Read the following passage about the THE RIGHT TO REPAIR MOVEMENT: A NEW ERA FOR CONSUMERS and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer s...

Read the following passage about the THE RIGHT TO REPAIR MOVEMENT: A NEW ERA FOR CONSUMERS and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31 to 40.

The Right to Repair movement has finally won important battles against companies that control product servicing. After years of hard work, 2023 brought major legal victories in North America and Europe. [I] People were tired of paying high prices for repairs at official service centers. Now, expensive manufacturer-controlled fixing is becoming a thing of the past as governments recognize that consumers should be able to repair their own electronics and household items. This change will affect how we think about owning products, protecting the environment, and using technology.

In the United States, several states have created new laws to help consumers. New York, Minnesota, and California passed "Digital Fair Repair" laws that require companies to share the same parts, tools, and instructions with regular customers and independent repair shops that they give to authorized centers. This means regular people can now fix their devices without going to expensive official stores. [II] Colorado made similar rules for farm equipment, while Maine did the same for car data. In Canada, Quebec banned planned obsolescence and created repair rights for consumer goods. These examples show how North American governments are solving this problem in different ways.

European Union rules have gone even further with their requirements. New standards require minimum repairability for smartphones and tablets, long-term access to spare parts and software updates, modular design, and eventually batteries that users can replace themselves. [III] The EU's "common charger" rule makes USB-C required for many products, which reduces electronic waste and makes repairs easier. These actions show the EU's strong focus on environmental protection and helping consumers through clear technical rules.

[IV] Nineteen American states have introduced over thirty-five new bills, while the EU is preparing laptop repair standards and broader rules covering washing machines, refrigerators, televisions, and computers beyond warranty periods. These changes should increase competition in repair markets, make products last longer, reduce electronic waste, and create repair jobs. However, real success depends on whether manufacturers actually design products that are easy to fix and whether governments enforce these new consumer rights effectively.

https://www.ifixit.com/tc

Question 31: The phrase “a thing of the past” in paragraph 1 has the closest meaning to _________.

A. die out                                        B. take over                                        C. carry on                                        D. bring about