Listening comprehesion 2 America’s dopamine-fueled shopping addiction

PRE- LISTENING TASKS

Answer the questions.

Why shopping is so addictive?

Do you like watching shopping haul or unboxing videos? Why?

What do you know about consumerism?

Match the words with their definitions.

1. dopamine hit	a) a video recording, posted to the Internet in which a person discusses items that they recently purchased, sometimes going into detail about their experiences during the purchase and the cost of the items they bought
2. landfill	b) without first considering if you should do it or not
3. minimalism	c) the release of an important chemical messenger in the brain that creates feeling of pleasure and reward
4. sustainable products	d) a situation that causes problems for you or that annoys you very much
5. capsule wardrobe	e) a shop selling second-hand clothes and household goods, typically to raise funds for a Church or charity
6. thrift store	f) generating little or no waste
7. zero-waste	g) a system of trash and garbage disposal in which the waste is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying land
8. a haul video	h) a practice of editing your wardrobe down to your favorite clothes (clothes that fit your lifestyle + body right now), remixing them regularly, and shopping less often and more intentionally
9. a hassle	i) a style in which a small number of very simple things are used to create a particular effect
10. without a second thought	j) goods that provide environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health and environment over their whole life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials until the final disposal

Find synonyms among the words given.

gather, go up, goods, shopper, return, throw away, clutter, fabric, go down, collect, increase, send back, consumer, trash, garments, textile, products, cloth, decrease, clothes, junk.

 

LISTENING TASK

Listen to the report and answer the questions.

What are the biological and historical roots of America’s shopping addiction?

How has shopping become easier? What is the ‘double benefit’ of online shopping?

Why are there so many things people don’t use after buying and don’t return to the shops? What happens to them?

What does consumerism mean for individuals and the globe?

What are the ways to stop the trash filling our planet?

POST-LISTENING TASK

Make up a speech describing consumer behavior in Russia.

LISTENING COMPREHESION 3 CLOTHING EXPRESSIONS

Pre-listening.

Add a missing word according to the definition (all the words refer to clothing), translate

1) off the … – you say something without having prepared or thought about your words first

2) have ants in one’s … - to not be able to keep still because you are very excited or worried about something

3) fly by the seat of one’s … - to do something difficult without the necessary skill or experience

4) get caught with one’s … down - be found doing something you should not be doing

5) wear the … - (especially of a woman) to be the person in a relationship who is in control and who makes decisions for both people

6) tighten one's … - to practice strict economy

7) take your … off to sb - you admire sb for an achievement

8) at the drop of a … - you do sth immediately without stopping to think about it

9) be too big for one’s … - think you are more important than you really are.

10) stuffed … - someone who behaves in a very formal and old-fashioned way and thinks that they are very important

11) wear one's heart on one's … - to show one's emotions very openly

12) to keep one’s … on - to stop being so angry or upset, to calm down or be more patient

13) lose one's … - to lose a lot of money because of a bad bet or investment

14) roll up one's … - to prepare to work hard

15) have a card up your … - to have an advantage that other people do not know about

Listening task

Listen to the text, say what types and parts of clothing are mentioned in the text.