Read the text. Refer to the list below and complete the sentences with the best word.

Your gadgets are full of stuff that __________ (1) hurt the environment, other people and you may have a laptop, a desktop computer, a tablet, and/or a smartphone. If I __________ (2) to ask you what was inside your chosen device, you would likely mention a hard drive, flash storage, RAM, or a processor. Some people might say, “I have no idea. I think it operates by magic.” Very few would mention arsenic, lead, and mercury. Yet most of our gadgets __________ (3) these or other elements and chemical compounds that are dangerous to us and our environment.

I’m not trying to be an alarmist. I love tech, and I always will. I want the lightest yet fastest laptop, the coolest smartphone, the biggest HDTV, and a professional-quality sound system. But I can’t remain blind to the inconvenient fact that our tech contains poisons. Our electronics use thousands of raw elements and mixed compounds – most of which remain inert while we operate our gadgets, but which can do considerable harm before we buy our devices and after we discard them. We take our smartphones, computers, and HDTVs for__________ (4), assuming that their only price is what we paid at the__________ (5). But our gadgets are filled with substances that damage the air and water where they’re mined, manufactured, and disposed of. And some poisons make their way back to us, the users.

Usually, but not always, the __________ (6) are workers who live in distant countries. Some toxic substances leach out of hardware in the course of regular use, or when the device gets damaged. A broken monitor or LCD HDTV, for instance, could expose you to mercury. And every contaminated river in the world empties its toxins into the oceans that we all depend on. The European Union bans or tightly controls many of the materials involved. Such __________ (7) can eliminate or significantly reduce their use elsewhere, since companies would rather not deal with two separate manufacturing processes.

But Barbara Kyle of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition doesn’t find the news all that good. “They’ve stopped using certain chemicals, but what we don’t know is what they’ve been using instead,” she told me in a phone interview. “The __________ (8) aren’t necessarily better.”

What can you do about this problem – aside from selling your car, growing your own food, and swearing off electricity? First, take into account more than your finances when you consider buying a new gadget. Ask yourself if you could hold off making a purchase. If you buy a new phone every three years instead of every two, you reduce the impact by a third. Second, when __________ (9) what to buy, check the manufacturer’s environmental standing. The Ecology Center has a useful listing of smartphones ranked to their toxicity. For a general view of companies’ environmental practices, check out the Greenpeace Guide. Third, get rid of your dead and obsolete tech conscientiously. __________ (10) having the manufacturer recycle it for you, find an e-waste centre near you on e-cycle.co.nz to see where you can responsibly recycle and how. If your tech item is still in good working order, consider reselling or donating it. Finally, know what you’re dealing with: what are the more dangerous substances used in your tech?

1. A. must B. could C. should D. have to

2. A. am B. have been C. will D. were

3. A. maintain B. consist C. contain D. support

4. A. granted B. given C. presented D. done

5. A. check-in B. reception C. register D. magazine

6. A. victims B. suspects C. presenters D. sacrifices

7. A. regulations B. revisions C. reclamations D. restrictions

8. A. changes B. replacements C. substitutes D. backups

9. A. researching B. looking C. learning D. organizing

10. A. Instead of B. In spite of C. In contrast D. Though

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Work in pairs. Look at these predictions and say which of them are likely to come true and when. Add some of your own and compare them with other students.	\|

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