University Entrance Examination Tips

Comprehending consumerism

By Ajarn Helen Jandamit

This month, for three weeks, we will concentrate on developing the skills needed to do well in the English section of the University Entrance Examination. This will be followed by a review week. To start July, our focus is on comprehension: understanding main ideas, the way those ideas are arranged to convey an argument, and also understanding how vocabulary items may have different meanings according to the context in which you find them.

Read the following question and then, very quickly, skim through the story underneath to find the answer. Time allowed: four minutes.

TIP 1: Read through the passage quickly, don�t try to understand every word. If you don�t know what a word means, just guess and continue reading.

1. What is the intention of the writer? What feeling does he hope you, the reader, will experience when you read the passage?

a. Complacency.

b. Pride.

c. Concern.

d. Despair.

Consume till you're doomed

By Wasant Techawongtham

I used to wonder what would happen if the average Chinese consumed as much as the average American? The thought was horrifying. Americans constitute 5 percent of the world's population but consume 20 percent of its resources. One American is equal to 13 Chinese, 31 Indians, 128 Bangladeshis, 307 Tanzanians, or 370 Ethiopians in terms of energy consumption, according to Paul Ehrlich in his book Population Bomb.

Now the Chinese are moving up on the global economic scale and their appetite is going up with it. The day of reckoning may not be far away.

The United Nations Environment Programme said in preparing for a regional meeting last week that there are now more "middle to high income" consumers in Asia and the Pacific than in western Europe and North America combined. They are people earning more than $7,000 a year, or roughly 23,400 baht a month.

While they represent only 26 percent of the region's population, UNEP warns that "aspirations for further growth may come at a high environmental price". If car ownership in China, India and Indonesia reaches the global average, 200 million vehicles would be added to the global fleet - twice the number of cars in the United States.

"It is clear that the Earth's natural ecosystems will not cope with the style of industrialisation and over-consumption seen in Europe or North America," said its deputy executive director, Shafqat Kakakhel.

Discussion on sustainable development mainly focused for years on population growth rather than consumption. But it is now clear that the rate of consumption, more so than population growth, is crucial in determining the well-being of the global ecosystem.

Consumption is crucial because there are limits to the global resources and the ecology's ability to withstand abuses. Clean water, for example, is in critical supply, and global warming reflects human abuse of the ecosystem that has gone over the limit. Technology alone will not overcome these limitations.

UNEP suggests that a solution lies in "clean production processes and sustainable consumption patterns." But clean production processes are what technocrats call an end-of-pipe solution that only reduces raw material use and waste discharge, and sustainable consumption as defined by the United Nations falls far short of what is needed to avert environmental disaster.

The world is now completely dominated by the US brand of consumerism that calls for an ever-rising rate of consumption. It will not matter how clean the production processes are, the exploitation of natural resources will continue to rise, leading not just to ecological damage but also social problems and strife.

China is a clear case in point. It may have won praise for achieving phenomenal economic growth over the past several years. But its success comes at a heavy price to the environment and its people. The social and income gap has become a yawning chasm. It has quite recklessly exploited natural resources that will be hard to compensate, like damming the mighty Yangtze and Mekong rivers.

A once powerful and proud Communist country has succumbed to its rival's ideology and is becoming a threat to the global environment by its sheer ability to consume.

A solution to the impending environmental doom, and thus the survival of the human race, lies not in some technological wizardry but in recognising its formidable cause, consumerism, and reversing course. There are more meaningful things in life than consuming.

Wasant Techawongtham is Deputy News Editor for Environment and Urban Affairs, Bangkok Post.

(Bangkok Post Friday, May 30, 2003)

Now read through the passage again quickly to find the answer to this question too. Time allowed: three minutes.

TIP 2: Read for the answer only. Don�t spend time on sections that do not relate to the question.

2. According to the writer, what kind of behaviour needs to be changed if humanity is to survive?

a. Technological development.

b. Consumerism.

c. Sustainable development.

d. Exploiting natural resources.

3. How is the passage organised? Put the following ideas in the right order according to the way the argument is presented.

a. Middle to high income consumers in Asia constitute 26 percent of the population there.

b. The rate of consumption is now seen as extremely important for the well-being of the global ecosystem.

c. Technology alone will not overcome the limitations of the Earth�s resources.

d. Comparison of energy consumption.

e. Although UNEP suggests that clean production processes and sustainable consumption patterns could solve problems of global resources, this is not enough to prevent environmental disaster.

f. The Chinese are consuming more as their economic situation improves.

g. China is becoming a threat to the global environment by its ability to consume.

h. Sustainable development used to focus on population growth.

i. To enable humanity to survive, we must recognise the environmental damage caused by consumerism and stop living that way.

j. There are now there are now more "middle to high income" consumers in Asia and the Pacific than in western Europe and North America combined.

k. An example of the results of exploitation of natural resources in China.

l. The world is dominated by the US brand of consumerism that calls for more and more consumption.

m. Continued exploitation of natural resources leads to ecological damage, social problems and strife.

n. The Earth's natural ecosystems will not be able to cope with an increase in Western style industrialisation and over-consumption.

o. If they continue to consume on the American model, the environment with be badly affected.

4. Fill in the spaces in this list about relative energy consumption. The question has been answered for you.

One American consumes as much as 13 Chinese.

One American consumes as much as ���� Indians.

One American consumes as much as ���� Bangladeshis.

One American consumes as much as ���� Tanzanians.

One ���������. consumes as much as 370 Ethiopians.

5. Which organisation does Mr Kakakhel work for?

6. What does UNEP stand for?

7- 13. There are many words in the English language which have different meanings in different contexts, although they are spelled in the same way. In each of the following questions, you will find possible meanings for the underlined word. All the meanings are to be found in the dictionary. Choose the meaning as it is used in the above story.

7. What does the word scale mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. A weighing machine.

b. One of the small, nearly flat, stiff pieces forming part of the outer body coverings of some animals, esp. fish and snakes.

c. A set of numbers or standards for measuring or comparing.

d. To climb up.

8. What does the word roughly mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. Not smoothly.

b. Approximately.

c. Stormy and violent.

d. Not in the finished form.

9. What does the word growth mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. Increase in numbers or amount.

b. Cultivation.

c. A lump produced by an unnatural and unhealthy increase in the number of cells in a part of the body.

d. Something which has grown.

10. What does the word critical mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. Finding fault.

b. Marked by careful attention and judgment.

c. Of, related to or being, the deciding turning point.

d. Of or related to the work of a critic.

11. What does the word reflect mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. To throw back heat, light, sound or an image.

b. To express, give an idea of.

c. To consider carefully.

d. To bring blame (on).

12. What does the word brand mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. A class of goods which is the product of a particular firm or producer.

b. A special kind.

c. A mark made (as by burning) to show ownership.

d. A piece of wood burnt to give light.

13. What does the word rise mean as it is used in the passage above?

a. Appear above the horizon.

b. To get out of bed, get up.

c. To move up in rank.

d. Increase, get higher.

14. In small groups (4-6 students) discuss how you can reduce consumption in your family and in your school. Report back to the class and decide what action you could take.