in one respect. Admittedly, paying people for a choice they had already made is poor value, and taking the money from those who cannot make that choice is unfair. Nonetheless, the letter overlooks the market square: 200 fewer cars produced a public space that benefits villagers as much as anyone when they do come into town. Far from proving the idea wrong, Ashford shows that the design, not the principle, was at fault.
On balance, I would copy the scheme with two changes: pay only households outside the central wards, and fund it from general taxation rather than parking charges — provided that the outer villages get an evening bus first. That is to say, the payment should follow the alternative, not replace it.
lightbulbСопоставление текстов: both … where they differ is → позиции с метками (argues, concedes, counters, according to) → оценка (compelling, flawed, overlooks) → своя позиция (on the grounds that, admittedly, nonetheless, far from) → on balance, provided that, that is to say.
Закрепите урок: упражнения со словами, фразами и грамматикой с проверкой и повторением.