1. Thoughtless behaviour

2. Benefits of private business

3. Too complicated to use

4. Bad for business

5. Science brings hope

6. Road incident

7. More parking places

8. Personal choice

A. City centre parking is expensive and many important roads are now closed to private transport. This would be fine — if public transport was cheap and convenient, but it is neither. The result is that people are avoiding the city centre so restaurants, cinemas and shops are closing.

B. The motorcyclist drew along side and I heard abusive language as he banged on the car roof. I immediately locked the car doors and tried to work out what was wrong. He then shouted that I had almost collided with him. Truth to tell — I didn’t see him until now. I tried to apologize but he wouldn’t listen.

C. They now have cars that run on electricity, solar power and even on vegetable oil. New petrol engines are super efficient and make less harmful emissions. More people are working from home because of advances in communication technology and computer security. At last we have some grounds for optimism.

D. As she approached the traffic lights the driver in front of her tipped out a mess of fast food boxes, polystyrene cups and chip bags. She pressed her horn angrily. “Why don’t people consider what they do”, she wondered helplessly. “Someone will have to clear this up and we all have to pay for it.”

E. Sarah has worked for herself more than 10 years now. It had been risky but now her interior decoration business is a success. She loves being her own boss. It constantly amazes her that her friends in big corporations believe they have job security. How can they think this way when these companies are constantly firing people to make bigger profits?

F. It was not easy deciding. It never is when buying a new car. Reliability and comfort are big issues as are fuel economy, maintenance and so forth. A car has to feel right as well. Price and value for money are also critical. But in the end Ralph made his decision confident that it was just the right one for him.

G. Jane studied the small print. To make a successful insurance claim for her accident she needed so much information. Several complicated forms took hours to complete. She then needed three independent quotations, a witness statement, and a police statement and after everything she still had to pay the first $500 anyway.