The company president who works in Berlin is moving to London.

Flat screen televisions, which are very expensive, have a better image quality.

My sister, who lives in Rome, is an auditor.

READ THE TEXT ABOUT THE THROW-AWAY CULTURE IN THE PREVIOUS TASK AND CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER.

1. What is the author's experience with repairing items during travels? 

A. The author has often struggled to find repair services.

2. How has the availability of repair manuals and spare parts changed over time? 

A. They have become more readily available.

3. What is the 'lightbulb conspiracy' an example of? 

A.  A plot to limit the lifespan of lightbulbs to 1,000 hours.

4. What is the concept of planned obsolescence associated with? 

A. Products designed to last for many years.

READING AND USE OF ENGLISH.

Throw-away culture

B2 exam practice. Use of English.

Read the text about the throw-away culture and complete the gaps with one of the words below.

boost            no              like             have         from (x2)            been             consumerism              spare        more               brought              lightbulb                thought                     though                planned             obsolescence           plot               dated                flourished            thrown         out    

There have many times during my travels when I've needed something repaired, from rips in my backpack, to zippers that have broken or memory cards that have lost data. From India to Ethiopia, I have had trouble in finding someone who can sort the problem , repair what is broken or find an ingenious way of side-stepping the issue. In rich countries, such items often would be away and replaced with new ones without a second . But the developing world is still full of menders, make-doers and inspired users of others’ scrap. I’ve seen a bicycle in Nairobi made from bits of car, a colander and a leather belt; and houses constructed out of old boat sails, rice sacks and plastic drinks bottles.

But then there are those items that seemingly can’t be repaired. My camera shutter, battered by the dust and grime of travel, no longer works. I am told I should throw away my camera, even though it works fine, apart the shutter mechanism. the majority of consumer electronics, my camera has not been designed to be easily reparable. Thirty years ago, I could found service manuals and parts for all camera models, as well as a thriving repair industry. But things have changed. Camera models have got far numerous and complicated, and manufacturers no longer release repair manuals.

The idea that something that works fine should be replaced is now so ingrained in our culture that few people question it. But it is a fairly recent concept, which was about by a revolution in the advertising and manufacturing industries, and which thrived on various 20th century changes, including the mass movement of large populations to cities, the development of mass production, globalisation, improved transport, international trade and public broadcast media.

The earliest example of manufacturers convincing people to frequently replace a product may be the so-called  “ conspiracy”, in which a group of companies is supposed to have orchestrated the Phoebus Cartel to prevent companies selling lightbulbs with a longer than 1,000-hour lifespan (most settled on 750 hours), even bulbs lasting more than 100,000 hours existed. The cartel said its intent was to develop international standards, but the net result was that households needed to replace their bulbs regularly, providing a far larger consumer market.

This way of selling more products by designing products that deliberately fail, cannot be repaired, or have a set lifespan imposed in some other way is known as planned . However, it is not just a cynical   dreamed up  by manufacturers to  profits, many politicians and economists believe it to be a societal necessity. The idea was born in the US during the 1930s depression as a way to get the economy moving again by compelling people to buy more stuff. There were plenty of factories and masses of unemployed looking for gainful work, the trouble was the people who could afford to buy things already had them. What was needed, strategists proposed, was a reason for shoppers to buy things they already had, or didn’t know they “needed”.

By the 1950s, planned obsolescence had become the dominant paradigm in mass production with things no longer built to last. A sophisticated advertising industry persuaded people to shop. Mechanisms to make this easier, from department stores to credit. was born. Some industries, such as fashion are predicated on , with items being made to last a single season or less. Other industries are following fashion’s high-turnover model and bringing out products that have cosmetic gimmicks¹ or seasonal appeal but which will soon appear . (Adapted from BBCFuture.)

 Remember the word!

¹A gimmick is something that is not serious or of real value that is used to attract people's attention or interest temporarily, especially to make them buy something, e.g. They give away free gifts with children's meals as a sales/marketing gimmick.

__________________ occurs when consumers believe that they need to buy new or updated products even though their existing products work just fine.

_________________ describes a strategy of deliberately ensuring that the current version of a given product will become out of date or useless within a known time period.

COMPLETE THE MISSING LETTERS. THE FIRST LETTER(S) and THE NUMBER OF THE MISSING LETTERS ARE GIVEN. 

You can find most of the words in the word picture above.

For example, superior sup_____________, you'd need to write 5 letters: erior (add 5 letters)

1. If quality is really good, then it's outst, excellent or superior quality. (add 6 letters)

2. If quality is bad, then instead of saying 'bad' we often say p quality. (add 3 letters)

3. If quality isn't as good as other similar products, then it's inf quality. (add 5 letters)

4. If quality is good, but not always, then it's vari quality. (add 4 letters)

5. If you improve the quality of a product, then you enh the quality. (add 4 letters)

6. If you regularly watch or check the quality of something to find out what is happening, then you mon the quality. (add 4 letters)

7. If you state the quality that you want in an exact and detailed way, then you spe the quality. (add 4 letters)

8. Total Quality Ma is the philosophy that was very popular in the 1980s and 90s. (add 8 letters) You can read about TQM HERE.

9. If you make certain that something has quality, then you ens the quality. (add 3 letters)

10. Quality con is about detecting defects after they happen. (add 4 letters)

11. Quality ass is about prevention rather than detection. (add 6 letters)

COMPLETE THE MISSING LETTERS. THE FIRST LETTER(S) and THE NUMBER OF THE MISSING LETTERS ARE GIVEN. 

You can find most of the words in the word picture above.

For example, superior sup_____________, you'd need to write 5 letters: erior (add 5 letters)

1. If quality is really good, then it's outst, excellent or superior quality. (add 6 letters)

2. If quality is bad, then instead of saying 'bad' we often say p quality. (add 3 letters)

3. If quality isn't as good as other similar products, then it's inf quality. (add 5 letters)

4. If quality is good, but not always, then it's vari quality. (add 4 letters)

5. If you improve the quality of a product, then you enh the quality. (add 4 letters)

6. If you regularly watch or check the quality of something to find out what is happening, then you mon the quality. (add 4 letters)

7. If you state the quality that you want in an exact and detailed way, then you spe the quality. (add 4 letters)

8. Total Quality Ma is the philosophy that was very popular in the 1980s and 90s. (add 8 letters) You can read about TQM HERE.

9. If you make certain that something has quality, then you ens the quality. (add 3 letters)

10. Quality con is about detecting defects after they happen. (add 4 letters)

11. Quality ass is about prevention rather than detection. (add 6 letters)

Listen to an industry analyst, Warwick Fender, who is speaking about quality in the household electrical goods sector. 

TRACK 46.  

Listen and complete the sentences with ONE word mentioned by the expert.

1. The electrical goods industry, or goods as it's often called, has been accused of developing products to last a time. It's also called planned or built-in . 
2. We are facing a general trend towards shorter product .
3. Consumer behaviour is changing and today’s consumers want to electrical goods more often.
4. It’s often to buy something new than to have a product fixed.
5. Repairing products is expensive because of the cost of parts and the time.
6. Ethical consumers today can buy a product keeping in mind that we can it at the end of their useful life.
7. Another factor to consider is that when you upgrade regularly, you are investing in more efficient, more environmentally technology.