BUSINESS ENGLISH

Money Talks

1. Before you read

Do you agree that money can buy happiness? Do you know any such cases?

2. Read the text and decide who you agree with: Richard or his father.

Number 24 Park Street is a big, expensive house. Old Mr. Anthony Rockwall lives there and he is very rich.
One day he talks to his son, Richard, who is a quiet man of 21. “Richard, the people on this street come from good families and have a lot of money. Money can open a lot of doors for you,” Mr. Rockwall says with a smile.
“It can open some doors, father, but not every door,” Richard says. “Money can’t buy a place at the table of the right people.”
“You are wrong, young man,” his father says and he looks into his son’s eyes. Richard is quiet.
“Son, what’s the problem? Are you sick? What’s wrong? You can talk to me,” Mr. Rockwall says.
“Father, I’m not sick. I have a good home, an interesting and clever old father. But...”
“What’s her name?” Mr. Rockwall says.
“Oh, Father. She’s beautiful and very special. Her name is Ellen Lantry. She’s the only woman for me,” Richard says.
“Talk to her. Dance with her. Walk in the rain with her. She’s going to love you, too,” his father says. “You are a good young man. You are special, too.”
“But she is always with people,” Richard says. “I never have any time with her. She never has time for me.”
“Richard! Take some money and buy some time with her. Talk to her about your love,” the old man says.
“I can’t”, Richard says. “She’s going to Europe by boat tomorrow. She is going to stay there for two years. This evening I’m going to take her to the theatre but it’s a short drive. I’m not going to have much time with her and you can’t buy her time.”
“OK, Richard, now I understand. Your love for her is very strong, but she doesn’t know about it. That’s your problem,” Mr. Rockwall says.
“She can’t know because there isn’t time,” Richard says. He’s very unhappy. “Your money can’t talk to her.”
At eight o’clock in the evening, Richard goes to the beautiful young woman’s house. “Good evening, Richard,” Miss Lantry says. “Mother and father are waiting for us at the theatre. I don’t want to be late.”
“To Wallack’s Theatre, please,” Richard says to the driver. But at Thirty-fourth Street the car stops.
“What’s wrong?” Richard asks.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Rockwall,” the driver says. “We can’t move. The traffic is terrible.”
“Oh, Richard. Are we going to be late?” Miss Lantry asks.
“I’m very sorry, Ellen. No theatre for us this evening,” Richard says.
“That’s OK. I don’t like the theatre very much. I’m happy here in the car with you,” Miss Lantry says.
“Are you?” Richard asks with a smile.
Late in the evening Richard talks to his father. “Father,” Richard says, “Miss Lantry and I are in love!”
“Very good, Richard. I’m happy for you,” his father says.
“We talked and talked. She loves me! You see! Money can’t buy love,” Richard says. Then the happy young man goes to bed.
But let’s finish the story. At seven o’clock in the morning, the driver comes to the door of Mr. Rockwall’s house.
“Good morning, Mr. Kelly,” Mr. Rockwall says. “You did a good job yesterday evening. Here’s your $5000.”
“It was difficult, Mr. Rockwall. The drivers of the cars wanted $10 and the policeman wanted $50. But the cars stopped for us. Did it all go well?” Mr. Kelly asks.
“Well? Yes! It was beautiful. Let’s drink to love and to money!”

Adapted from O. Henry, Mammon and the Archer.

3. Are these sentences true or false? Correct the false ones.

1. Old Mr. Rockwall thinks money is very important. _____
2. Richard doesn’t agree with him. _____
3. Richard is worried about his job. _____
4. Richard isn’t happy because Ellen doesn’t love him. _____
5. Ellen plans to go to Europe for a year. _____
6. Richard says he hasn’t got time to talk to her before she goes. ____
7. Richard thinks money can solve this problem. _____
8. Richard arrives at Ellen’s house very late. _____
9. They are late for the theatre because of the rain. _____
10. Ellen is angry because she can’t go to the theatre. _____
11. Ellen and Richard talk and fall in love. _____
12. Mr. Rockwall organizes the traffic problems. ______
13. He gave $10 to the policeman to stop the traffic. _____
14. Mr. Rockwall is not very happy with Mr. Kelly’s work. ____
15. Mr. Rockwall used his money to solve the problem. _____

4. Provocative thinking

a. What is the most precious thing you bought for money?
b. Is having a lot of money your dream or not? Why or why not?
c. Can a relationship be satisfactory if it is based only on money matters?
d. Do you agree that money can “open all doors”?
e. What would you prefer to have: a noble origin or millions of dollars?
f. Is money Good or Evil?
g. What would you do if you won a million dollars in a lottery?
h. Do you give money to beggars or not?
i. Do you agree with a saying that money spoils people? Why?

5. Money vocabulary

Match the words on the left with their definition on the right.

6. Build word combinations

Make no more than 3 sentences incorporating all of these word combinations in them.

7. Find all the irregular verbs in the text and compose sentences of your own using them.

8. Find all the adjectives in the text and give their three degrees of comparison.

Example:
Nice – nicer – the nicest
Dangerous – more dangerous – the most dangerous

9. Give 5 characteristic adjectives to Mr. Rockwall and 5 characteristic adjectives to Richard. Then try to find 3 characteristics that unite them.

10. Act out the following dialogs:

a. Between Mr. Rockwall and his son, sharing his problems at the beginning of the story.
b. Between Mr. Rockwall and Mr. Kelly, arranging a traffic jam.
c. Between Mr. Kelly and the policeman, arranging a traffic jam.
d. Between Richard and Miss Lantry in the car on the way to the theatre.
e. Between Richard and Mr. Rockwall, when Richard learns all the truth about the artificial traffic jam.

11. Turn the dialogs in the text into indirect speech, making all the necessary changes.

KEY:

3. 1. T; 2. T; 3. F; 4. F; 5. F; 6. T; 7. F; 8. F; 9. F; 10. F; 11. T; 12. T; 13. F; 14. F; 15. T

5. 1. g; 2. i; 3. a; 4. d; 5. f; 6. e; 7. h; 8. b; 9. c

6. 1. e; 2. j; 3. f; 4. g; 5. i; 6. c; 7. d; 8. h; 9. a; 10. b

Сompiled by Alena Pavlova,
Moscow State University of Printing Arts