b1 · technology

B1 Technology Part 1: Technology

Lesson 41 of 10 in this unit.

📖 Reading Passage

Native audio

In a small library room every Thursday, volunteers fix broken things for free. Retired electricians mend lamps, students patch laptop screens, and a tailor sews torn jackets. Visitors bring kettles, toys, and bicycles, then watch and learn while the repair happens. The founder, a former engineer, says the goal is to fight waste: half of discarded appliances need only a fuse or a loose wire. Last year the café saved over two tonnes of rubbish. Regulars say the best part is not the free repair but the coffee, conversation, and the skill they take home. The volunteers keep a ledger of every repair. It records the object, the fault, and the fix, so newcomers can look up a similar problem before opening a kettle. Many faults turn out to be the same handful of causes: a blown fuse, a worn cable, a blocked filter, a loose screw. Visitors who watch a repair once often return with tools and a plan to try the next one themselves. Schools now send design students to learn how products are built and why they fail. The organisers insist the cafe is not an anti-technology protest. Machines, they say, are worth keeping, and a society that can mend its possessions wastes less money and fewer materials.

📘 Vocabulary

20 words from this lesson

assessment: The act of assessing or an amount (of tax, levy or duty etc) assessed.; “They discussed assessment during the lesson.”
atmosphere: The gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body.; “They discussed atmosphere during the lesson.”
awful: Very bad.; “They discussed awful during the lesson.”
bedroom: A room in a house, apartment, hotel or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping.; “They discussed bedroom during the lesson.”
belief: acceptance of a claim as true.; “They discussed belief during the lesson.”
bound: Obliged (to).; “They discussed bound during the lesson.”
carefully: With care; attentively, circumspectly.; “They discussed carefully during the lesson.”
closing: The act by which something is closed.; “They discussed closing during the lesson.”
cloud: A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.; “They discussed cloud during the lesson.”
colorado: A cigar of medium color and strength.; “They discussed colorado during the lesson.”
contrast: A difference in lightness, brightness or hue between two colours that makes them more or less distinguishable.; “They discussed contrast during the lesson.”
egg: A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).; “They discussed egg during the lesson.”
element: One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.; “They discussed element during the lesson.”
elsewhere: : in, at, or to some other place.; “They discussed elsewhere during the lesson.”
establish: To make stable or firm; to confirm.; “They discussed establish during the lesson.”
extension: The act of extending; a stretching out; enlargement in length, breadth, or time; an increase.; “They discussed extension during the lesson.”
founder: One who founds or establishes (a company, project, organisation, state, etc.).; “They discussed founder during the lesson.”
gear: Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.; “They discussed gear during the lesson.”
hills: A region in which there are many hills; a hilly area.; “They discussed hills during the lesson.”
hip: The outward-projecting parts of the pelvis and top of the femur and the overlying tissue.; “They discussed hip during the lesson.”

📐 Grammar Notes

This lesson practices clear paragraph structure: one main idea per paragraph, stated first, supported with two concrete details, and closed with a linking sentence. Prefer active verbs and precise nouns. Connect ideas with however for contrast, furthermore for addition, and therefore for consequence. Keep sentences under twenty-five words so each claim stays traceable to its evidence. Practice by labeling each sentence in the reading: underline the main verb, circle the time marker, and check that every they and it points to a named noun. Rewrite any three sentences in your own words while keeping tense and meaning intact. Theme: technology. Reading: The Repair Café.

B1 Technology Part 1: Technology

📖 Reading Passage

📘 Vocabulary

📐 Grammar Notes

Practice Exercises

Look at those black ___s. It is going to rain.

I am bound to him by a close friends___.

What does 'assessment' mean?

What does 'atmosphere' mean?

What does 'awful' mean?

What does 'bedroom' mean?

What does 'belief' mean?

What does 'bound' mean?

Write a sentence using 'assessment'.

Summarize the passage in two sentences.

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