Урок: BEC Advanced Unit 1 Video Lesson

Read the text about Fair Trade and mark the statements below True or False.

1.1


Investments | How fair is Fair Trade?

 

      

 

Seldom has the world seen such a rapidly growing trend. Fair trade products are popping up everywhere. Gone are the days when you had to trek to an off-the-beaten-track shop that smelt of hemp in order to buy a fair trade woolly jumper or bar of chocolate. Now you just need to visit the High Street. 


Topshop, once a bastion of cheap and cheerful garments, sells fair trade tunics, bubble tops and racer-back vests. And Marks and Spencer works with more than 600 fair trade cotton farmers in the developing world, using their cotton to produce chinos (for men), jeans (for women), hooded tops (for the kids), and a host of other fair trade fashion items. 


Sainsbury's sells fair trade chocolate and coffee, and recently announced that the only bananas it will sell in future will come from fair trade producers.  


There are more than 2,500 product lines in the UK that carry the Fairtrade mark. Last year the country spent £290m on fair trade food, furniture and clothing - an increase of 46% on the previous year. Never before has fair trade appeared so tempting for both customers and retailers.


The aim of fair trade is clear - to get a better deal for Third World farmers.  Rarely has a cause seemed that worthy. Not only will farmers escape poverty but they can also send their kids to school and provide them with a better future.


But not everyone is convinced that fair trade is a good idea. Some critics claim that by focusing on achieving a fair price for poor farmers, the movement doesn't address issues of mechanization and industrialization - radical changes that might allow farmers in the developing world to stop doing backbreaking work and break out of the poverty cycle. 


Whether fair trade is more about "flattering Western shoppers" than transforming the lives of Third World farmers and ensuring stable price for the crops they grow is still to be seen. One thing, though, is certain.  In Britain, it seems we chomp through 9,000 bananas every minute, and if we all think a bit more before we buy, we could make a huge difference with just a few pence. 

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

 
Mark the statements TRUE or FALSE according to the text. 
 
Fair trade’s popularity is growing fast. 
1.2

You don’t have to go far to buy fair trade products. 

1.3

Sainsbury's will sell only fair trade coffee in the future. 

1.4

Sales of fair trade products in Britain increased by more than ½ last year. 

1.5

The idea behind fair trade deserves respect. 

1.6

There is no doubt that fair trade is beneficial for farmers. 

1.7

Some people claim that the Fair Trade movement fails to tackle some important problems of developing countries’ economies. 

1.8

The effectiveness of the fair trade concept is still to be proven. 

Match the words and phrases with their meaning.

2.1.

-

  • fair trade
  • off-the-beaten-track
  • hemp
  • bastion
  • developing world
  • to get a better deal
  • to get more money for what you have prod...
  • trade in which fair prices are paid to p...
  • the cannabis plant
  • remote and isolated
  • an institution strongly maintaining part...
  • countries with a low living standard and...

Match the words and phrases with their meaning.

3.1.

-

  • worthy
  • backbreaking work
  • poverty
  • to flatter
  • chomp through (informal)
  • to eat something
  • the state of being poor
  • to praise someone in order to please the...
  • deserving respect
  • physically difficult work that makes you...

Choose the correct alternative for each of the paraphrased sentences.

4.1.

The Carnegie Bank will not give up its firearm policy under any circumstances. 

Under no circumstances give up its firearm policy.

4.2.

The latest production has just commenced but unfortunately prices have fallen.

Hardly commenced prices fell.

4.3.

The president of the holding has never been so uncooperative and unwilling to be interviewed.

Never of the holding been so uncooperative and unwilling to be interviewed.

4.4.

As soon as Miss Miller arrived, the negotiations started.

No sooner arrive the negotiations started.

4.5.

The staff knew almost nothing about the economic implications of the takeover.

Little about the economic implications of the takeover.

4.6.

Vodaphone enabled the world’s first international roaming call and introduced Vodaphone Money Transfer.

Not only the world’s first international roaming call, but it also Vodaphone Money Transfer.

4.7.

The CEO spends little time at the office at this time of day.

Rarely at the office at this time of day.

4.8.

Aileen received a tempting offer from another company only a few days after she had been made redundant.

Hardly been made redundant she received a tempting offer from another company.