Academic Writing

6 Practice C
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Study the table below and complete the gaps in the paragraph (one word per gap).
Country
Marriage rate
Divorce rate
Egypt
10.6
1.5
United States
8.4
4.7
Iran
8.4
0.8
Turkey
8.3
0.6
Japan
6.2
1.9
Russia
5.2
2.9
Spain
5.2
0.8
United Kingdom
5.2
3.1
South Africa
4.0
0.9
Libya
3.9
0.3
Marriage and divorce rates (per 1,000 population) (Source: UN)

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The table (a) _______________ marriage and divorce rates in a variety of

countries. The marriage (b) _______________ ranges from 10.6 per thousand in
Egypt to 3.9 in Libya, while the rate of divorce (c) _______________ even more,
from 4.7 in the USA to only 0.3 in Libya. The marriage rate in America is the
(d) _______________ as in Iran, which has a (e) _______________ higher rate
(f) _______________ Turkey’s. In countries such as Iran, Turkey and Libya,
only 10 per cent of marriages appear to end in divorce, but in Russia and
the USA the number is (g) _______________ half. It seems possible that the
(h) _______________ marriage rate in the USA may be partly due to second
marriages.
7 Practice D
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Study the data below about London. Then use some of it to write a comparison with a
city you know well.
Location:
on River Thames, not far from coast
History:
a town has been on this site for about 2,000 years
Status: national
capital
Population:
over 7 million
Employment:
government offices, banking, finance, retail, entertainment
Culture:
240 museums, 300 theatres
Public transport:
London had the world’s first underground railway, ‘The Tube’;
this now has 275 stations on 12 lines; plus red double-decker
buses
Climate:
cool wet winters, warm wet summers; summer average
approximately 17º C
Housing:
mainly brick terraced houses, some modern flats
Tallest building:
The Shard (310 m)
Comparison
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