Formula 3: How has X changed?

AIMS 学习目标

In this lesson you'll master the Formula for

"How has X changed? " type questions.

本课的高分公式将教会你如何回答下列同类型的问题，比如：

•　How have shops changed in your city in the last five years?

•　How has your hometown changed in recent years?

•　How have restaurants in your country changed since you were young?

THE FORMULA 高分公式

When the examiner asks you "How has X changed? " type questions, you must:

Answsr Order

•　Say whether X has changed or not.

•　Compare what X was like in past and what X is like now.

Language Steps

1．Use the present perfect tense. ("Since I was young my town has changed in a lot of ways…")

2．Control other simple tenses like past and present. ("My town was small. Now it is quite big." / "The streets used to be quiet . Now they are very noisy.")

3．Use comparative adjectives. ("The streets are wider and the traffic is heavier than before.")

•　Say whether X has changed or not.

•　Compare what X was like in past and what X is like now.

Language Steps

1．Use the present perfect tense. ("Since I was young my town has changed in a lot of ways…")

2．Control other simple tenses like past and present. ("My town was small. Now it is quite big." / "The streets used to be quiet . Now they are very noisy.")

3．Use comparative adjectives. ("The streets are wider and the traffic is heavier than before.")

NATIVE SPEAKER WORDS 英语母语词汇

让我们来学习一些英语母语词汇，这些词汇对于回答该类型的问题非常有用，并且能够帮助你理解下面的答案范例。

MODEL ANSWERS 答案范例

阅读雅思考生Alice和David的参考答案。

Interviewer How has your hometown changed in recent years?

Alice I'm from Beijing and it has certainly changed a lot in recent years. Not so long ago there were lots more low-rise buildings and narrow hutong streets; now the local government has replaced them with tall apartment buildings with better facilities and modern shopping centres. The streets are now much wider than before. They have also put a lot more parks in the city and have planted thousands of trees in the streets, so the city is more beautiful.

Interviewer How have restaurants changed in your country since you were a child?

David That's a good question. Restaurants and eateries have changed a great deal since I was young. When I was a kid nearly all restaurants in our city were cheap and quite simple. Now, however, a wide range of Chinese and many international restaurants line every street. These are a lot cleaner and more elegant than the small eateries, but sadly are more impersonal and much more expensive!

LANGUAGE STEP 1 The Present Perfect 高分语言点1现在完成时

我们来看一下雅思考生Alice和David是如何使用现在完成时的。

Alice I'm from Beijing and it has certainly changed a lot in recent years. Not so long ago there were lots more low-rise buildings and narrow hutong streets; now the local government has replaced them with tall apartment buildings…They have also put a lot more parks in the city and have planted thousands of trees…

David …Restaurants and eateries have changed a great deal since I was young…

Notice that Alice and David use the present perfect accurately to talk about changes that have happened.

Remember that the structure of the present perfect is:

•　have ＋ past participle

"She has invested lots of money in a KTV bar."

"The government has spent lots of money on public transport recently."

"The traffic situation has become a lot worse in the last few years."

Exercise 12.1: Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences below by writing the present perfect forms of the verbs in brackets.

1．In recent years people_____(cut) down a lot of trees in the Brazilian jungle.

2．Cleaner streets, nicer buildings and better transport_____(bring) a lot of tourists to this city in the past couple of years.

3．This week the authorities_____(fight) to restore law and order to the city, with great success.

4．My university campus_____(undergo) a lot of changes in the past few years.

5．My parents_____(spend) a considerable amount of money fitting a new kitchen and bathroom in our home.

6．In recent years, fashion_____(become) much more interesting and stylish.

LANGUAGE STEP 2 The Past Simple & Present Simple 高分语言点2一般过去时和一般现在时

让我们来看一下雅思考生Alice和David是如何使用现在时和过去时的。

Alice …Not so long ago there were lots more low-rise buildings and narrow hutong streets. The streets are now much wider than before the city is more beautiful.

David …Restaurants and eateries have changed a great deal since I was young. When I was a kid nearly all restaurants in our city were cheap…Now, however, a wide range of Chinese and many international restaurants line every street. These are a lot cleaner and more elegant than the small eateries…

Alice and David use past simple and present simple accurately to talk about changes. This may seem like a very simple language point, but many students get a low score on the test for making basic mistakes with these tenses.

Look at some example sentences that use these tenses to talk about change:

"My town was small; now it is quite big."

"The streets used to be very quiet; now they are noisy."

"The shops sold poor quality clothes; now they sell the latest designer fashions." "Before, many people ate at small eateries or night markets, but now people choose more expensive restaurants."

Exercise 12.2: Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences below by writing the correct forms of the verbs (in the present simple or past simple ) in brackets.

1．When I was a child everyone in my area of town had to shower in communal bathrooms in the street. Now, however, most people_____(be) wealthy enough to have their own, modern bathrooms.

2．Before, many people_____(go) to small shops or markets to buy groceries. In recent years, big supermarkets have become very popular.

3．In the past the suburbs_____(not look) very attractive. Now, because the government has planted lots of trees and plants, the area_____(look) very pleasant.

4．In the past it_____(cost) a lot of money to buy aeroplane tickets, but recently prices have gone down and air travel is more accessible to everyone.

5．Many years ago music was very different compared to now. In the past people _____(play) traditional instruments and_____(enjoy) singing together in parks and gardens.

LANGUAGE STEP 3 Comparative Adjectives 高分语言点3形容词的比较级

我们来看一下雅思考生Alice和David是如何使用形容词的比较级的。

Alice …now the local government has replaced them with tall apartment buildings with better facilities…The streets are now much wider than before. They have also put a lot more parks in the city and have planted thousands of trees in the streets, so the city is more beautiful .

David …These [the modern restaurants] are a lot cleaner and more elegant than the small eateries, but sadly more impersonal and much more expensive !

Notice how Alice and David use a lot of comparatives to explain how their cities have changed and to express whether those changes are good or bad.

This is a very important part of your answer, so now let's review comparatives .

Comparative adjectives

We add an "-er " on the end of the adjective, or we add "more " before the adjective.

To form the comparative of an adjective , you should:

•　Add "-er " if the adjective is one syllable long.

•　Add "-ier " if the adjective is more than one syllable and ends in -y.

•　Add "more " before the adjective if it is two or more syllables long.

Look at the table to refresh your memory.

Comparative structure

In comparing the past to the present it is also useful to remember this structure:

•　X is ＋ comparative adjective ＋ than ＋ time in the past

"My city is prettier than it was ten years ago."

"The university library is much better stocked now than it was before.

"The city is a lot greener than it was when I was a child."

Exercise 12.3: Gap Fill

Write the correct adjectives in the correct comparative adjective forms to complete the sentences.

fashionable　fast　cheap　expensive　good　wide

1. The food is so much_____and much_____than here in the capital - I really don't like the expensive food here.

2．Since they built the high speed train I can travel home to see my parents on weekends very easily. It's about five times_____than the older train.

3．People are, in general, a lot_____today than they were years ago. I think it's because they have more money and enjoy buying nice clothes.

4．The downside of all this development is that the gap between the rich and the poor is getting much_____.

5．As a result of all this rapid, sudden growth, food is considerably_____than it was five years ago.