Mini test 1 - 1

Mini Test 1

01 Sociology

Listen to a lecture in a sociology class.

M: I want to talk about a fairly new field of study called, uh, don’t laugh, but it’s called garbology. As you all can probably guess, garbology is the study of garbage, and more specifically, it is the study of landfills and the trash that overflows from them.

Are we pretty clear so far? There are a couple of reasons why someone might take an interest in garbology.

For one thing, it’s a way to learn about the past. Think of it this way − the study of trash kind of imitates an archaeological study.

Trash items reveal valuable knowledge about the passage of time. And considering that some ancient cultures left no writing, tombs or any other artifacts, all we’re left with to study is something everyone is sure to leave behind−their trash.

Anyway, something else garbologists hope to learn by studying the waste that a particular population produces is their patterns of food consumption and trash disposal. Garbology can also unmask certain environmental concerns.

Just to give you a bit of background, the word “garbology” was originally coined by A.J. Waberman, a uh, writer actually, to describe his studies as he sorted through a famous pop singer’s personal trash.

He wanted to uh, well, he wanted to learn more about the singer, so he could write a book on him. So anyway, I think I might have mentioned before that the study of garbage did not begin until recently.

In fact, it wasn’t even a legitimate academic area of study anywhere until 1971.

The University of Arizona was the first to offer garbology as a course of study, which focuses on educating students about the patterns seen through the contents of trash, and even traces history through the contents. So what have garbologists learned so far?

A little garbology knowledge can go a long way, especially in deciphering the mysteries that are left by older cultures.

For example, by studying food remains, garbologists can tell what kinds of food a population used to eat and what their nutrition was like. Or pieces of tools that were broken or failed could be used to learn about the types of technology a culture had developed.

Finally, studying the pollen from plants found discarded in the area, garbologists can learn about the flora in the region.

Do you all have any questions about how garbology is used to study the past?

Good, let’s keep moving on then. In addition to learning from exploring ancient remains, garbologists also investigate trash to learn about the present.

Garbology has revealed unique patterns in human behavior. For example, by studying the number of food packaging and disposable convenience items found in trash, they have been able to determine that humans are no longer relying on handmade products and cooking as they used to.

Additionally, garbology also gives some insight into the food consumption patterns between the upper, middle and lower classes. In a study, garbage was collected from different neighborhoods in search of soup cans.

While the cans were relatively non-existent in the garbage of the rich, the trash from the middle-class neighborhoods were full with these cans.

What do you think that means? To begin with, the assumption is that the rich can afford to hire help with preparing meals and can also afford to eat out. Thus, there is barely any prepackaged convenience food in their trash as they have no need for it.

Meanwhile, the middle-class generally looks for convenience in its food purchases. This kind of information is priceless to corporations who need to determine who their targets should be in their marketing plans.

Let’s discuss one last aspect of garbology: It has helped divulge some previously unknown facts about biodegradation. See, before, it was believed that trash decomposed at rates far quicker than it really does.

The reality is, many things do not even decompose at all! Plastic, for example, seems to last forever, which poses several obvious environmental problems.

Even worse than plastic is paper. Here’s something that’ll boggle your brains: newspapers alone make up nearly fifteen percent of the trash in landfills.

What’s more is that newspapers from the 1950s can still be found in fairly good condition. On one hand, the lack of biodegradation serves garbologists because the preserved items are easier to study.

However, because of the serious predicament that the Earth is in, biodegradation, or rather, the lack of biodegradation, is an issue that needs to be addressed.

1) What is the lecture mainly about?

2) What aspect of garbology did the professor mainly discuss?

3) According to the professor how is garbology like an archaeological dig?

4) How did garbology originate?

5) According to the passage, why were few soup cans found in trash cans of the rich?

6) According to the passage, which of the following is true of newspapers?