The fur debate goes full circle - Practice Exam

C1 Advanced · Multiple Matching · Advanced Expert Student's Resource Book, Pearson Education

You are going to read an article about attitudes towards wearing clothing made out of animal fur. For questions 1–10, choose from the sections (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

A couple of months ago I inherited some items that had once belonged to my mother. Most of these boxes invoked poignant joy. But one produced a moral dilemma. I found a collection of fur garments, wrapped in plastic, which my mother had inherited from her mother. This included a fabulous floor-length mink coat of the sort that wealthy women once commonly wore around New York or Geneva and still sport in some places. Should I wear it, toss it away or simply sell it on eBay? 20 years ago my answer would have been clear: I would've conducted a ritual burning of the mink while enveloped in a smug glow of political correctness. I started my adult life as an anthropology student and back then the animal rights movement was running such a slick anti-fur campaign that mink seemed taboo to westerners of my age. Who can forget those shots of fur-clad ladies being doused in red paint in the streets by angry protesters? In those days sporting fur in public seemed like an act of deliberate provocation – even before you factored in the issues of privilege and wealth. Indeed, fur was so controversial that I'd forgotten my mother even had a mink coat because she barely wore it.

But today my view of fur – like that of many western consumers – has become less black and white. Having lived in Russia, I now realise that fur is extraordinarily effective at combating extreme cold. I have also become increasingly aware of the capricious nature of political campaigns and concepts of political correctness. The more I think about it, the odder it seems that someone should throw a paintball at a fur coat but still wear leather or eat factory-farmed meat. In any case, fur isn't always associated with animal cruelty: these days, designers in places such as Vermont are making fur coats out of road kill. Indeed, the social ecosystem of fur is more complex than it might seem. As fur prices have tumbled in recent years due to the anti-fur campaign, it's not the rich who have suffered but rather the indigenous groups in places such as Canada who were at the centre of the fur trade – so much so that some anthropologists are now lobbying against the anti-fur campaign.

The other complicating factor is advances made in the science of synthetic materials. It's now extremely easy to produce a fake fur coat. Sometimes these are fashioned to look as artificial as possible – such as the peppermint-green fake fur that was a must-have item one year – but often such items look identical to my mink. Either way, the trend has made furry images ubiquitous. This, in turn, has stealthily lessened the stigma around fur and helped make the real items more acceptable again, boosting fur prices. In some ways this is deeply ironic. In centuries past fur was valuable because it seemed so exclusive and natural. Now its acceptability and price are rising because of fakes. If nothing else, this should remind us all of just how malleable many of our symbols and value systems can be. What is deemed ultra-precious today may be less so tomorrow. Our reactions to symbols can shift in subtle ways – even when they feel natural or inevitable.

I am a case in point. For many weeks that mink sat untouched in my closet in New York while I uneasily pondered what to do. Then my young daughters stumbled on the bags and it suddenly occurred to me that wearing that coat, whatever its origins, could be an ecologically positive act. I was recycling something and, in a sense, honouring the past. So when the temperature plunged, I finally swathed myself in the sensual layers of mink. Part of me still feels a touch uneasy sporting it in the street. But I keep reminding myself that, as one of my daughters acerbically pointed out, nobody knows if it's actually real or not. I can't say what my grandmother would've made of that, but I prefer to chuckle at the irony – and hope the next generation of fur coats can be produced in the most humane way possible.

The fur debate goes full circle

an example of inconsistent attitudes to related issues?

continuing to feel slightly uncomfortable with a decision?

an image that made a lasting impression on her generation?

an unintended side-effect of a successful protest movement?

a way of justifying a practice that was once heavily criticised?

an acknowledgement of the practical value of an item of clothing?

a technological development that has allowed a softening of public attitudes?

being influenced by a particularly effective attempt to change public attitudes?

how one particular garment is indistinguishable from those designed to imitate it?

examples of production methods that have addressed some of the concerns of campaigners?

In which section does the writer mention

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