Bar graph: population changes in large cities

Growth of urban agglomerations, 1950-2015.

The chart shows the population of nine major cities over the past sixty years, and the projected level in five years time.

The only city where the population has fallen is London, from about 8M in 1950 to around 7M in 2000; it’s projected to remain the same in 2015. New York’s population rose steadily, from about 12M in 1950 to around 16M in 2000, rising to 17M by 2015. The other seven cities have all witnessed more dramatic growth. From 2.5M in 1950, Cairo is forecast to reach 14M by 2015. Mexico City is forecast to reach almost 20M, from about 3M in 1950, Shanghai nearly 15M, from 5M, and Sao Paolo 20M, from about 3M. Bombay and Tokyo are predicted to top 25M, from 3.5M and 7M respectively. Perhaps the most dramatic rise is Lagos, with a predicted 24M in 2015, from less than a million in 1950.

Only London has a fall in population, 1950-2015. New York shows a gradual increase, while the other seven cities all show spectacular growth.

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Traffic congestion in Abu Dhabi: problem & solution

Like most large cities around the world, Abu Dhabi suffers from traffic congestion and parking problems.

The main reason for this is the rapidly expanding population. Due to equally rapid economic development, based on oil, this population is wealthy enough to afford motor cars. Indeed, most Emirati households have several cars and many drivers are young, which means more accidents and hold-ups. In addition, the large number of construction projects means more heavy vehicles which slows traffic and worsens congestion. Lack of adequate parking provision only exacerbates the problem.

One obvious solution is to improve the existing road system by widening roads, building more bridges, overpasses, subways and so on. Another possibility is the introduction of staggered hours to eliminate rush hour congestion. Yet another suggestion is to relocate businesses and government offices to off-island sites. Better public transport is also often put forward as a solution to the problem. Harsher fines and stricter enforcement of rules and regulations by traffic police might also help to alleviate the situation, as would better driver education and stiffer driving tests. Paid parking areas have already been introduced and they too have contributed to the easing of congestion in certain areas.

Even better public transport would be a useful solution, but whether there is enough room on the island, for a metro system, in association with a Salik-type system, is debatable. Improvements in the road system and the creation of paid parking areas have already proved successful in easing congestion. Better driver education, including more stringent testing, together with more rigorous enforcement of traffic regulations would also seem viable solutions.

263 words.

Problem & Solution 1

Many people today in the UAE are obese or seriously overweight. Why, and what can be done about it?

Growing obesity rates are a worldwide problem. It is a particular problem here in the UAE.

In the past, most Emiratis lived a harder, more nomadic existence, involving hard travel and physical labour. Today most live a softer, more sedentary life, travelling by car and holding desk jobs requiring little physical exertion. That these jobs exist is due to the rapid economic expansion over the past 40 years, since the discovery and exploitation of oil. In addition, many people today entertain themselves by watching TV or playing computer games, neither of which involves physical exercise. Finally, as well as traditional Arab cuisine, itself often quite high in fat and sugar content, there is today the widespread temptation and easy availability of high-fat and high-sugar fast food.

The solutions? The only viable long-term solution is education. At an early age, children should be taught the importance of two things: a healthy diet and regular physical exercise. A better diet involves not just choosing healthier ingredients, such as fruit and vegetables. Sauces and style of cooking need to be watched. A healthy salad becomes a less healthy option if coated in, say, mayonnaise. Fish and potatoes are themselves good nutritious foods, but less so if fried as fish and chips. Governments around the world can help by encouraging schools to teach nutrition seriously. Campaigns in the media to educate all sections of the population, especially parents, to eat healthily, can also help.

Cars, TVs and computers are not going to disappear so the only viable solution is education to encourage better diet and more physical exercise.

263 words

Synonyms & Antonyms

	Synonyms	Antonyms
happy	glad, pleased	sad, unhappy, miserable, blue
shout	scream, yell, shriek	whisper
clever	smart, intelligent, bright	dumb, stupid, dull, slow, dim
simple	easy, straightforward	hard, difficult, complex
beautiful	lovely, pretty	ugly
polite	well-mannered	rude, impolite
increase	rise, growth	decrease, drop, fall
ascend	rise, go up	descend, go down
accelerate	speed up, go faster	slow down, decelerate
little	small, minute, tiny, minor	big, large, huge, massive, colossal, enormous, gigantic

Date producing countries in 2001

Top 10 date-producing countries

The bar graph shows date production in tonnes for the world's top producers in 2001. Ten countries in the Gulf region and North Africa are featured.

First, Egypt was responsible for the lion's share of production, with over a million tonnes, but Iran was a close second, with almost 0.9 million. Following them came the UAE and Saudi Arabia, rivalling each other with about 740,000 tonnes each. Pakistan and Iraq, with outputs of approximately 630,000, were not far behind. The rest of the nations, however, were far less productive. Algeria supplied the world with nearly 400,000 tonnes and Oman around quarter of a million. In contrast, the harvests in Libya and Sudan were far less plentiful, yielding under 0.2 million each.

In summary, date production was most abundant in Egypt and Iran. In contrast, the countries with the smallest output were Libya and Sudan.

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Valentine's Day

Two pie charts

These two pie charts show the types of gifts that man and women in the USA buy for each other on 14th February, Valentine’s day.

The most popular gifts bought by both men and women are cards, flowers and candy. Cards are the most popular gift for both genders. More men than women buy flowers, 16% compared to 11%, while more women, 27%, buy cards than men, 18%. Rather surprisingly, more women, around a fifth, buy candy for men than vice versa. Around 10% of both men and women purchase jewelry/jewellery. Over twice as many women than men buy perfume or cologne. Men spend more than women on both lingerie and spa/personal care, which is probably what you’d expect.

In conclusion, the types of gifts bought for each other by men and women in the USA are more or less what you’d expect. The actual percentages, however, are rather more surprising; for example, the fact that a greater percentage of women buy candy and perfume/cologne.

164 words

buy: simple present
bought: simple present passive
ways of comparing/contrasting

UK Budget 1996

The total budget of the UK government in 1996 was £315 billion. This pie chart shows what the government spent the money on. There are ten separate categories shown on the chart.

The biggest item by far was social security. At £100 billion, this was almost twice as much as the next category, health and personal services. Next came education with £38 billion and defence with £22 billion. There was less than £20 billion spent on the next three categories, which were: first, law and order; next, industry, agriculture and employment; then, housing, heritage and environment. Transport had the smallest budget, with £9 billion. Debt interest was £25 billion and other expenditure was £23 billion.

The outstanding feature of the pie chart is that expenditure on social security, £100 billion, was almost as much as the total for the next three categories: health, education and defence, £113 billion.

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P.S. It is worth noting that, according to figures for 2009-10 (HM Treasury Pre-Budget report), the total budget had more than doubled, with education at £88bn, health £119bn & social protection £190bn: eye-watering indeed.