148 MODULE 1 – TEENS & CONSUMERISM

© AREAL EDITORES
PROGRESS TEST 1
Name: _______________________________________________ No. _____ Class: _____
Date: ____/____/____ Mark: ____________________ Teacher: ____________________

The final task you are expected to complete is

to write an email to a friend stating the consequences of
consumerism.
Activities A and B will provide you with input for Activity C.

ACTIVITY A
15 1 Complete the following text with six words from the box.

Use each word only once.

• extravaganzas • clerks • deals • factors • fervour • unemployment

There is some psychology behind our attachment to material objects and how
a)___________________ such as loneliness and social isolation play into our material
attachments. But those attachments allow us to forget about the fact that 16 percent
of
our country, or 49.7 million people, were living in poverty in 2012, or that 344,000
new
people filed for b)__________________ insurance between November 2nd and November
9th, a one week period.
None of this is meant to make anyone feel guilty about their shopping c)______________
but merely to serve as a reminder that in all our hullabaloo of shopping and holiday
d)____________________, we should try to keep our humanity intact. Understand that
while we are trying to get our e)____________________ in, so is everyone else, and the
hard-working store f)______________ who don't get Black Friday off, or Thanksgiving for
that matter, are simply trying to make a living.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mehroz-baig/black-friday-the-animal-i_b_4344608.html
(abridged)

10 2 Suggest two measures to stop the instinct of consumerism.

Write a total of 20-40 words.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

15 3 Complete the sentences below using the verbs given in brackets in the right
tense.
a) Apparently there _____________________ (to be) six fewer days this year
between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
b) Technically speaking, Black Friday __________ (not/ refer/ ever) to as a good day.
c) As we speak, thousands ______________ (flock) to retail stores to get their hands
on a fantastic deal.
 PROGRESS TESTS 149

ACTIVITY B
Read the following lyrics.

Baby thought she really needed that sofa

Baby thought she really wanted that dress
Baby thought she really had to have two cars
Baby thought she really had to say yes

5 But the more she possessed,

The more she’d slide into debt
And the more she possessed
The less she owned of herself

Everybody said you can’t live without them

10 Everybody said you have to say yes
So Baby spent her everything on this lifestyle
But it's a lifestyle that doesn't exist

Yes, the more we possess

The more we are in debt
15 And the more we possess
The less we own of ourselves

Brett Anderson (2006)

http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858696552/
(abridged)

10
1 Explain in your own words the title of the song.

10
2 How would you describe the female character in the lyrics?

15 3 In note form, complete the table below with information from the text.
Say what each character wished for and/or did.

Baby/sh Everybody/they
e
a) a sofa e)
b) f)
c)
d) spent everything she had
150 MODULE 1 – TEENS & CONSUMERISM

© AREAL EDITORES
10 4 Complete the following sentences using information from the text.

a) She bought so many things that ___________________________________________,

b) She wasted all of her money on ___________________________________________.

10 5 Say what the following words refer to.

a) them (l. 9) ______________________

b) this (l. 11) ______________________
c) that (l.12) ______________________
15
6 Find in the text synonyms for these words/expressions.
a) fall ____________________________________________________________________
b) money owed to others ______________________________________________________
c) have ___________________________________________________________________

10
7 Make a good sentence from the following words:
American buy clothes designer elegant style – conscious wealthy women.

ACTIVITY C
80 Imagine the female character in the song is your friend. Write an email to her
stating the consequences of carrying on with this kind of lifestyle.

Write between 150 and 220 words.

____________________________________________________________________________
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