Recommendation 1 from ‘The Times of India’
Article Name:‘Beijing’s headache: Too many cars, fewer homes’
By: ‘Subodh Verma’
It sounds like a script of some futuristic movie on the impact of owning too many cars by the people of the world. As I imagine it, there have come so many cars that there is no place for the houses be build and because too much money is involved, there is also a monopoly of some landlords who bring town every house so that place of parking can be made. What a bad movie it would be!
Summary:
The article states a strange phenomenon in Beijing, which is giving rise to people owning more cars and fewer homes. Economic boom gas created this car euphoria and influx of better paid immigrants has caused an imbalance in the demand and supply of housing, which in turn has raised the property prices. Increasing number of cars are being added to Beijing everyday, consequently there is a huge problem of traffic as well. To tackle these problems government is taking many steps for example on Monday a vehicle that has its registeration number ending with 3 or 8 is prohibited on certain roads. Further, to control the rising number of cars, government has introduced a lottery system to choose 20,000 registration numbers every month whereas there are 80,000 applicants every month. Further, to solve the problem of housing government is pulling down ancient dwellings to replace them with multi-storied buildings.
Learn Words from the article:
Lottery: Draw
Mortgages: with the help of which a loan is required
Recommendation 2 from ‘The New York Times’
Article Name:‘Green roofs in big cities bring relief from the above’
By: ‘Tina Rosenberg’
Today when millions of people are homeless, allotting a huge area for gardens and parks, sounds cruel when that area could be used a housing facility. This is where gardens on rooftops come in handy. It doesn’t only sound classy, but also has huge benefits when we are struggling with global arming and its adverse effects.
Summary:
The article is talking about the increasing presence of vegetation on the roofs of the buildings in the city like New York. The presence of plants on the roofs not only decreases the temperature by a huge margin and are also very cost effective to reduce the storm water runoff. If New York has one billion square feet of possibly green roof, it would be able to retain 10 to 15 gallons of annual rainfall. However, article also states that maintaining green roofs is not very cheap.
Learn Words from the article:
Insulation: Padding
Membrane: Covering
Intensive: Concentrated
Recommendation 3 from ‘The Guardian’
Article Name:‘What really lies behind the ‘war on women’’
By: ‘Naomi Wolf’
Sounds scary! We might as well be regressing into the old colonization era when everything was controlled and regulated by the government and anything was done to make sure that it is done and adhered to. However, the point here should be freedom, which makes the world happy .i.e. without wars and riots. More the restriction, more the attempts to break free.
Summary:
The article in its most basic form is exploring the real idea behind various legislations that have been passed or are under process of being passed, that specifically target at abortion and Planned Parenthood. There are many states who have defunded the Planned Parenthood and many new laws are being made to ban abortions as well. Article states that yes, it can be viewed as curbing the freedom, but in the larger picture it goes beyond that, all the attempts curb the personal freedoms and privacy is all part of gaining social control.
Learn Words from the article:
Progressivism: A general political philosophy advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform
Surveillance: observation
Imperial: Regal
