Home assignment

Home assignment.

Task 1

Read the text and identify:

• 
  what type of recount does it belong to? (Study PPT on recount given for this lesson)
  
• 
  explain your answer of why this text belongs to that type of recount you think of. (list its features and provide examples)
  

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Read the text about “One woman’s epic hike around New York City” and complete the tasks after the text.

225 miles and 100 parks: one woman’s

epic hike around New York City
Anya Alvarez
4 June, 2019

1 When we talk about hiking, we typically think about escaping the city and exploring land with no or few people. We imagine walking through landscapes full of trees and plants or going up mountains with views of unspoiled countryside.

But Liz Thomas, who held the speed record for the Appalachian Trail for five years and has explored the world on foot, has changed her approach to hiking over the years.
2 “I completed my first urban hike in Los Angeles in 2013, and since then, my view of what hiking is has changed,” Thomas tells the Guardian. “It sparked something in me and changed how I thought about being active, how I thought about the urban landscape and how I thought about how people interact with nature and their bodies.”
3 Now called the “Queen of Urban Hiking”, since 2013, Thomas has hiked through San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Portland and Pittsburgh. But there was one urban territory she had not hiked through: New York City.
4 Hiking through New York was always on Thomas’s to-do list, and so when the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a non-profit organization that helps create parks and protect land, reached out and asked her if she wanted to participate in an
urban hike, she agreed.
5 Carter Strickland, a director for TPL, saw Thomas speaking at a conference and learned of her urban hikes. “I realized that it would be great to work together,” Strickland says.
6 Within six months, he and Thomas organized a New York City hike and, in May, 2019, Thomas walked more than 225 miles over nine days. “New Yorkers are used to walking,” Strickland says, “but perhaps they don’t see hiking as a possibility within their own city. We’re hoping with Thomas’s urban hike, we’re able to show people who live in the city that it’s possible to explore your own city and experience a little bit of nature without having to venture two hours outside of the city.”
7 The other aim of the hike was to raise awareness of how many New Yorkers don’t have a park within a ten-minute walk of their home. “One thing I learned on my urban hike in New York is that certain areas have great parks, while other areas

don’t. These playgrounds really play an important role in certain areas, so creating a new park in places without one is an important part of why I partnered with TPL,” Thomas says.

8 Strickland believes that parks help build a sense of community that otherwise is hard to nurture. “They’re good for the environment because they provide shade and rainwater. But more importantly, they’re also good for mental and physical health, and they’re good for creating communities where rich, poor, black and white
can come together.”
9 One thing Thomas has learned through urban hiking is how people’s fear of nature can stop them enjoying the outdoors. Walking in the city helps open the door for them to explore their surroundings. “No, it’s not the same as going out
into the woods, but it can be equally good for your mental wellbeing,” she says. “And it’s just as fun in a different way.”
10 Instead of carting around a tent, Thomas stayed in Airbnbs throughout the city and explored the city’s restaurants instead of eating camp food. “You become more connected to your surrounding environment when you walk around without a real destination in mind,” Thomas says. “The beauty of urban hiking is, if you decide
you’re done, you can stop whenever you want. And with places like New York where public transportation is so accessible, you can get on a train or bus and go back home when you want.”
11 Meanwhile, Thomas says interest in urban hiking goes beyond the States. “I recently had a message from someone on Instagram, from Melbourne, Australia, who said, ‘You know, this is really inspiring me to hike my own city.’ And that feels really good, to know that my message is resonating with others in different parts of the world.”
12 The destination of her next urban hike is up in the air. However, the mission will remain the same. “Obviously it’s fun for me, but I also think there’s so much to learn from going to areas of your city that you would never normally go to and
experiencing them on foot,” Thomas says. “You also get an idea of what it’s like to live there as a kid who walks to school in this area or to be a grandparent who lives across from a park in this area. That’s just something you don’t get when
you go by car.”

Key words
Match the key words with the definitions. Then find them in the article to read them in context. The paragraph numbers are given to help you.

mission, accessible, done, nurture, venture, inspiring, sparked, resonating urban, epic

1. long and difficult ___epic___ (title)
2. relating to towns and cities or happening urban____ (para 2)
3. made someone feel or think something __sparked___ (para 2)
4. go somewhere unpleasant, dangerous or exciting ___venture___ (para 6)
5. provide the necessary conditions for something to grow and develop ___nurture____ (para 8)
6. finished doing something ___done ___ (para 10)
7. easy to find and use __accessible_ (para 10)
8. making you feel enthusiastic or excited about something __resonating __ (para 11)
9. producing an emotional effect on someone _inspiring (para 11)
10. an aim that is very important to a person or organization __mission __ (para 12)

The article mentions the Appalachian Trail.

Find out more about this or other well-known hiking routes around the world. Record your voice and upload it in the Moodle.

• Where is it and does the trail or hike have a specific starting point?
• How long is it?
• How many hours or days do people generally need to walk it?
• Are there any interesting geographical features on this hike?
• What is the best time of year to walk this route?
• Are there any specific dangers that hikers should know about?
• Where can you stay and eat along the route?