Skills and tasks-Week8

LINKING WORDS FOR FCE 

READING: Cars – love them or hate them

Cars – love them or hate them

It is only just over 130 years ago that the first car was invented. In the context of the millions of years since the beginning of our planet Earth, that is no time at all. And yet, because cars are such an essential part of our lives, it seems as though they have always been with us.

Gina O’Donnell, a young marketing executive who runs international campaigns to sell Italian-designed cars to people all over the world, says: “Part of my job is to find out why people drive cars. People choose cars for many different reasons. Some say they are looking for a car that gives them the sense of freedom they desire. Others say that their vehicle is essential because they have to take their children to and from school every day.” Priya Patel, mother to three young boys who attend different schools many miles apart, is one such example. Even though she is fully aware of the air pollution that her multiple journeys cause, she doesn’t feel that she has any choice at the moment. For some people, their car helps them to express their hidden personality. “When I’m driving my sports car on a sunny day, with the top down, I feel like a teenage rock star,” joked a senior manager.

But our love affair with the car has its consequences. The expanding network of concrete roads may be seen as spoiling the beauty of rural areas. Although some people predict that the need for more roads will increase in the future, others are keen to develop different public transport systems, or encourage more people to join car sharing schemes. It’s essential to find alternatives, because if we continue to build roads at the same pace, there is an increased risk of flooding. This can occur when rainwater falls on roads and can’t drain into the ground so easily.

All over the world there are hundreds of thousands of people employed in the car industry. They work in a wide variety of roles, from marketing executives like Gina O’Donnell, to engineers who create the robots that work on the production line, and quality controllers who inspect the finished products.

Cars are also vital to small businesses all over the world. They are used for transporting goods and merchandise from one part of the country to another. However, all these cars need somewhere to park, and this means that a lot of our green spaces in urban areas are being built on to provide car parks.

The good news is that people are trying to find ways of helping the environment without having to give up their cars. Scientists are busy researching new fuels, for example by recycling the vegetable oil that restaurants use in their kitchens. Electric cars that have rechargeable batteries are often seen in our cities these days. We are left with the dilemma about whether the benefits of cars in our daily lives outweigh the negative effects on the environment. This question will no doubt continue to engage people for many years to come.

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