Episode 115

EPISODE 115
LEVEL A2

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

Moscow – city of gold Rolls-Royces

There are more and more super-rich people in Russia, and they have expensive tastes. Last year they spent $2.5bn on imported, new luxury cars. They want the most exclusive cars – models that stand out in a traffic jam. One foreign vehicle salesman says: “Russia is a place where the rich find it quite normal to buy two or three cars at once, even if they are just flashy, summer toys.” In Russia, the most expensive cars sell best, and Russian big spenders do not ask for credit!
Alexandra Melnikova, an automobile analyst, says Russians’ love of flashy cars is no different from that in other emerging economies such as China, where the way you look is very important. A luxury car has become absolutely necessary for Russian businessmen in a market where, she says: “it is important to compete on the same level.” If you drive an off-the-peg luxury car, not enough people will look at you. Nearly all of Rolls-Royce’s Russian clients insist on something custom-made. The first gold Rolls- Royce is already in Moscow!

 

Exercise 1

Find the words or expressions in the text which mean the following:

 

1) what you like or don’t like: __________
2) very expensive and usually of very high quality: __________
3) to be different from the rest: __________
4) a general name for cars, busses, trains etc.: __________
5) designed to attract attention: __________
6) somebody who doesn’t count money when they go shopping: __________
7) countries which are still developing: __________
8) if you cannot live without it: __________
9) to try to be better than somebody else: ___________
10) the same for everyone: __________
11) specially made for you: __________

 

Exercise 2

Match the expressions from the two columns into logical collocations:

 

1) automobile       taste
2) big                     spender
3) emerging         salesman
4) expensive        people
5) luxury              jam
6) super-rich      economy
7) traffic              car
8) vehicle            analyst

 

Exercise 3

Provide English equivalents of these expressions:

 

1) gust
2) odstawać, wyróżniać się
3) korek uliczny
4) pojazd
5) sprzedawca
6) na pokaz
7) analityk
8) wschodzące gospodarki
9) konieczny
10) konkurować
11) gotowy, „z wieszaka”
12) na zamówienie

 

Grammar corner…

 

“If you drive an off-the-peg luxury car, not enough people will look at you.”

This sentence informs us that there is a certain condition (If you drive…) which may bring certain results (… not enough people will look at you). The pattern which it follows can be describes like this:

If + present simple / will + infinitive

 

Exercise 4

Following the pattern above complete correctly these sentences:

 

1) If I (have) _______________ time this afternoon, I (study) _______________ English.
2) If I (get) _______________ a big bonus, I (buy) _______________ a new car.
3) If the weather (improve) _______________, I (go) _______________ away for the weekend.
4) I (tell) _______________ you about it if you (promise) ____________ not to tell anyone else.
5) I (be) _______________ happy, if I (finish) _______________ work earlier today.

 

GLOSSARY

super – rich bardzo bogaty
taste – gust
a luxury – luksusowy
to stand out – wyróżniać się
a vehicle – pojazd
a salesman – sprzedawca
flashy – na pokaz
a big spender – osoba szastająca pieniędzmi
an analyst – analityk
an emerging – economy wschodząca gospodarka
necessary – konieczny
to compete – konkurować
a level – poziom
off-the-peg – gotowy, “z wieszaka”, taki sam dla wszystkich
to insist on sth – nalegać
custom-made – na zamówienie

 

 

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