EPISODE 105
LEVEL B2

READING COMPREHENSION 

 

TOP TIPS FOR INVESTING IN THE STOCK MARKET

  • Don’t invest more than you can afford, or you could lend yourself (=get yourself in a difficult situation)in trouble
  • Don’t invest off your own bat (= it is your idea and you do it without help from others) –seek proper financial advice first
  • Err on the side of caution (= be careful and not take many risks) if you don’t have a lot of money to play with
  • Don’t let all the jargon put you off (= distract you, disturb you)–you’ll pick it up as the time goes by
  • Don’t forget to add on (= include sth extra)the fees you will have to pay – this could come to 4 percent
  • Don’t expect your investments to bear fruit (= have a successful result)immediately
  • Remember shares go down as well as up, so go into it with your eyes open (= knowing that there could be problems in a situation)

 

EXERCISE 1 

Match the expression halves.

  1. land
  2. off your own
  3. add on
  4. time
  5. bear
  6. with your eyes
  7. come to
  8. seek

 

  1. fees
  2. fruit
  3. 3%
  4. open
  5. yourself
  6. goes by
  7. advice
  8. bat

ENGLISH IN USE  

 

ARTICLES  – a / an / the / – /?

  • When we introduce new info or mention sth for the first time: ____a/ an___
  • When we refer to sth which has already been mentioned: ____the____
  • When it is obvious what we are talking about: __the_____

e.g.: It’s been more than a week and everybody’s still talking about ______ disaster.

  • When we talk about things in general:

(with sing C nouns):   ___a____ good friend is a treasure.
(with U nouns):   ____-___ rice is healthy.
(with pl nouns):   I prefer ____-___ cats to ____-___ dogs.

  • When we specify sth: I love __the____ carrots from our garden.
  • With jobs: He works as ____a___ doctor /lawyer etc.
  • With abstract ideas:  ___-___ love is better than __-___ hate. 
  • With superlatives: ___the___ prettiest girl at school, ____the___ fastest car in the world
  • When describing a group of people:   ___the___ poor,  ___the___  unemployed
  • With names of nationalities (pl): _____the___ French, ____the___  Polish
  • With musical instruments: to play ____the____ piano / __the___ guitar
  • With names of places with 'of’ or 'United’: ____the__ Bank of England, ___the__ UK, ___the____ USA

 

EXERCISE 2 

FILL IN THE ARTICLES:

  1. ________ friendship is one of the most important things in love.
  2. We have to do something to help _______ poor in our town.
  3. ______  tomatoes are my favourite veggie.
  4. _______ girls that I talked to at the party seemed really nice.
  5. ’I bought _______ new car last week.’  'Really? Where did you get _____ car?’
  6. I love _____ romantic comedies.
  7. She broke a leg while skiing and had to go to _____ hospital.
  8. She spent the summer in ____ United States.

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

ON THE BREADLINE = VERY POOR, WITH VERY LITTLE MONEY TO LIVE ON

BAIL SB OUT = RESCUE SB FROM A DIFFICULT SITUATION, USUALLY WITH MONEY

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

FORK OUT ON STH = SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON STH

BE WORSE OFF = BE POORER THAN BEFORE

 

EXERCISE 3 

Transform the sentences so that they mean the same. Use the words in brackets.

 

  1. My cousins have almost no money at all.

[live] ………………………………………………….

 

  1. I had to spend a large sum of money on skiing equipment. 

[out] ………………………………………………….

 

  1. At the end of the month, I am always in a worse situation than before.

[worse] ………..…………………………………….

 

NEWS

MONEY LAUNDERING

“SAO PAULO, Brazil — In the latest crackdown on corruption since protests exploded across the country in June, Brazilian police Thursday arrested four police officers and 15 others in a public pension scandal involving at least $135 million. Federal police allege that public money in the pension scandal was diverted into built-to-fail investments and then routed through fictitious companies to pay off the participants in the scam and the police, which provided protection. In the last 18 months, $135 million was taken out of money-laundering companies by “oranges,” Brazilian Portuguese slang for people used to receive ill-begotten cash.”

 

GLOSSARY :

– CRACKDOWN – a situation in which someone starts to deal with bad or illegal behaviour in a more severe way
– ALLEGE – to say that someone has done something illegal or wrong without giving proof:
– FICTICIOUS – not real
– SCAM – dishonest plan to make money
– ILL-BEGGOTEN – illegally obtained

 

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>>Answers

KEY TO EXERCISES  

Ex.1

  1. e
  2. h
  3. a
  4. f
  5. b
  6. d
  7. c
  8. g

 

Ex. 2

  1. ____-____ friendship is one of the most important things in love.
  2. We have to do something to help ____the___ poor in our town.
  3. ___-___  tomatoes are my favourite veggie.
  4. ___the____ girls that I talked to at the party seemed really nice.
  5. ’I bought ___a____ new car last week.’  'Really? Where did you get __the___ car?’
  6. I love __-___ romantic comedies.
  7. She broke a leg while skiing and had to go to __-___ hospital.
  8. She spent the summer in __the__ United States.

 

Ex.3

  1. My cousins have almost no money at all.

[live] …………my cousins live on the breadline………………………………………….

  1. I had to spend a large sum of money on skiing equipment. 

[out] ……………I had to fork out on skiing equipment……………………………………….

  1. At the end of the month, I am always in a worse situation than before.

[worse] ………I am always worse off……………………………………….

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