Unlocking Word Meanings
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
1. lush (adj.) – rich and full, usually describing the quality of plants in an area
Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.
1. lush (adj.) – rich and full, usually describing the quality of plants in an area
Example:
There is a lush growth of plants in rain forests.
2. aesthetic (adj.) – relating or
concerned with beauty or art
Example: Clothing
should have both aesthetic and
practical quality.
3. grimy (adj.) – covered with dirt
Example: Wash
your grimy hands before eating.
4. particle (n.) – a tiny piece of anything
Example: Dust
particles irritated my eye.
5. filter (v.) – to remove unwanted
substance from something by allowing it to pass through a device
Example: We
can filter water by passing it
through cloth.
Article
Read the text below.
In some cities in UK, lush gardens growing on building walls
have given new life to the concrete jungle of the metro. These “vertical
gardens” provide not only aesthetic qualities, but also actual
benefits, including cleaner air.
British company Biotecture builds and designs such green walls. With
the use of a "modular hydroponic system," plants grow without soil
on building walls and receive nutrients through water pipes. The system can
be made to fit any building wall.
Biotecture creative director, Mark Laurence, says that vertical
gardens can also improve air quality. One of the company’s projects is the
200-square meter wall on the side of Edgware Road Underground Station in
London. The wall is near one of the UK's grimiest city roads.
According to Laurence, researchers from London’s Imperial college
regularly take and wash samples of the leaves on the wall, to see how much
pollution particles the leaves
have collected.
In areas with narrow roads, Laurence says vertical gardens would do
better than trees in cleaning air. In these places, air usually moves around
building walls. With vertical gardens, air can be filtered before it
reaches the streets below where people breathe it.
Additionally, vertical gardens may someday be used to grow
vegetables in less polluted areas for extra food supply. Biotecture
successfully grew 45 kinds of vegetables in an experiment.
Many people are even building their own vertical gardens, adds
Laurence. He believes their popularity is due to people wanting more
environment-friendly services and designs in the city.
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Viewpoint Discussion
Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.
Discussion A
● Would you want to have gardens on
the buildings of the city you live in? Why or why not?
● What can be the disadvantages of
growing plants on building walls?
Discussion B
● Is air pollution a problem in your
country? What do you think causes air pollution?
● What is the best way of solving
air pollution?
