Reading and comprehension

Money talks

UNIT

4

1 Look at the quotations. Then discuss the questions below in pairs or small groups.

1. Which of the quotations above have these meanings?

A All bad things in the world come from money.

B Nothing important happens without money.

C With money you can get people to do what you want.

2. Which pair of quotations gives a positive view of money, and which two are negative?
3. How true do you think the quotations are?

2 Read the newspaper headlines. Then discuss what the stories might be about in pairs or small groups.

‘Money has never made man happy, nor will it. The more of it one has, the more one wants.’ (Benjamin Franklin, US inventor)

‘Money makes the world go round.’

(song)

‘Money is the root of all evil.’

(well-known saying)

‘Money talks.’

3. Read the first paragraph of one of the news stories. Then match it with its headline in Activity 2.

4 Replace the underlined parts of the sentences with words from the text. (The sentences are in the same order as the words in the text.)

1. All the workers were given extra payments when company profits went up. ___
2. I don’t mind paying a reasonable amount, but this is too much. ___
3. All companies need to be able to be equal to or better than others. ___
4. You’d better take your bag with you. If not, someone might take it. ___
5. This is just one of her many special abilities. ___
6. If customers can’t get what they want, they’ll go to another place. In a speech yesterday, the chief of one of the country’s biggest banks said he believed the high bonuses paid to senior bank staff were not excessive. ‘If we want to attract highly experienced and qualified employees,’ he said, ‘we need to be able to offer them a competitive income. Otherwise, they will take their talents elsewhere.’ He added that the introduction of a limit on bonuses paid to top bankers would not improve the position of poorer people in society.

1

3

2

A

Rich–poor divide getting wider, says new report

High bonus payments ‘necessary’, says bank boss

SHARE PRICES HIT 9-YEAR LOW

MINISTER WELCOMES LATEST ECONOMIC FORECAST

5. Read the first paragraphs of the other three news stories. Then match them with their headlines in Activity 2. Were your ideas about the stories right?

6 Look at all four news stories and headlines. Then complete the tasks below.

1 The stories and headlines use synonyms (words with similar meanings) to avoid repetition. Match the pairs of synonyms (1–⁦7 with⁩ a–g).

1. proof ⁦5 drop⁩
2. employees ⁦6 divide⁩
3. prediction ⁦7 boss⁩
4. cuts

2 Decide whether the sentences are TRUE or FALSE. If there is not enough information to decide, choose DOESN’T SAY.

1. The bank chief doesn’t care about the problems of poorer people.

TRUE   FALSE   DOESN’T SAY

2. The FESR believes that the gap between rich and poor has reached its widest point.

3. The Finance Minister said that the government’s aims hadn’t been achieved yet.

4. The fall in share prices was caused by lack of confidence.

7 Discuss the questions in pairs or small groups.

1. What effect does it have on society if there is a large gap between the rich and the poor?
2. How might government spending cuts affect people’s daily lives?
3. Why are falling share prices seen as dangerous for the world’s economy?
4. Which opinion below do you agree with most? Why?

a fall e chief

b gap f staff

c evidence g reductions

d forecast

The Finance Minister has said that the latest prediction for the future of the country’s economy is ‘extremely good news’. Reacting to the latest industrial production figures and the forecast of 1.5% growth in the coming year, he claimed that it was proof that government spending cuts were working. However, he said that more reductions were still needed.

Stock markets around the world suffered serious losses yesterday, causing fears that the global economy could be moving towards a new crisis. Experts said that there was no single reason for the fall in share prices. Rather, it seemed to be a reaction to the economic uncertainty caused by various recent events.

A new study by the Foundation for Economic and Social Research (FESR) has produced evidence that the gap between the richest and poorest in society is still growing. According to the report, the richest 10% of the population now have incomes almost ten times higher than the poorest 10%. One of the report’s authors added: ‘It’s a trend that shows no sign of stopping in the near future.’

It’s not fair that top business people should be paid so much extra just for doing their jobs when other people have so little.

If companies think they need to pay extra to keep good staff, it’s no business of the government to try to stop them.

B

D

C

1 Look at the pictures. Then discuss the question below in pairs or small groups.

What do you think is the connection between the five pictures?

From cowries to contactless: a short history of money

1. On its own, money has little or no meaning. It only gains meaning when a group of people all accept that it has a certain value when used for the exchange of goods or services. To understand this, we need to look at what happened before money was invented.
2. In early societies, trade was carried out by bartering: the exchange of one thing or service for another. If one person had a bag of salt and another was good at making shoes, they could agree to exchange the salt for a pair of shoes. (1) Firstly, they each had to want what the other person was offering, and secondly they had to agree that the two things were of equal value.
3. To solve this problem, people started to base their trade on items that nearly everyone wanted, like salt, chocolate or cows. (2) Cowrie shells are a well-known example of this, and a step towards what we recognise as money, because they are easier to carry around than cows or bags of salt.
4. The Lydians, who lived in what is now Turkey, are thought to be the first people to use coins over ⁦2,500 years⁩ ago, although pieces of metal had been used for centuries before. (3) The earliest paper money was probably in common use in China around the year 960.

2 Read the article. Then complete the tasks on page 59.

cowrie shells coins banknotes credit / debit cards contactless payment bracelet

1. Five sentences have been removed from the article. Write the missing sentences in the correct blanks.

A It didn’t have to be something that they needed, just something desirable.

B But this only worked on two conditions.

C More recent developments have moved even further in this direction.

D This is why it is known as representative money.

E Other countries soon followed, making their own coins with agreed values.

2. Choose the best title for each paragraph.

A No value in the materials paragraph

B The beginning of money as we know it   paragraph

C Towards unreality paragraph

D What is money? paragraph

E Different examples of ‘money’ paragraph

F Before money paragraph

3 Choose the best way to continue the sentences. Circle A, B or C.

1. Bartering is described as

A the earliest form of money.

B only used by particular societies.

C a trading system with certain problems.

2. Salt could be used as currency because

A it was something most people wanted.

B it could be found almost anywhere.

C it was easy for people to carry around.

3. The main point that the text makes about paper money is that

A it was first made in China.

B it has no value as a material.

C it is difficult to copy exactly.

4. The text suggests that the history of money is

A an important subject for economists.

B a series of steps that move away from real life.

C the story of the development of early human societies.

4 Discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. What type of money do you use most often? Why?

I’ve got a card, but I don’t use it much. I prefer paying in cash.

I normally use my card because it’s easy, but I never write cheques.

5. In this form, money itself doesn’t need to be made of something valuable; it is only important because of what it represents, or stands for. (4) Until quite recently, for example, the British pound (£) was based on a promise that the bank would exchange it for one pound in weight (lb) of silver.
6. Nowadays, methods of exchange are moving away from real coins and notes that need to be carried around. First, there were cheques, which have now been more or less replaced by plastic credit or debit cards. (5) One example is ‘contactless’ bracelets that you wear on your wrist and pass in front of a machine. Another is the growing popularity of ‘bitcoins’, a digital currency that can only be used on the Internet.

1 Read about a poet. Then answer the questions below.

1. What kind of man does W.H. Davies seem to be, and what kind of life did he have?
2. What do you think the lines from his famous poem mean?

William Henry Davies was born in Wales in 1871. In 1893, he travelled to North America, where he spent six years as a homeless person (or tramp), travelling around the country and doing various jobs when necessary. After an accident in which he lost part of his leg, he returned home and became a professional writer and poet. His best-known poem, Leisure, contains the famous lines ‘What is life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare*?’. W.H. Davies died in 1940.

• stare = look closely

In this old style of poetry and folk songs, the subject and verb are often turned around (inverted). dared not = wasn’t brave enough ever = always hum = make a happy sound morn = morning frown = show with your face that you are not pleased proved all untrue = all showed themselves to be false in the end

2 Read the poem. Then discuss the questions on page ⁦61 in⁩ pairs or small groups.

Money by W.H. Davies

When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door. Then felt I like a child that holds

A trumpet that he must not blow Because a man is dead; I dared Not speak to let this false world know. Much have I thought of life, and seen How poor men’s hearts are ever light; And how their wives do hum like bees About their work from morn till night. So, when I hear these poor ones laugh, And see the rich ones coldly frown— Poor men, think I, need not go up So much as rich men should come down. When I had money, money, O! My many friends proved all untrue; But now I have no money, O! My friends are real, though very few.

1. Why does the poet describe the people who knock at his door as ‘false’?

A They had chosen the wrong door by mistake.

B They could not be trusted as real friends.

2. In the second verse, he compares himself as a man with money to a child who has a trumpet that he isn’t brave enough to blow. What is it that he felt he couldn’t say?

A His ‘friends’ were not really friends at all.

B Someone he knew had died.

3. What do you think he means by saying that poor men don’t need to ‘go up’, but rich men ‘should come down’.

A It is unfair that some people have so much more than others.

B It would be better if rich people had less money.

4. Do you think the last line sounds

A happy?

B sad?

5. Looking at the poem and the life of the poet, do you think his opinions were based on

A other people’s experiences?

B the poet’s own experience?

3 Read the quotation from an article. Then discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. (You will read the whole article in Period 4.)

‘It seems that a lot of people have forgotten something that nearly everyone used to think was obvious: money and happiness are not the same thing. I hesitate to write this, because someone will say that I am romanticising poverty.’

1. If you romanticise something, you give an unrealistic picture of it, making it seem nicer than it really is. Who is more likely to ‘romanticise poverty’ – a rich person or a poor person?
2. Do you think W.H. Davies can be accused of ‘romanticising poverty’ in his poem?

4 How would you say these lines in modern, conversational English?

1. For many a false man as a friend came knocking all day at my door.
2. Much have I thought of life.
3. Poor men, think I, need not go up.

1 Read the text. Then choose the best title for the article.

A Poor but happy

B The true meaning of happiness

C How much is enough?

2 Phrases 1–⁦6 are⁩ used to introduce sentences and show the writer’s attitude. Match them with their meanings a–f.

PHRASES MEANINGS

1. To be honest,
2. Obviously,
3. Admittedly,
4. Put simply,
5. Personally,
6. Generally speaking,

a Others may think differently

b This may not be true in all cases

c Of course

d I’m telling the truth

e This is the basic meaning

f I accept

3 Check your answers. Then add the phrases to the text in the correct places.

1. rich people aren’t happier than poor people.
2. this may seem to be a controversial statement to some, but there is enough evidence to be able to state this as a fact. Developments in biology and psychology now allow us to measure happiness more accurately than ever before, and the results are clear. Levels of stress and depression in richer countries are rising, with people reporting less, not more, satisfaction with their lives.

A recent study in the UK shows that overall happiness peaked in the mid-⁦1970s⁩ and has been declining ever since. The researchers reached the conclusion that over a certain level (about £⁦20,000 per⁩ person), ‘extra income is not associated with increased happiness’. (3) ___ once basic human needs have been met, there is simply no point in getting richer.

It seems that a lot of people have forgotten something that nearly everyone used to think was obvious: money and happiness are not the same thing. I hesitate to write this, because someone will say that I am romanticising poverty. I am not. But I have lived in poor countries, and it was impossible not to notice that people there smile and laugh more, socialise more easily and complain less than people in the richer nations.

4. I am not saying that poverty causes happiness, but there does seem to be a lot of evidence that wealth causes unhappiness. Why, then, do people still spend so much time and effort on getting richer, even when they already have far more than they could ever need? Various theories have been suggested.
5. though, I am still unsure.
6. I can’t understand why anyone would need to buy another luxury car when they already have three or four. How many homes can you live in at any one time? The only explanation I can come up with is that it is a kind of addiction: when your life has been all about making money, that becomes your purpose, the reason you get up in the morning.

1. The price of oil reached its highest point two years ago, but then began to fall.
2. The number of people feeling satisfied with their lives is becoming less.
3. Poverty is often connected with lack of education.
4. Most people want to have friendly contact with others at some times in their lives.
5. Being rich is no guarantee that you will have a happy life.
6. There are various kinds of habits that are hard to stop, like shopping, computer games or eating chocolate.

5 Look at the examples from the article. Then answer the questions below.

I agree with the writer of the article. They just can’t stop. Maybe they feel that they need more money to make the future safer.

1. Which question is the third sentence an answer to?
2. What might the answer be to the other question?
3. Why doesn’t the writer give this answer?

6 Look back at the poem in Period 3. Then discuss the questions in pairs or small groups.

1. Which opinions in the article are similar to those in the poem?
2. Do you agree that poor people are usually happier than rich people?
3. What are the ‘basic human needs’ referred to in the second paragraph of the article?
4. Why do you think some people feel the need to make more and more money?

Examples

Why do people still spend so much time and effort on getting richer?

How many homes can you live in at any one time?

The only explanation I can come up with is that it is a kind of addiction.