Look at the last paragraph. Work in pairs and discuss these questions. 1 What is the function of the first sentence? 2 What does ‘short-term thinking’ mean here? 3 In what ways do you think we might ‘pay dearly’? Linking expressions like adverbs and adverbial clauses help readers find their way through a text. Look at the highlighted expressions in the article and think about their functions in the text. c Environmental organisations, like Friends of the Earth, had found out that before landing in our prawn cocktails, all pink and juicy, the freshly fished prawns were sent half around the world from Europe to the Far East. The 12,000-mile journey leads them from the Irish coast to Thailand and back again. While the first leg of the prawns’ journey is a relatively short trip from the bottom of the sea to the trawler’s deck, the next stretches get considerably longer; packed in ice, they are transported back to the port in the neighbourhood of the busy quayside fish markets. Still nothing unusual about this, but then the odyssey begins. To start with, they are sent on a lorry ride from Northern Ireland to Scotland. On their arrival, the prawns are loaded onto a chilled container and then sent off on their long sea journey to Thailand to be hand-peeled there. Then they are repacked in refrigerated containers and sent all the way back to the UK where, finally, they are sold in supermarkets or to catering outlets like hotels and restaurants. On the one hand, NGOs say it is absurd that seafood should be shipped half around the world, just because it is cheaper to process it in low-cost countries. They also reckon that for every ton of prawn sent on its long-distance journey, half a ton of carbon dioxide is produced – not exactly a small carbon footprint! On the other hand, the food company responsible for the prawns’ voyage claims that it simply is not viable economically to have prawns handpeeled in Europe. In addition they adduce environmental benefits. Firstly, if the prawns were peeled in Europe, they say, the shells would have to be incinerated, which would cause CO2 emissions, whereas in Thailand the leftovers can be recycled and used in traditional medicines. Secondly, prawns need to mature for three weeks, which, if it happened in Europe, would also cost energy for refrigerating them. Be that as it may, it seems a bit of an unnecessary detour for the small creatures to make from the muddy bottom of the Irish Sea to people’s dinner plate. This is criticised not only by environmental groups, but also by journalists who complain that, despite strict EU laws, environmental concerns seem to be low down on politicians’ agendas. With their eyes on the next election, they might shrink from unpopular measures, shortterm thinking for which we shall all pay dearly in the long run. Vocabulary Linking expressions 2 14 a Look at functions 1–5 and add the highlighted expressions to the lists. 1 Adding ideas 2 Contrasting ideas 3 Sequencing 4 Making concessions 5 Summing up and clarifying furthermore, and, moreover yet next although, even though summing up, to be (more) precise, in other words b 90 Language skills Extras Explore 7 Your environment Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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