1. Circle the correct words (a or b) to complete the text.
My uncle is the 1…………….. of a small company that makes mobile phone batteries. His company has 2…………….. with one of the biggest mobile phone companies in the world. It generates a lot of 3…………….. for my uncle’s company.
My sister is 4…………….. . She has started a number of businesses, and taken quite a lot of risks. She is always asking for 5…………….., but it is difficult to find 6…………….. who want to lend her money. Although her companies make quite big 7…………….., she doesn’t pay herself a very big 8……………..
1 a CEO b entrepreneur
2 a a contract b a funding
3 a salary b income
4 a an investor b an entrepreneur
5 a profits b funding
6 a CEOs b investors
7 a profits b investors
8 a funding b salary
Answer
1 a 2 a 3 b 4 b 5 b 6 b 7 a 8 b
2. Read the text about Warren Buffet, ignoring the gaps. Which sentence is true: a, b or c?
a Warren Buffet is a billionaire who enjoys spending money.
b Warren Buffet made billions, but has given all his money away.
c Warren Buffet is a billionaire and leads a modest lifestyle.
Warren Buffet
Warren Buffet is the most successful investor of the 20th century and one of the richest men in the world. Buffet was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1930. He first became an investor at the age of eleven. 1……………………… He also bought chewing gum, Coca-Cola and magazines from him and sold them to neighbours. 2……………………… By his early thirties, he had become a millionaire, and by 1990 he was a billionaire.
But although he is very rich, his lifestyle isn’t particularly extravagant. 3……………………… It only cost him $31,500! He doesn’t carry a mobile phone and he doesn’t have a computer on his desk. Buffet says he eats the same things he has always eaten: burgers, fries and Coke. 4……………………… Not only is he very modest, but he is also very generous. He has already given billions of dollars to charities and says that he will eventually give away 99% of his money. 5……………………… He once said, ‘I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.’
Answer
3 Warren Buffet is a billionaire and leads a modest lifestyle.
Reading Strategy
When you do a task with gapped sentences, study the sentence after each gap and look for any connections with the missing sentence. For example, if it begins with but, there is a contrast. Other words suggest other types of connection:
– similarity: too
– cause / result: so
– a different option: or
3. Read the Reading Strategy. Then match sentences A-G with gaps 1-5 in the text. There are two extra sentences.
A He doesn’t plan to give his children very much money when he dies.
B By the age of twenty he had made and saved $9,800 (about $100,000 in today’s money)
C However, he became the richest man in the world.
D As a teenager, he worked in his grandfather’s shop and delivered newspapers.
E Although he is rich, he isn’t very happy.
F Only his clothes are expensive, but he says they look cheap when he puts them on!
G He still lives in Omaha, in the house he bought more than fifty years ago.
Answer
1 D 2 B 3 F 4 A
4. Read the text again, including the missing sentences in exercise 3. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 Buffet is over 80 years old.
2 He started earning money when he was a teenager.
3 He has recently moved into a very expensive new house.
4 The food he eats now is the same as the food he ate when he was young.
5 He plans to give a lot of money to his children.
Answer
1 T 2 F 3 F 4 T 5 F
Extra exercises
Strategy
After you have made your choice, check your answer by deciding why the other options are wrong.
1. Read the Strategy. Then read the text and the question below. Choose the correct option. Sum up in a sentence why each of the other options is incorrect. Underline the part of the text that tells you this. The first one has been done for you.
It isn’t ‘A’ because the writer is planning to start touring again.
Living cheaply in New Zealand
I’ve been in New Zealand for six months, and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the adventure capital of the world! Hiking, skydiving, caving, … the list goes on. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot to live here. When I arrived, I stayed in a hostel in Auckland. It was cheap, and I met lots of people. I joined up with a few of them and we started touring the country – buses are the cheapest way to get about. We stayed in affordable campsites in the most amazing places. Right now, I’m back in a hostel in Wellington. I’m taking a city break before I start touring again.
1 What does the author say about being in New Zealand?
A He’s planning to go home now.
B He prefers travelling on his own.
C He’s spent a lot of money.
D He has seen both town and country.
Answer
C
It isn’t ‘B’ because he joined up with some people that he met at a hostel.
‘I met lots of people.’
‘I joined up with a few of them and we started touring the country …’
2. Now read the three texts. Choose the correct answer (A-D).
How to make money travelling
After I left university, I set out on a three-month trip to Asia. The idea was to travel and then go home and find a job. That was two years ago, and I’m still here! But how, you may ask, can you make money and travel at the same time? I teach English. I also write a travel blog, and that makes money too. I don’t have a lot of money, but I can pay my bills. I have friends that do other things, such as hairdressing. There are lots of different ways to make money while you’re travelling.
1 What does the author say about his experience?
A He spent three months in Asia.
B He now knows what job he wants to train for.
C He became very rich.
D He changed his plans.
So you want to be a billionaire?
Self-made billionaires have one thing in common: they’re good at making money. Most of them will also tell you that this talent is only part of the story. So what else do you need to be a success in the business world? So you want to be a billionaire? helps you understand. The book looks at the careers and methods of the world’s most famous self-made billionaires. Each chapter examines how these billionaires made their fortune – and how you can do the same. Read So you want to be a billionaire and open the door to a great future!
2 The author of the text wants to …
A sell people a book.
B explain the life of a billionaire.
C encourage readers to write a book about their lives.
D describe how he became successful.
The cost of art
Paul Cézanne’s painting The Card Players sold for 250 million dollars. Before that, Francis Bacon’s work Three Studies of Lucian Freud sold for 142.4 million. The question is: Why would you spend so much on a piece of art? Is it because you want to own something no one else can buy? Here’s another story … Banksy is a street artist whose work can sell for a million dollars. But one day he sold his paintings in Central Park for sixty dollars. The people that bought them didn’t know the paintings were by Banksy. Now they have some very valuable works!
3 The text gives readers …
A reasons for the high price of some art.
B information about the cost of art.
C ideas on how to make money from art.
D advice on the best artists to see.
Answer
1 C 2 A 3 A