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Pearson Edexcel
International Advanced Level

English Language
International Advanced Level
Unit 3: Crafting Language (Writing)

Friday 20 January 2017 – Morning Paper Reference

Source Booklet WEN03/01

Do not return this Source Booklet with the question paper.

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©2017 Pearson Education Ltd.

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CONTENTS
Page
Text A – Online article 3
Text B – Interview 4
Text C – Article from The Telegraph newspaper 5
Text D – Article from The Guardian newspaper 6

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Topic: Homes of the Future

The following texts concern the ways in which people might live in the future.
Text A
This online article by Yolanda Lu explains five things you might expect to see in a
home of the future. It was published on the website Inc. in 2014.
1. Tell your home what to do anytime, anywhere.
Want to take a shower when you get home? You’ll be able to program your smart water
heater to start heating up while you’re still at work. You might even preheat your oven
while you’re on your way home. Moral of the story is, you won’t need to be home to turn
on your devices. Of course, you will still need to buy those smart home devices.
2. Excuse me, my house is calling.
Is the door locked? Did I turn off the lights? Did I shut off the gas stove? Right now,
everyone has had a moment like that. But in the house of the future, your home will
check in with you. You will know immediately when your smoke detector rings or your
door was left open. Better yet, if the door suddenly opens after it was securely closed,
you might even forestall a break in. Talk about a security system.
3. Customize your home according to your life.
We all have our routines. Get up, jog, shower, make coffee. Any number of these
steps might require technology. In your home of the future, all of your devices can be
programed to work in unison – making your a.m. routine less taxing. When you turn on
the lights in the morning, you might also like to open the blinds, and probably open the
garage door as well. Or you can time it all. If you wake up at 6 a.m. while it’s still dark, the
lights might flip on and then flip off automatically after the sun rises.
4. Talking to your home won’t be weird.
Talking to yourself will take on a whole new meaning. In connected homes, you’ll be
able to speak to your oven or light bulbs and not sound crazy. For its part, Wink* sees big
brands’ endorsement of smart homes as an opportunity to bring awareness to the world
of connected homes. And who knows, in the future Siri* may do more than give you
directions in a British accent.
5. Dangers will lurk (but that’s always true).
All technology can to some degree pose dangers. One concern that comes naturally
with an app that controls everything in your smart home is: what if it gets hacked? Now
the hackers could unlock your door, open your garage, cause such a mess at your home
simply by taking control of your phone. And, don’t forget that information like your water
usage is now also in a “cloud*” system. Wink says that the only data that the company
gets is user’s email address and the password they create to log in to the app. Plus, all
communications between devices are strictly encrypted. Well, let’s assume it works
for now.
Glossary
* Wink – an application (app) which will allow users to interact with their homes using
their mobile devices
* Siri – voice recognition software
* cloud – online storage of information

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Text B
This text is taken from an interview with Dr. Chris Brauer. He is a researcher and
lecturer on the future uses of technology in the home. The interview took place
in 2015.
What do smart home technologies mean to us today?
You can now have a thermostat in your home that is linked to the internet, or a
carbon monoxide indicator which texts your neighbour if there’s a problem. They
are designed to make your relationship with energy easier. But these technologies
can’t change behaviour on their own. Saving energy requires a shift in our cultural
consciousness. Just as getting people to stop smoking requires action from the top
down and from the bottom up, so too does the notion of reducing energy use. It’s a
society-wide commitment.
Home technology is often talked of as part of the ‘internet of things’. What does
that mean?
Sensors are now ubiquitous, embedded in everyday objects, and connected on the
internet. A fridge that scans sell-by dates, for example, is connected to the net and as
much a part of your home as your laptop.
And when we move around the world, we can communicate with these devices remotely
– we will always be linked to our home, in other words.
Doing a bit of crystal ball gazing, what will the fact that computer processing power
doubles every 18 months mean for us?
I expect the smart home will soon demonstrate intelligence – not just do things in a
smart way – but learn and adapt to the needs of those living there.
Do you have a smart meter*? Is it useful?
I do, and it is. But I’m looking forward to the next layer, which are the apps and services
that run on top of the smart meter data. This will have a much bigger impact on
our behaviour.
Finally, where does wearable technology, such as a smart watch, fit into all of this?
It’s a really important component. Wearable tech takes information from people, their
biometrics*, and their moods. In our research we simulated wearable tech anticipating a
film choice for you as you were heading home from work, based on how you were feeling
during the journey. People found that very useful. There are truly powerful possibilities
between human data and the data from the home.
Glossary
* smart meter – a technological device that monitors energy use in the household
* biometrics – biological data

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Text C
This text is taken from an article in The Telegraph newspaper about ‘recycled
homes’. It was first published in 2014.
We may grumble when we put out the bins, but we all love recycling. Those empty wine
bottles that are going to be reincarnated as full ones. The old Christmas cards that will be
pulped then come back as newspapers. They make us feel as if we are doing our bit for
the planet.
So a property made from recycled materials, whether wholly or partly, already has
an inbuilt feel-good factor. Perhaps the window frames have been constructed from
recycled wood. Or the funky, metallic light fittings started life in a car factory. It is the
kind of thing that savvy* estate agents would emphasise, and prospective purchasers
note with approval.
Recycling could also mean a huge financial saving. With property prices rocketing, there
is naturally a premium on low-cost house-building solutions. Insulating material for the
loft does not need to be top-of-the-range. Kitchen cupboards do not need to be made
from finest imported Scandinavian timber. There are possible shortcuts at just about
every stage of the building process.
For those who have caught the recycling bug, there is no limit to how far the enterprising
homeowner can go. Consider the strange, inspirational story of Bruce Campbell in
Portland, Oregon. A retired electrical engineer, Campbell, 64, made himself a woodland
home out of a Boeing 727 that would otherwise have ended up as scrap metal. He
paid $220,000 (£128,350) for the plane, then converted it into a habitable residence by
installing a makeshift shower, futon, microwave and other necessities.
“My goal in life is to change humanity’s behaviour in this little area,” says Campbell. He
plans to build an even bigger and better aeroplane home in Japan, where he spends half
the year, using a 747 rather than a 727; the ultimate upgrade.
Glossary
* savvy – knowledgeable and shrewd

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Text D
This is an edited version of an article which appeared in The Guardian newspaper
in 2015, written by Bobbie Johnson. It discusses the findings of a survey about the
possible use of robots in homes of the future.
Will household robots ever change our lives?
It has been the same promise over decades of invention – the prospect of households
inhabited by people, staffed by robots and run by technology. For years researchers and
engineers have been working to bring us the futuristic homes, but in reality the dream
has remained firmly in the realm of science fiction films.
An ICM* poll commissioned by the Guardian showed that 55% of people would be
prepared to use robotics in the home, and a majority would appreciate extra free time
which new technologies might bring. More than four out of every five respondents –
82% – said they would use any advances which increased their free time at home to relax
more, while 23% would use the extra time to work.
Most people would like to use robots to help with the thankless grind of domestic tasks
such as cleaning or ironing. More than half of respondents said they would use robots
for household chores, with almost six in 10 women responding positively. While just
15% said they would be happy to use robots to drive their cars, the most surprising
result, perhaps, was that 13% of people surveyed said they envisage using robots
for childminding.
On a basic level, ordinary tasks like vacuuming and cleaning are very slowly becoming
the domain of home robotics. The Roomba vacuum cleaner, an intelligent automated
machine which was first launched in 2002, has now sold more than 2 million units
around the world.
But in some parts of the world, such ideas are already being used to enhance people’s
everyday lives, not just their leisure time. In South Korea the electronics company LG is
establishing a division which designs digital apartments using its HomeNet networking
to create hi-tech households. Tasks such as answering the door, managing power
consumption and opening the curtains can be automated, as well as the management of
appliances like washing machines, air conditioners and dishwashers. And these services
can not only be accessed from inside the home, but also via the internet – or even a
mobile phone.
Bit by bit the future is arriving; even if we don’t realise it.
Glossary
* ICM – a market research company

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Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders to obtain their permission for the use of copyright
material. Pearson Education Ltd. will, if notified, be happy to rectify any errors or omissions and include any such
rectifications in future editions.

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