Practice English Listening B1 Exercises – Topic: Economics

1

1 equipment / machinery   2 products / things   3 children

4 iPad   5 computer servers   6 locations / places

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1 F; TechShop attracts people who like to work for themselves.

2 DNS

3 F; Most people at TechShop like to build / make things.

4 F; Some of the inventors are now selling their products online / in stores.

5 T

6 F; The success of TechShop shows that many people without a lot of money have great ideas.

Workshops for entrepreneurs

Reporter:   When Marie LaQuerre got laid off, she had an idea to make and sell a line of children’s novelties.

Marie LaQuerre: My company name is actually Goobity Goo.

Reporter:   What she didn’t have was thousands of dollars to buy a laser cutter to create her products.

Marie LaQuerre: That machine can do, like, everything, it seems like.

Reporter:   The day the iPad was announced, Patrick Buckley had an idea for a custom-made cover. What he didn’t have was the expensive, computerized woodcutting machine he needed to produce a prototype. LaQuerre, Buckley and scores of other budding entrepreneurs have become members of TechShop in Menlo Park, California, a place for do-it-yourselfers, inventors and dreamers.

Mark Hatch:   We believe that every kitchen should come with compressed air, electricity and a vice.

Reporter:   Mark Hatch is TechShop’s CEO.

Mark Hatch:   Most don’t. You know, people get to come here and use ours.

Reporter:   Here’s the drill. Joining TechShop is a little like joining a health club, except here, for $100 a month, instead of running on a treadmill, you get to run industrial-strength machinery. Members have access to the latest in computer-assisted design and machine tools that would cost a fortune to buy.

Mark Hatch:   We teach people in an afternoon how to make things. We have a lot of entrepreneurs.

Reporter:   With the tools at TechShop, Phil Hughes developed a way to cool computer servers that could save vast amounts of energy.

Phil Hughes:   This pulls at it. All the heat is at the server, from the server to the lid.

Reporter:   For now, his company. Clustered Systems, has its world headquarters at TechShop. But a partnership with Emerson, the huge appliance manufacturer, could change that.

Phil Hughes:   They expect to sell thousands and thousands of these things, which is going to make us very happy.

Reporter:   And perhaps very rich?

Phil Hughes:   Well, yes. Why not?

Reporter:   For $100 a month another member is building a lunar landing module for an XPrize competition.

Man:   Where else can I find someplace I can store my lunar lander?

Reporter:   Marie LaQuerre is now selling her products online and in a few retail stores. Patrick Buckley’s iPad cover is taking off and 30 people have been hired to make it.

Patrick Buckley:   We’re on track to do between $3 and $5 million this year.

Reporter:   And TechShop is doing well too, expanding to eight more locations. Evidence that in America today, money may be tight, but ideas and ambition are flowing freely.

1

Possible answers:

1   Richer people live very ordinary lives and not lavish ones.

2   Wealthy means ‘rich’.

3   the behaviour of wealthy people

2

The following are true, according to the podcast: 2; 3; 4; 5; 7

3

1 75   2 50   3 20   4 65   5 average   6 86

1

In this week’s programme, I’d like to talk about a book that has changed the way I think about money. It’s called The Secret of Being Wealthy. It was written by a business school graduate named John Holm who decided to study the behaviour of wealthy people. He paid close attention to what rich people do: checking where they eat, what they buy, how they live and so on. The results of his study were pretty surprising.

2 3

When you think of someone who is very rich, what comes to mind? Most people think that rich people live lavish lifestyles – that is, they drive very expensive cars, eat in expensive restaurants, own a yacht or live in big houses. But, as John Holm discovered, people who have money don’t actually do these things. Most millionaires actually seem to have ordinary lifestyles.

In other words, they have normal cars, average houses and so on. On the other hand, people who look rich – the people who drive the latest Ferrari or only wear designer clothes – may not actually be rich at all. Instead, they have spent all their money trying to show off – showing other people that they might be wealthy. In other words, having expensive things is not always a sign that someone is rich.

So, what do millionaires do and what can we learn from them? Well, millionaires are often financially savvy. To put it another way, they’re smart about how to save and spend money. The first important thing is that millionaires always have a good handle on their budget. In other words, they know how much they’re spending. According to Holm, around 75 percent of millionaires know exactly how much money they have and they know exactly how much they spend on food, bills, clothes, etc. As a result, they don’t spend too much and they don’t get into debt. They can plan for the future and save their money. To sum up, the lesson here is that you should never spend more money than you have!

Another surprising fact is that millionaires usually have simple lifestyles. They have nice houses and nice cars, but they don’t spend all their money on these things. In fact, most rich people stay in the same place for a very long time and don’t live in big, expensive palaces. Indeed, according to John Holm, half of millionaires have lived in the same house for 20 years. Also, around 65 percent of millionaires live in homes which cost around the national average. Again, the important lesson here is to live within your means – that is, don’t spend more money than you have. If you spend all your savings on a luxury BMW, then you probably aren’t rich – you just want to look rick. In fact, the study reveals that 86 percent of luxury cars are bought by people who can’t afford them. Most rich people don’t have bank loans – they only spend a small percentage of what they have and they save or invest the rest.

Now here is an interesting fact. The study shows that most millionaires have very happy relationships. Not only are they married, but they stay married for a long time. In John Holm’s opinion, this is very important because of the golden rule about saving money. There is no doubt that it’s more difficult to save money if you are single. One effect of being a couple is that it’s easier to save money. If there are two of you, it’s easier to pay attention to what money you have and what you’re spending.

And of course, people who don’t have huge bank loans and debts are happier. If you don’t have to worry about the monthly credit card payments, you’re less likely to buy things to make you feel better. People with debt often spend more time shopping, just to make themselves feel happier, but real millionaires don’t need to do this.

So, what can we learn from the wealthy? The answer is surprisingly simple. Don’t spend more money than you have. Don’t get into debt or take our bank loans. Pay close attention to your money and don’t spend time trying to show other people that you’re rich. In John Holm’s opinion, being ‘wealthy’ is a feeling. That is, it doesn’t mean being rich or having millions. It means being happy with what you have.

1

Possible answers:

for:

1   encourages students to finish education and get a good job

2   shows students that they’re treated like adults

3   gives students a sense of responsibility

4   students choose to study rather than going to work

5   gives students an option: stay at university and be paid or minimum-wage job

6   not all parents interested in education; need to show students a reason for studying

against:

1   won’t solve problems / reduce drop-out rates; will just cover them up

2   money better spent on student services and advisers to help students manage their time better

3   sends the wrong message

4   students will take easy courses for good grades

2

1   760; Students in Denmark are paid €760 a month to attend university.

2   6; Students receive the payments for a maximum of six years.

3   18; Students receive the payments starting at the age of 18.

4   25; The dropout rate at Dr Hassan’s university is over 25%.

1

Host:   Dr Burns, thank you for coming today. Can you tell us more about the project? Where does this idea come from?

Dr Burns:   Thank you. Well, the idea of paying students for their work isn’t new. For example, students in Denmark are paid about €760 a month to attend university. They receive the payments for a maximum of six years, starting at the age of 18. The goal of paying students is to encourage them to finish their education and be able to get a good job in the future.

Host:   I see. Let’s hear from our first caller. Mariam Hassan is the president of a medium-sized university. Dr Hassan?

Dr Hassan:   Hello. Yes, I recently read about this new programme and I really don’t think it’s a good idea. I understand that many students drop out of university because of financial problems. At my university alone, the dropout rate is over 25 percent. However, will paying students really encourage them to continue? In my experience, it won’t. Of course, the statistics are terrible, but I’m not confident that this programme will solve the real problems – it may just cover them up. I think the money should be better spent on student services, like hiring additional professors and advisors. Two of the reasons why students drop out are stress and poor time management. Advisors can help students learn to manage their time better. As a consequence, students will do better at university and will be more likely to graduate.

Dr Burns:   I can see your point, but we have already spent a lot on student service. I think that paying students to study will show them that we treat them like adults. It will give them a sense of responsibility. University students are young adults and so, when they have a choice between staying at university and studying or going to work and making money, they often make the wrong choice. They want to have money so that they can buy things for themselves. Besides, we don’t want to pay them a lot. I think we’re simply giving them an option: stay at university and be paid or get a minimum wage job.

Host:   Christine Thorne is a parent with two children at university.

Mrs Thorne:   Hello. I was very worried when I heard about this new programme. I realize that students need encouragement to stay at university, but are we going in the right direction? First of all, I feel that we’re sending the students the wrong message. Learning should be about studying new things and being responsible. Personally, I think the students who aren’t interested in studying will simply take the easy courses to keep their average grade high and get the cash. I believe that we should focus more on rewarding excellent universities and teachers and not on students who might be lazy.

Dr Burns:   These are all good points, but I don’t think that this view applies to all students. Not all parents are educated or interested in studying. They pass this bad attitude on to their own children. Then the children don’t see the benefits of learning. To change this image, we need to show them a good reason for studying.

Host:   Thank you. Let’s have a look now at some of the comments we’ve received during the programme.

2

Host:   Dr Burns, thank you for coming today. Can you tell us more about the project? Where does this idea come from?

Dr Burns:   Thank you. Well, the idea of paying students for their work isn’t new. For example, students in Denmark are paid about €760 a month to attend university. They receive the payments for a maximum of six years, starting at the age of 18. The goal of paying students is to encourage them to finish their education and be able to get a good job in the future.

Host:   I see. Let’s hear from our first caller. Mariam Hassan is the president of a medium-sized university. Dr Hassan?

Dr Hassan:   Hello. Yes, I recently read about this new programme and I really don’t think it’s a good idea. I understand that many students drop out of university because of financial problems. At my university alone, the dropout rate is over 25 percent. However, will paying students really encourage them to continue? In my experience, it won’t. Of course, the statistics are terrible, but I’m not confident that this programme will solve the real problems – it may just cover them up. I think the money should be better spent on student services, like hiring additional professors and advisors. Two of the reasons why students drop out are stress and poor time management. Advisors can help students learn to manage their time better. As a consequence, students will do better at university and will be more likely to graduate.