British Council Presents

Consumer Society by Julie Bray

‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not enough for any man’s greed.’

Gandhi

If we bought only things we needed, there would be enough for everybody. What do we need? What you need depends on how old you are and your way of life. Rearrange the list of things you can buy and put the things you think we most need at the top of the list.

a coat

a pair of trainers

designer jeans

water

a CD player

a dental check up

paper

a restaurant meal

a telephone

jewellery

gold-coloured laces in your trainers

food

an appointment at the hair salon

paracetamol

shampoo

an MP3 player

a tin of beer

a tube of toothpaste

a bar of chocolate

cushion covers

table mats that match the curtains

If we don’t need to buy so much, we don’t need to work so much. We can take part-time jobs or reduce our working day from eight hours to six hours. Some people are leaving very well paid jobs to live a healthier life in the countryside or a more exciting life abroad. This is called ‘downshifting’. Parents can spend more time with their children and the unemployed are given more opportunities to work.

If we start to respect saving the earth more than spending money, we will become ‘conservers’. When we are conservers, we try to choose environmentally friendly products that are durable and last a long time. We may find growing our own vegetables or making our own clothes more rewarding than buying them.

What was the best thing you bought last week?

Could you choose from lots of different types? We like having a choice of what to buy. People who buy things are called consumers. Consumers have choices. We usually choose the colour, taste, smell or size of what we buy, but there are other choices we can make. The following questions will help you to consider these choices.

Where was it made?

If you don’t like the place it was made, you might decide not to buy that particular product. A lot of people don’t buy products from certain countries when they don’t like the way the country is run. Was it made in a factory or on a local farm? If the product was unbelievably cheap, the people who made it might not have been paid much.

Who made it?

Do you know? If a friend made it, you probably like it more and you will want to keep it for a long time. If it was made by somebody who enjoyed making it, the quality and the design are probably better. Or does it look like it might have been assembled in a large factory?

What is it made from?

One of the places where we want to buy expensive luxuries is at the airport’s duty-free shop. Next to the chocolate and cigarettes, there are beautifully shaped bottles and compact boxes full of perfumes and creams that promise to make you look and feel more beautiful. If you look at the ingredients you will find that the perfumes are mainly alcohol and the creams mainly contain petroleum.

Almost all products are sold in packaging. Some products have too much packaging, creating more rubbish and using up resources. Some use recycled packaging, which is better for the environment.

Next time you go shopping, think about what you really need to buy. Don’t deprive yourself of things you like, but decide what you should buy before you go out, so that you won’t be influenced by advertisements or promotions. If it is more expensive to buy goods that don’t have much packaging and things that are more durable, buy less. If you can choose to work less, decide which things you would like to make, do or grow yourself. Even though you have less money, your life will become richer.

Word Search

See if you can find these words in the grid. They can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backwards.

PURCHASE

CO_SERV_R

PACKAG_N_

CO_S_M_R

PR_D_CT

DEP_I_E

PR_M_TI_N

D_RA_LE

L_X_RY

S_E_D

Joke Teacher

Patient: Doctor! Doctor! I feel like a pair of curtains.

Doctor: Well, pull yourself together!

Patient: Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking I’m a bridge.

Doctor: What’s come over you?

This type of English joke deals with a classic situation in which the patient feels like an object. The funny answer, known as the punchline, uses a phrasal verb that has a double meaning. These jokes are easy to make up yourself. Look at the punchline below and try to work out which object the patient feels like.

Doctor: Well, you’ll just have to deal with it.

VOCABULARY

Five words/phrases from the text:

• unemployed: being without a paid job

• durable: long lasting

• factory: place where people work making things

• deprive: stop somebody else having something

• luxuries: goods that are not essential

EXERCISE ONE

Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the five words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:

He was _______[1] for two years before he started working as a teacher.

I can’t afford _______[2] such as French champagne or perfume.

On the left you can see the toy _______[3] where most of the villagers work.

This is a more _______[4] bicycle; it will last for years.

You don’t need to _______[5] yourself of tasty food even though you are on a diet.

EXERCISE TWO

Comprehension: answer the five questions using information from the article:

1 What do our needs depend on?

2 If we did not need to buy so much, how could our lives change?

3 What sort of things does a conserver buy?

4 What are consumers?

5 What are the main ingredients of cosmetics?

Answers:

Vocabulary: 1.unemployed; 2. luxuries; 3. factory; 4. durable; 5. deprive

Comprehension:

1. Our needs depend on our age and our way of life.

2. We could work less.

3. A conserver buys environmentally friendly products that last a long time.

4. Consumers are people who buy things.

5. The main ingredients of cosmetics are alcohol and petroleum.

Learn English with the British Council www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish For more news visit www.britishcouncil.ru