Read (about Panama and Mexico only) and choose the best answer A-D to the questions below:
1. What is the main focus of the Expat Insider report by InterNations?
A. Analysing factors that contribute to a country’s quality of life
B. Ranking the best countries for expats to live in
C. Assessing the cost of living for expats around the world
D. Surveying expats’ personal experiences and preferences
2. Which factor helped Panama climb to the top of the rankings this year?
A. Improvements in the Travel & Transit subcategory
B. Increases in the availability of leisure activities
C. Advancements in the Working Abroad Index
D. Enhancements to the affordability of healthcare
3. What percentage of expats in Mexico feel welcome in the country?
A. 66%
B. 80%
C. 85%
D. 89%
4. Which factor contributed to Mexico’s drop in the rankings compared to previous years?
A. Concerns over personal safety
B. Dissatisfaction with work-life balance
C. Decline in the quality of public transportation
D. Increase in the cost of housing
5. Based on the report, which nationality of expat was quoted regarding their experience in Mexico?
A. American
B. British
C. Canadian
D. French
6. What is the global average percentage of expats who are satisfied with their financial situation?
A. 34%
B. 54%
C. 68%
D. 82%
7. Which index did Panama excel in, particularly with regards to finding a place to live and obtaining visas?
A. Ease of Settling In
B. Expat Essentials Index
C. Personal Finance Index
D. Quality of Life Index
Key: 1. B; 2. C; 3. C; 4. A; 5. D;6. B; 7. B
Glossary
- to spike – to rise to a higher amount, price, or level, usually before going down again
- invaluable – valuable beyond estimation; priceless
- appealing – pleasing and attractive
- standout – remarkably superior to others
- disposable – available for use
Practice makes perfect
Match paragraphs 1-4 to their titles a)-d).
A Mathematical Guide to the World’s Most LivableCities
Most people might think of a city such as Paris or Tokyo as a unique entity, with a character that is distinct from other metropolises. But large cities, towns and even smaller villages also share common purpose: they strive to provide a good place to live. Urban planners are trying to find a way to bring mathematical rigor to analyzing how well a city accomplishes this universal goal.
Professor and theoretical physicist Luis Bettencourt teamed up with his colleagues at the Santa Fe Institute and recently published a theory that suggests cities, towns and villages are more similar than different. He observed statistical trends across urban areas worldwide—how size, geographic location, wealth and other measures vary—and identified universal components that are integral to a city’s success. Bettencourt has tried to synthesize these components into a mathematical formula, intended to quantify how successful a city or town really is. Scientific American asked Bettencourt about what makes cities successful and how a more formalized, mathematical approach to urbanization can be used to diagnose and improve struggling cities.
1.……………………………………………………..
It took a long time. Our team here at Santa Fe Institute is generally interested in complex systems. I’ve always been interested in cities. I grew up in Lisbon and lived in London,and I just love trying to understand how the hell we create all these amazing things that we see in our society. Where does it go wrong, and how can we make it better? Essentially, we’ve been looking at every scrap of data that we can find in the last 10 years, not only in the West but also in Japan. Then we moved to China and Brazil. (…)
2. ……………………………………………………….
You want a balance between interactivity and the cost of creating those interactions, and that’s what this formula is about. That balance is what defines a city that is working well and can be achieved for cities of any size. Although people sort of knew that, this paper allows us to formalize that and put all these things in the same equation for the first time.
3. ………………………………………………………………………………………
Some interactions make you want to be in a city, like the exchange of innovative ideas. But others can deter people from cities. Social interactions have to give you an overall advantage in order for cities to exist. You have to take the advantageous social interactions, like measures of innovation and creativity, and subtract the negative interactions, like violence or crime. You also have to subtract the cost of these advantageous interactions, like transportation. When you subtract that cost, that gives the conditions for the city to exist in this balance between creating value through interactions and paying the price for that value.
4. ………………………………………………………………
Most cities actually do pretty well, but some cities create more interactivity than others. For example, according to the formula, New York City and Chicago are both doing a little better than L.A., which is slightly more spread out and has a higher cost for interaction.
You also have cities that are very dense, like Mumbai, but very difficult to travel across due to poor infrastructure or traffic congestion. (…)
a) What makes a city successful?
b) What cities are doing it right at the moment, and which cities are less successful?
c) Does more social interaction necessarily mean a city will be more successful? Or can social interaction sometimes be a bad thing?
d) What was your approach in identifying universal patterns from one city to the next?
Key: 1d); 2a); 3c; 4b)
In order to read the whole article, go to: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-mathematical-guide-to-cities/
Discuss:
- Which world city do you think would be the best to live in?
- What is your favorite city?
- If you were city mayor, what changes would you make to your city?
- Do you prefer city or country life?
- What’s the best way to deal with traffic problems in a city?
Watch and revise!
Top Places to Live in 2024!
https://www.cloud.worldwideschool.pl/index.php/s/HDLPCSwxMr9z6ct
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