Question

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

I
PUT AWAY YOUR MONEY
Are you the type of person who considers shopping enjoyable? Do you love spending a day at the shops looking around for things to buy, even if you don’t really need them? If you do, then you’ll probably find it surprising to discover that there’s a special day called “Buy Nothing Day”. On this day, people are encouraged to keep their purses in their pockets or bags and avoid spending ANY money!
II
Buy Nothing Day (BND) is a yearly international protest against harmful western shopping habits. What are
the issues being protested against and what’s wrong with our consumer culture? One serious problem is that people are heavily influenced by advertising and this makes them spend money on things they don’t need and don’t even really want. Much of the advertising is aimed at young children and teenagers, who put pressure
on their parents to buy them things. As a result of all this, many people find themselves in serious debt. An additional problem is that at our local shops and supermarkets, there are many products in fancy packages. These packages are attractive but unnecessary, and producing them uses up raw materials, wastes energy and pollutes
the environment. Furthermore, rich western countries own factories in poor developing countries and use cheap local labour to produce their products. The workers at these factories are taken advantage of and their rights
aren’t protected at all. In addition, the factory owners don’t take any steps to protect the local environment.
These are just a few examples of how our lives and environment are affected by our consumer culture – and
there are many more.
III
Buy Nothing Day was started in 1992 by a group of concerned citizens in the United States. It’s in November, on the day after the holiday of Thanksgiving, which traditionally is the day when people in the USA start their Christmas shopping. Since 1992, 65 additional countries have joined the BND protest. In the city of Brighton in England, workshops are offered on BND, where people can enjoy themselves while creating free Christmas gifts as an alternative to Christmas shopping. Supporters of BND hope that people worldwide will change their consumer lifestyle, and for more than just a single day a year!

1 Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify your
answers. (3 x 2 = 6 points)
…… 1. Advertising affects consumers’ shopping habits.


…… 2. The products that are sold in shops have no effect on the environment.


…… 3. BND supporters hope that consumers will change their shopping habits for only one day a year.


2 Complete the sentences. (2 x 4 = 8 points)
1. The day after Thanksgiving was chosen for BND because
.
2. An alternative to buying Christmas gifts is
.
3 Choose the correct answer. (2 x 3 = 6 points)
1. On BND, people are encouraged to … .
a. hide their purses
b. avoid bags and pockets
c. not spend money
2. Poor developing countries … .
a. are being harmed by rich western countries
b. have harmful shopping habits
c. are harming western countries’ environments
4 Find words or expressions in the text that mean:
(5 x 1 = 5 points)
1. not do something (paragraph I) ………………………
2. problems (paragraph II) ………………………
3. do anything (paragraph II) ………………………
4. worried (paragraph III) ………………………
5. one (paragraph III) ………………………

Answer 1

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