Definition-

Are you a learner of English at the upper intermediate level (CEFR level B2)? This part provides reading exercises to assist you in comprehending texts with a broad vocabulary where you may need to take the author's perspective into account. Articles, reports, messages, short stories, and reviews are all examples of texts.

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Example-

People are constantly inundated with advertisements for goods to buy on social media, in publications, and in storefronts, and British shoppers are buying more clothing and shoes than ever. Customers can easily make impulse purchases while shopping online, and major brands sell goods at such low prices that they can be used as disposable things and worn just two or three times before being discarded.

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In Britain, the average person spends more than £1,000 annually, or over 4% of their income, on new clothing. Although that number might not seem like much, it actually conceals two tendencies that are considerably more worrisome for society and the environment. First off, credit cards account for a large portion of consumer expenditure. Currently, each adult Briton owes credit card firms about £670. That amounts to 66% of the typical clothing budget. People not only spend money they don't have, but they also spend it on items they don't need. The majority of the 300,000 tonnes of clothing that Britain discards each year ends up in landfills.

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Because they donate their unwanted clothing to organizations, people might not be aware that they contribute to the disposable clothing problem. But all those unwanted garments can't be sold at charity shops. People don't want to purchase "fast fashion," which goes out of style as quickly as it came in and is frequently of poor quality and cannot be recycled. Large amounts are ultimately thrown away, and numerous items that charity are unable to sell are transported abroad, adding to the economic and environmental issues already present.

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A different trend, the "purchase nothing" tendency, is emerging in response to consumerism. The concept first appeared in Canada in the early 1990s and then spread to the US, where it was interpreted as a protest against the excessive spending and consumption associated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday over the Thanksgiving holiday. People organize a variety of protests on Buy Nothing Day and chop up their credit cards. Buy Nothing organizations plan the exchange and repair of goods they currently own throughout the year.

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Influencers on social media who frequently post pictures of clothes and cosmetics they think others should buy have caught on to the trend. Some YouTube celebrities now advise their followers to refrain from making any purchases for up to a year. In Canada, two friends put in a year of effort to save money for food. They learnt how to survive for the first three months without purchasing any clothing, electronics, or household items. In the following phase, they stopped using services like getting haircuts, dining out, or purchasing gas for their vehicles. They had $55,000 in savings after a year.

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They made improvements that reduced the number of automobiles on the road by two, decreased the amount of plastic and paper packaging, and had a beneficial environmental impact due to all the energy saved. The outcomes would be impressive if everyone stuck to the same strategy. Even if you are unable to go shopping for an entire year, you can support the anti-consumerist movement by choosing not to purchase anything you do not require. Buy Nothing campaigns make it very obvious to businesses that consumers will no longer tolerate the negative effects of excessive consumption on the environment and people.

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Conclusion-

Each lesson includes a model text with writing tips, and tasks to test your understanding and practice various writing skills. Begin right away. Hope that this article helped you and for more information on relevant topics you can visit the SpeakoClub website and can learn and explore more about English speaking and writing.

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