Trash as Treasure? – Technological Solutions to Environmental Problems
Talking Trash – Energy from Waste

The text “Trash as Treasure? – Technological Solutions to Environmental Problems” from the Economist on page 10 and published 2012 is about the causes of burning trash and how machines work to reduce the effects of it.

In the headline you can find a stylistic device. “Trash” and “Treasure” it’s a contrast and you use it when you want to compare something to show unlikeness or differences. “Trash” is in general a negative word and “Treasure” a positive word. So, at first you ask yourself how trash can be a treasure? I think it means that you need to look at trash as much as at treasure, because if you don’t know something about the bad effects especially from burning trash you don’t need treasure or expensive things in the future anymore. You will only need fresh air without toxic chemicals and you can’t get that with money or you can’t even buy that like mostly everything now days.

You can divide the text into seven passages. The first passage (ll.1-16) is about the cause of burning especially plastic and about the old incinerators. We become to know that the old incinerators need to be revised, because they also contribute something to the emissions. The second passage (ll.17-27) is about the retrofitting of incinerators, so the toxic chemicals has been reduced a thousand-fold. Then in the third passage (ll.28-38) you learn something about the new-waste-to-energy plant, short WTE plants, in general. The author points out the disadvantages and the advantages of the new incinerators. The 4th passage (ll.39-50) is about the methane at the Puente Hills Landfill in LA and how they make electricity out of rubbish. The 5th passage (ll.51-73) is about how the WTE plants work in details and how they reduce the emissions. Then the 6th passage (ll.74-82) is about the benefits of the WTE plants, especially about the reduction of toxic chemicals. The 7th passage (ll.83-91) is about the differences between countries about the production of rubbish and you learn that burning waste is the greener option.

The author wants to inform the readers about the changes and the bad effects of burning treasure. Especially the author wants to say that more has to be done to reduce the pollutions because nobody wants to breathe toxic air. The first step to reduce the emissions is to use the new incinerators and if mostly everyone will use them it will be a big progress.

Your Life Is Fully Mobile

The expository text “Your Life Is Fully Mobile” was written by Nancy Gibbs and published on 27th August 2012 and is about the revolution of mobile phones. It deals with the well-known fact that smart phones already altered our lives. Also, this text shows that mobile phones get everyday more and more important to us. In the following, I’m going to analyze this text.

In this text are many stylistic means. Right at the beginning sentence you can find an enumeration “We walk, talk and sleep with our phones.” (l.1) An enumeration is a listing of words and in this case the author listed verbs. The effect is that he connects the phone with things that everybody usually do every day and that it is a part of our lifetime. So, the author wants to emphasize that smart phones are already a part of our lifetimes and we involve our phones in mostly everything we do. Next you can find a hyperbole “more people have access to a mobile device than to a toilet or running water.” (ll. 21, f.) A hyperbole makes something sound more exciting, better, dangerous, etc. than in reality. In this case you can’t be more accessed to running water because humans need water to survive and everybody really need to go to the toilet as well. People thing that they can’t without their phones but they can. Then you can find a metaphor “smart-phone gait” (l.26) A metaphor is a poetic comparison. In this connection the author wants to emphasize that mostly every human you can see e.g. at the sidewalk with their phones in their hands. They don’t go outside without their smart phones anymore, so they become a part of their lives. Also, you can find a climax “Smaller and smarter and faster and better.” (ll.61 f.) Climax is a rising action. Here the author wants to show that mobile phones will get in the future better and with more functions than they have now. So, smart phones will be a part of our future too and maybe they will alter our lives more and more. If you look at the choice of words you can see that the author uses in the text personal pronouns like “we” (ll.1,18,29,30,32…), “our” (ll. 8,19,42…) or “you” (ll.28,60…). So, the author appeals to the readers and everybody can identify his- or herself with this text. Also, the author uses questions that appeals to the readers too, but she doesn’t answer these questions in purpose that the readers answer the question on their own. “And how much about our lives and work and relationships is left to be completely transformed as a result?” (ll. 62 f.) Finally, you can see that the author wants to underline that mobile phones are already a part of humans live and probably that won’t be changed in the future.