4. Text Analysis
Neighborhoods
Summarize the contents of this scene in no more than three sentences.
What is the purpose of Karl Lindner's visit?
How does he try to achieve his aim? Point out the elements of the plan he has obviously worked out before.
What are the Youngers' reactions to Lindner's remarks in the different stages of the conversation? Why does the conversation inevitably lead to a crisis?
Show how Karl Lindner and the Youngers are characterized through conversation and gestures.
What central issue about life in an urban community in the United States does the author want to illustrate in this scene?
5. Comprehension Check
Children of Poverty
Determine whether the statements are true or false according to the information given in the text. Correct the false statements.
The crisis of New York's poor children is as urgent as the financial crisis of the city ten years ago.
The poverty crisis equals that of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
According to Senator Moynihan 50 percent of the babies born in 1980 will depend on welfare before they reach the age of 18.
In spite of the recent economic growth, city budgets have decreased.
Increasing prosperity has led to less child poverty.
12,000 children were abused and neglected in foster care.
Many of the infants who die before their first birthday are not even properly buried.
96 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP
Neither
through more joint efforts nor
through
improved coordination of both the
public
and the private sector can the
problem
be tackled.There are four times as many children growing up in female-headed households as in traditional two-parent families.
There were 30 percent more female-headed families in 1980 than in 1970.
Between 1975 and 1985 the number of teenage pregnancies has decreased.
Of all age groups in urban areas in the United States, the elderly are struck hardest nowadays.
6. Cloze Comprehension Test
Pittsburgh—A New City
Test your memory. First read the text thoroughly. Then try to remember those words which describe the old and the new city. Still synonymous in many minds with ■&■ , Pittsburgh is not waiting for the resurrection of Smokestack America. The metropolis of blast
•ft and belching ■& is dead. In its place has risen a new city, -£r , "& , tV in its architecture and confident in its future—in effect a prototype of the *fc metropolis. The transition from a manufacturing to a "& "ьГ began way back during World War II, when 100 prominent citizens joined to spearhead an w
"fr boom in the 1950s and 1960s that
transformed the city's downtown. While the steel industry was losing a great deal of money, seven major buildings were constructed downtown, including a $35-million "fr tV and noted architect Philip Johnson's spectacular ■& for PPG Industries. Universities and hospitals attracted companies in ^ "fc , ~fe and other advanced technologies.