You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people think that it is best to live in a horizontal city while others think of a vertical city. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer
Some people believe that living in a horizontal city is the best, while the opponents of this idea prefer to settle in a vertical city. While there are benefits to residents who dwell in a city which consists of low-rise construction, I would argue that cities with skyscrapers and high-rise buildings offer more advantages.
On the one hand, it is beneficial for residents to live in a horizontal city based on a few financial and security reasons. Firstly, people have to pay less for building services. If residents settle in a private house, they may save a great deal of money since they won’t have to pay for building services. Secondly, living lower to the ground is safer for inhabitants when emergencies occur. For example, if a fire starts in the home, they can quickly escape from the dangerous areas because the building is not too high off the ground and it won’t take much time to leave.
On the other hand, it seems to me that living in a vertical city is the best choice. A city with skyscrapers will have more space forpublic usage because there will be less land used for residential areas due to the amount of people who can live in high buildings. As a result, the government would be able to use this land to build hospitals, schools or places for entertainment. Furthermore, it is much more convenientfor residents to live in an apartment in a tall building which offers a wide range of goods and services, thanks to shopping malls and service centers on lower floors.
In conclusion, while living in a horizontal city does have some benefits, it seems to me that the advantages of life in a city with skyscrapers makes living in a vertical city the better choice.
329 words
Vocab Highlights
opponents of this idea: opponents are people who disagree with an idea; they are against an idea, a policy or a rule;
to settle in: to decide to live in a specific place; to decide to move to an area and stay there
based on: to be the reason for something
financial and security reasons: financial refers to money issues, like paying fees; security refers to safety, like being safe in your own home in terms of crime or emergencies
private house: private describes the fact that you own the house, and therefore you make all decisions about it and pay for repairs and maintenance yourself, versus paying apartment or condo fees
lower to the ground: to be close to the ground, which makes it easy to get out in case you need to leave the house quickly due to an emergency
dangerous areas: an area that is not very safe, that is not secure, for various reasons
to take much time to: this phrase talks about how long something takes to do; it will or will not take much time to do something
best choice: the thing that you should choose to do because it is the best option
to have more space forpublic usage: to have more land available for building public buildings, like government offices or parks, etc.
due to: the reason for something
much more convenient for: used to describe when something is much easier for somebody to do compared to something else
thanks to something or somebody: used to express the idea that something is good because of something specific
the better choice: used when you are comparing things, there may be several good choices, but one is clearly the better choice, better than all the others