7.1. WEALTH AND POVERTY

7.1. WEALTH AND POVERTY

7.1.1

Introduction

Explain the meaning of the following proverbs.

Give Russian or Belarusian equivalents to them.

1. Money is power. 2. Money opens all doors. 3. Money makes money. 4. Money has no smell. 5. Muck and money go together. 6. A rich man’s joke is always funny. 7. Every man has his price. 8. He who pays the piper, calls the tune. 9. A thief passes for a gentleman when stealing has made him rich. 10. Wealth like want ruins many. 11. Ill-gotten wealth never thrives. 12. Much coin, much care. 13. He is a good man whom fortune makes better. 14. All covet, all lose. 15. Much will have more. 16. Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves. 17. Give and spend, and God will send. 18. Lend your money and lose your friend. 19. Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. 20. More than enough is too much. 21. Not he is happy who has much, but who has enough. 22. Money put in a bank is as safe as anything in this world can be. 23. He that has a full purse never wanted a friend. 24. Hunger breaks stone walls. 25. Money can’t buy happiness. 26. He that has no money needs no purse. 27. Money is the root of all evil. 28. After good health, money is the most important thing in life.

B Fulfill the tasks below:

Make up dialogues or situations illustrating one of the proverbs.
Say, which proverbs denote the same ideas and which contradict each other.
Speak about the most doubtful proverb, in your opinion. Give your reasons.
Which proverbs reflect your own attitude to money?

7.1.2

Listening

You are going to hear five people talking about

money. Listen and make notes. Then compare

your notes with those of your partner’s.

Self-made woman: ____________________________
Rich woman: _________________________________
Bankrupt businessman: _________________________
Unemployed person: ___________________________
Middle-aged regular saver: ______________________

Definition

Match the multi-word verbs with their definitions.

1. to set out to do something

a. to save something so you can use it later

2. to put something down to something

b. to depend on someone / something as a source

of income

3. to come into something

c. to manage to survive (on something) despite

difficulties

4. to live off someone / something

d. to inherit something (especially money)

5. to pay something off

e. to consider something to be the result of

something else

6. to keep up with someone / something

f. to begin with the intention of achieving

something

7. to fall back on someone /something

g. to return to someone / something for support,

when other things have failed

8. to get by (on something)

h. to progress or rise at the same rate as someone /

something else

9. to put something by

i. to repay a debt

Drills

Listen to the sentences. Use the prompts you hear

to make sentences with the same meaning.

7.1.3

Rephrase

Rewrite the sentences using phrasal verbs. Make

any changes necessary.

Many pensioners have to survive on very little money.
He calculated it would take him three years to clear all his debts.
She accumulated a great deal of money by saving a little every week.
His uncle died and left him a fortune.
She decided she wanted to start her own business.
If I ever get into financial difficulties, I know I can always rely on my brother for help.
She supports herself with the money she gets from selling her books.
She thought she was a success because she had been lucky.
The cost of living is going up all the time, but my salary isn’t.

Interaction

Work in pairs. Complete the sentences without

letting your partner see your notes. Then try to

guess what the other person has written.

If I came into a lot of money, I’d …
One thing I have set out to do, and have achieved, is …
If I earned a salary which didn’t keep up with inflation, I’d …
I could get by on very little money provided that …
I put the increase in crime down to …

Idiom

Match the idiomatic expressions from 7.1.2A with

the definitions below:

to have hardly enough money or food to live on
money is not easily obtained (a saying)
to become less rich and have a lower social status
to live reasonably well without getting into debt
to spend money freely as if it were in endless supply
a time when you might need money

7.1.4

Role-play

Work in pairs. Act out an interview based on one of

the situations below. Use as much active vocabulary

as possible.

You used to have a very poorly paid job, but then you inherited a great deal of money. Describe how your life has changed and what you have decided to do with the money.
You are a self-made man / woman. Describe your poor background, your decision to become rich, your attitude towards money, and how you explain your success.

7.1.5

Listening

Translate the text and the counter-arguments below.

Learn the vocabulary.

‘The only thing people are interested today is earning more money’

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man. They were very poor, but as they were deeply in love, they wanted to get married. The young man’s parents shook their heads. ‘You can’t get married yet,’ they said. ‘Wait till you get a good job with good prospects.’ So the young people waited until they found good jobs with good prospects and they were able to get married. They were still poor of course. They didn’t have a house to live in or any furniture, but that didn’t matter. The young man had a good job with good prospects, so large organizations lent him the money he needed to buy a house, some furniture, all the latest electrical appliances and a car. The couple lived happily ever after paying off debts for the rest of their lives. And so ends another modern romantic fable.

We live in a materialistic society and are trained from our earliest years to be acquisitive. Our possessions, ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ are clearly labeled from early childhood. When we grow old enough to earn a living, it does not surprise us to discover that success is measured in terms of the money you earn. We spend the whole of our lives keeping up with our neighbours, the Joneses. If we buy a new television set, Jones is bound to buy a bigger and better one. If we buy a new car, we can be sure that Jones will go one better and get two new cars: one for his wife and one for himself. The most amusing thing about this game is that the Joneses and all the neighbours who are struggling frantically to keep up with them are spending borrowed money kindly provided, at a suitable rate of interest, of course, by friendly banks, insurance companies, etc.

It is not only in affluent societies that people are obsessed with the idea of making more money. Consumer goods are desirable everywhere and modern industry deliberately sets out to create new markets. Gone are the days when industrial goods were made to last forever. The wheels of industry must be kept turning. ‘Built-in obsolescence’ provides the means: goods are made to be discarded. Cars get tinnier and tinnier. You no sooner acquire this year’s model than you are thinking about its replacement.

This materialistic outlook has seriously influenced education. Fewer and fewer young people these days acquire knowledge only for its own sake. Every course of studies must lead somewhere: i.e. to a bigger wage packet. The demand for skilled personnel far exceeds the supply and big companies compete with each other to recruit students before they have completed their studies. Tempting salaries and ‘fringe benefits’ are offered to them. Recruiting tactics of this kind have led to the ‘brain drain’, the process by which highly skilled people offer their services to the highest bidder. The wealthier nations deprive their poorer neighbours of their most able citizens. While Mammon is worshipped as never before, the rich get richer and the poor, poorer.

The counter-argument: key words

Interest in earning money is not a modern phenomenon, but people are not interested only in that.
Young people borrow money: a satisfactory arrangement: independent of parents, can start lives.
Living standards are better.
People are interested in living decent lives consistent with human dignity.
Education is not money-orientated; it’s skill-orientated; necessary because of modern technology.
Technology requires professionals, not amateurs.
Brain drain: skilled people are not always after more money but better work facilities.
A market swing away from scientific studies has been noted: return to humanities; knowledge for its own sake.
Many young people are not motivated by money: many reject materialistic values.
Many voluntary organizations (e.g. Peace Corps): idealistic, work without reward.
A marked reluctance to work long hours for money: desire to enjoy life.
Social welfare in many countries makes it unnecessary for people to struggle for money.
State provides: education, medical services, etc.
High taxes: a disincentive.

7.1.6

Definition

Match the words with their definitions.

1. affluent

2. benefit

3. bidder

4. consumer

5. decent

6. disincentive

7. human

8. (the) humanities

9. humanity

10. obsolescence

a. acceptable and good enough

b. belonging to or concerning people

c. having plenty of money and so able to afford much

d. people in general; kindness, respect towards people

e. somebody who offers to pay a particular price

f. someone who buys and uses products and services

g. something that gives you advantages or improves your life

h. something that tries to stop people from doing something

i. subjects of study such as literature, philosophy, history

j. the state of becoming old-fashioned because something new has been invented

Prepositions

Fill in the blanks.

… terms of customer satisfaction, the policy cannot be criticized.
What is the hourly rate … cleaning?
Do you have insurance … your household contents?
This English language course is oriented … the needs of businessmen.
As soon as you get … the swing of it, you’ll find it’s quite easy.
Three firms bid … the contract on the new buildings.
The lecturers were really decent … my absences.
All donations are used … the benefit of disabled children.
He was consumed … guilt after the accident.

Translation

Translate the following sentences.

The newspapers had unjustly labeled him a troublemaker.
We can probably claim for the damage on the insurance.
The firm is having difficulty recruiting enough properly qualified staff.
The social welfare policy of this company showed no real consistency.
I’ll see if I can swing it so my wife can come on that business trip with me.
The biggest disincentive to spend is the fear of debt.
Senior managers have been accused of lacking the human touch.
Current production methods will soon be rendered obsolete.
Are you sure your grandfather is getting all the benefits he’s entitled?

Practice

Finish the sentences giving your own ideas.

A job with good prospects means …
A wage packet should include …
Fringe benefits …
When the supply doesn’t meet the demand …
If the hotel personnel is unskilled …
Nowadays living standards …
Young professionals are motivated by …

Word Use

Make up sentences with:

7.1.7

Interaction

Make up a dialogue on how mercenary our

society is.

7.1.8

Translation

Translate an extract from a fiction book. Retell

it, possibly expand or edit details, using the

words from this Unit.

Something would turn up, Bennett kept telling himself. On the good days, the days when the sun shone and no bills arrived, he found it easy to believe that this sudden poverty was a temporary blot on the landscape of life, a hiccup of fate, no more than a passing inconvenience.

Even so, he couldn’t ignore the facts: his pockets were hollow, his cheques were prone to bounce, and his financial prospects were vague and unsatisfactory.

But Bennett suffered from optimism, and he was unwilling to leave France. And so, with scanty qualifications, other than a good amateur eye for property and a pressing need for sales commissions, he had joined the roving band of agents who spend their lives rooting through the Provençal countryside. Like them, he passed his days searching for ruins with character, barns with potential and any other tottering edifice that might, with imagination and money, be suitable for transformation into a desirable residence.

It had not been easy. The market had gone soft, and the culprit was the French franc. It was too strong and pickings were slim.

7.1.9

Quiz

Read the following and try to predict what your

partner would do in such situations.

Are you an altruist?

1. You see an old lady struggling to cross the street with some heavy bags.

a. You ignore her; she should get herself a shopper’s trolley.

b. You help her to cross.

c. You help her to cross and then offer to carry her bags for her, even though she lives in the opposite direction.

2. At a party there’s one more chocolate left on the plate.

a.You take it and eat it when no one’s looking.

b. You offer it to the others first.

c. You insist that someone else have it, though your mouth is watering.

3. You run over a cat in your car / on your bike.

a. You carry on driving.

b. You stop and knock at the presumed owner’s door.

c. After calming down the owner you offer to take the cat to the vet.

4. A neighbour’s car alarm goes off in the middle of the night.

a. You close the window and put your ear plugs in.

b. You ring the neighbour but do nothing more if there’s no reply.

c. You rush round to investigate.

5. You are driving along a country road in the dead of night. A bedraggled person of unknown sex tries to flag you down.

a. It’s probably some drunken maniac.

b. You drive past and feel terribly guilty that you didn’t stop.

c. You stop immediately and give whatever assistance is needed.

Score:

If the majority of your answers are

As -You are thoroughly selfish, but definitely part of the great indifferent majority.

Bs – You do your best to help the world, though rather half-heartedly.

Cs – You’re on a one-way ticket to heaven.

Quiz Builder

Working in groups add three more questions to the

test, invent your own score system with commentaries,

do the test and check your answers.

Will you ever be rich?

1. Someone asks you to lend them $5. Do you …

a. refuse?

b. lend them the $5?

c. lend the $50, as they are more likely to remember to pay you back?

2. After one week, they haven’t returned your $5. Do you …

a. bring the matter up casually in conversation?

b. demand your money back?

c. forget it?

3. You win $ 1 million in a lottery. Do you …

a. invest it?

b. give most of it to charity?

c. go on a spending spree?

4. You find a wallet full of dollars. Do you …

a. hand it in to the police?

b. if possible, contact the owner?

c. pocket the money?

5. You haven’t had a raise in salary / pocket money etc. for a long time. Do you …

a. confront your boss / parents?

b. make gentle hints?

c. wait for them to bring the subject up?

7.1.10

Speaking

Read the text and say whether you know other people

who devoted themselves to charity work.

One person who no one could really accuse of having ulterior motives for helping others was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was born in Serbia in 1910. Her father was a rich merchant who gave generously to the church and fed the poor at his table. She did very well at school and spurred on by her father’s example, she decided to become a missionary. She joined the Order of Loreto nuns in Ireland and then moved to Calcutta in 1928. She opened a house for the dying, another one for abandoned babies and established medical services for lepers. Later she opened centers around the world and as a result of this work won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Since then her work in Calcutta was interspersed with visits to various disaster victims around the world – from the Bhopal pollution victims to those of the Armenian earthquake. Her only possessions were two white saris, a bucket in which to wash and her devotional books.

7.1.11

Discussion

Answer the questions explaining your point of view.

How important is money for you?
Have you ever earned any money? What was the job?
Do you think that success is really measured in terms of the money one earns? If it isn’t, what then determines one’s success?
What should one take into consideration when choosing or keeping a job, in your opinion?
Do you agree that the materialistic outlook has seriously influenced education?
How important is money in love affairs? In family life? As a cause for divorce?

Opinion

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give

your reasons and examples.

1. Being a good businessman is a talent.

2. It’s very difficult to put money to good use.

3. Nobody does something for nothing.

4. I would never give money to charity because

a. There’s no point in giving money to beggars, they only spend it on alcohol.

b. Public charity-aimed events are motivated by publicity rather than humanity.

c. I don’t understand where from comes the money charity organizations live on.

5. Money is the guarantee of security.

6. People would be happier without money.

7.1.12

Writing

Write an essay starting with ‘Money is neither evil nor

good, money is…’