A Personal Reflection on Consumerism
By Kathy Fairclough
1) How important is shopping to you? How many hours of your life do you spend earning money to buy things? How much time do you spend shopping for these things? And how much time do you spend organizing these things in your home? In the future, how much time will you use up spending money in movie theaters, at amusement parks, at drive-thrus, at shopping malls, at convenience stores, at the gas pump, or at your desk paying bills? When you add it all up, you will probably see that you spend a lot of your life consuming stuff. Consuming products is not necessarily bad. However, since we spend so much time doing it, we should look at it carefully.
2) Imagine that you have a week off from school or work. You don't have to go to the office or go to class. However, in this week, you cannot spend any money-no shopping, no movies, no amusement park rides, no eating out. How would you spend your time? What things would bring you happiness? Perhaps you would take a walk on the beach with your best friend. Maybe you would climb a tree . You might just sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. Maybe you would play with your dog. Maybe you would draw a picture or write a story. Perhaps you would read a book, have a conversation with a stranger, or help a child read. You might sleep under the stars, daydream, or spend time with your family.
3) On our deathbeds, it is likely that nonconsuming experiences like these will be our most important memories. Why? Nonconsuming activities are active, not passive. They don't come in a package. You make the experience yourself. For example, each person who reads to a child will have a different experience. The experience changes with the reader, the child, and the book. However, if you watch a movie with a friend, you will each have a packaged experience. It requires no action and little interaction between the two of you. When you take a walk and have a conversation with a friend, however, you are actively creating an experience. The conversation that you have with your friend cannot be experienced or recreated by anyone else.
4) The consumerist environment we live in encourages us to have packaged experiences. We feel that we must consume because we believe that buying is doing. When we say to our friends, "Hey, let's do something," we usually mean, "let's spend money:' However, we can start a personal revolution against consumerism. How? By consuming less. We can ask ourselves what experiences bring us the greatest satisfaction? Then we can organize our lives so that we have more of those kinds of experiences. The capitalist system can use us or we can use it. It's our choice.
A Read the article to find the answers to these questions.
1. According to the writer, are we all consumers?
2. What kinds of consuming do people do?
3. What kinds of experiences are more important-consuming experiences or nonconsuming experiences? Why?
4. How can we change our lives?
B Match the main ideas with the correct paragraph.
• Explanation of why consuming activities aren't special
• Introduction-we consume most of the time
• Call to action
• Explanation of why nonconsuming activities are special
А.
ОтветитьУдалить1) Yes, according to the writer we are all consumers and spend too much time on consumption, although we could have done some other useful thing.
2) People consume different foods and things. This can be: food, clothing, going to cinemas, amusement parks, shopping malls, convenience stores, paying bills, and soon.
3) The most important is the nonconsuming experience. Because they become our most important memories. Without consumption a person can do something that really bringshim pleasure. He can just sit and enjoy the sun , he can take awalk with the dog , paint a picture, or write a story.
B.
Explanation of why consuming activities aren't special - 4
Introduction-we consume most of the time -1
Call to action -2
Explanation of why nonconsuming activities are special-3