Sealed Shut: o computador que funciona e não pode ser usado (B2)
There is a particular sadness in a computer that still works but can no longer be used. The processor is adequate, the screen is bright, the keyboard has years left in it, and yet the machine is declared obsolete because an operating system will not install and a battery is glued into place. We have grown used to describing this as progress, which is generous. Manufacturers argue that thinner devices require sealed construction, and there is some truth in that. There is rather more truth in the observation that a laptop nobody can open is a laptop that must be replaced. Repair laws now passing in several countries will not resurrect the machines already sitting in drawers. What they might change is the assumption, unquestioned for twenty years, that owning something and being able to fix it are separate matters.
Fonte: English for ALL (texto original).
A expressão "We have grown used to describing this as progress, which is generous" revela que o autor
- A) considera exagerado chamar de progresso o descarte de máquinas que ainda funcionam.
- B) reconhece que a fabricação de aparelhos mais finos beneficia sobretudo o consumidor.
- C) acredita que as novas leis de reparo recuperarão os computadores já guardados.
- D) elogia a generosidade dos fabricantes ao lançar sistemas operacionais gratuitos.
- E) afirma que os processadores dessas máquinas se tornaram tecnicamente insuficientes.