Episode 99 B

EPISODE 99
LEVEL B2

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

MONEY MONEY…                                                       

“Money alone will not make you any happier, you’ll just find something else to worry about”-somebody once said. However, do you really think so?

The Marquess of Bath was 18 when he inherited (= came into fortune) 23 million pounds. Now, the 65-year old aristocrat lives surrounded by young women, and spends his time painting, writing and generally enjoying himself. “I have never thought about money- he said – because I’ve always had it. But I have never been extravagant (= foolish with money), in fact I’ve been rather tight-fisted (= mean, not generous). I’ve never bought any Ferraris. I just try to buy what I need. Am I happy? Well, I’m not unhappy. The most important thing money gives you is freedom. If I lost my fortune, the worst thing for me would be that I wouldn’t be able to do exactly what I want.”

Elaine Thompson won 2.7 million dollars on the national lottery. That night she had a party with her neighbours, waiting for her spouse (= husband) to come home from a football match. Later, during an interview she said: “ We’ve spent all the time worrying about what to do with money, how much we should give away. Has it made us happier? To be honest, no. We were happy before and money gave us only a little bit more security.”

 

More contexts for the new words: 

• Don’t imagine Gillian will buy you a drink – she’s too tight-fisted.
• He rarely used taxis, which he regarded as extravagant.
• In 60 percent of the households surveyed both spouses went out to work.

 

EXERCISE 1 

Decide if the sentences are true or false:

1. Elaine Thomspon was much happier after winning the lottery.
2. The Marquess of Bath was really extravagant with money.
3. The Marquess of Bath can’t imagine working for a living.

 

ENGLISH IN USE  

Question Tags

Question tags are used in conversation to get a reaction from the person you are talking to:

• confirm that something is true or not
• encourage a reply from the person we are speaking to.

Question tags are formed with the auxiliary or modal verb from the statement and the appropriate subject.

A positive statement is followed by a negative question tag.

– Jack is from Spain, isn’t he?
– Mary can speak English, can’t she?

 

A negative statement is followed by a positive question tag.

– They aren’t funny, are they?
– He shouldn’t say things like that, should he?

It’s not really difficult,	is it?
That’s difficult,	isn’t it?
This shop is open,	isn’t it?
You’ve got a car,	haven’t you? (possession)
He had dinner with Ann,	didn’t he?
They went to the cinema,	didn’t they?
She never smiles,	does she?
He hardly ever reads,	does he?
They rarely eat in restaurants,	do they?
I am attractive,	aren’t I?
Stop daydreaming,	will / won’t you?
Don’t stop singing,	will you?
Let’s go to the beach,	shall we?
Let me borrow your car,	will you?
Everybody’s asleep,	aren’t they?
Nobody likes him,	do they?

 

EXERCISE 2

	QUESTION TAG
You have been to three capital cities
You can whistle
You have got a pet
You watched over 2 hours of TV yesterday
You’ve broken a bone
I’m the youngest person who lives in my house
I was a very naughty child
I read in bed yesterday.

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

SHOP AROUND = to look at different shops and compare prices

SPLASH OUT ON = to spend a lot of money on something we don’t really need

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

CASH IN ON something =  get money or another advantage from a situation, often in an unfair way.

KNOCK OFF = reduce the price by a certain sum

SKIMP ON = spend too little money on sth

EXERCISE 3 

Fill in the sentences with idioms or phrasal verbs:

1. A lot of people are trying to cash in on the situation.
2. I need to buy a new TV set so I need to shop around a bit to compare prices.
3. The dealer knocked 20% off the price because I offered to pay cash.
4. We should never skimp on healthy foods.
5. We splashed out on lots of new furniture last month.

 

NEWS

SAVING TIPS:

“Obviously, not all of these tips will apply to everyone. Just go through the list and find ten or fifteen that do apply to you and use them in your life – you’ll quickly find yourself saving some serious scratch.

1. Switch your bank accounts to a bank that respects you. You shouldn’t be spending your hard-earned money on maintenance fees – you also should be earning some serious interest on your checking and savings accounts. I earn roughly 3% on my checking account and 3.4% on my savings account and they’ve never dinged me with a fee. Here’s a guide on how to make that switch.
2. Turn off the television. One big way to save money is to watch less television. There are a lot of financial benefits to this: less exposure to guilt-inducing ads, more time to focus on other things in life, less electrical use, and so on. It’s great to unwind in the evening, but seek another hobby to do that. 
3. Turn a critical eye to your “collections.” Most people collect something – what do you collect? Is it something that consistently brings you joy? Or is it something that you just do out of habit at this point? Does the collection itself have value? Could you perhaps “trim the fat” from this collection by getting rid of duplicates or getting rid of the items you no longer use? “

 

GLOSSARY:

Scratch = mark
Maintenance = the work needed to keep a road, building, machine, etc. in good condition
Dinged = to make a sound like a bell
Guilt-inducing = making you feel more guilt
Get rid of = to remove or throw away

 

download lesson (pdf)