课文听力文本 Unit 3 “Planting” Money

Unit 3 “Planting” Money

Part I Getting ready

Exercise B.

Tapescript:

Narrator: What would you reply to these people?

Man: Well, as I see it, millions of people in the world are worse off than us, but there's nothing we can do about it.

Woman: I'd say that if you do have plenty of money, there's no point in spending it on private education for your children.

Man: It seems to me that the only way to help the poor in the world is to find ways of helping them to help themselves. … er … not … by … er … giving them free food.

Women: If you ask me, taxes for rich people should be really high — 95% or something - so that everyone is at the same economic level.

Man: Er … in my view it … it's worth making a lot of money … er … so that you can leave it to your children when you die.

Man: Don't you agree that if people are starving or have nowhere to live, it's the duty of better-off people to give them food and shelter?

Woman: Look, let's face it, there's only one reason why people work and that's to make as much money as possible.

Man: Surely, as long as you've got enough to live on, there's no point in making more and more money.

Woman: If you're earning a good salary, surely you should save as much as you can for a rainy day.

Man: I must say that one thing is certain: money doesn't buy happiness.

Exercise C.

Keys:

1. Sincere / Y 2. Doubtful / N 3. Sarcastic / N

4. Doubtful / N 5. Sincere / Y 6. Skeptical / N

7. Surprised / Y 8. Sincere / Y 9. Emphatic / Y

10. Sarcastic / N

Tapescript:

Narrator: You'll hear some people reacting to various opinions — decide if they are agreeing or disagreeing with the opinions expressed. Pay attention to the tone of voice they use.

1. Woman: Aren't you glad you're not a millionaire?

Man: Sure!

2. Man: Don't you wish you could afford to spend our holidays in the Caribbean?

Woman: Mm, ye-es.

3. Woman: It's not worth saving your money, it's better to spend it.

Man: Oh, sure!

4. Man: It's better to be happy than rich.

Woman: Hmm.

5. Woman: Well, basically, in a job the most important thing is how much you earn.

Man: Oh, yes!

6. Man: It's really important to save a little money every month — you never know when you might need it.

Woman: I don't know about that!

7. Man: The only way to survive on a tight budget is to keep a record of all your expenses.

Man: I don't know about that!

8. Woman: Children these days get far too much pocket money.

Woman: Mmm!

9. Woman: In a family it should be the mother that controls the budget.

Woman: Yes!

10. Man: If I inherited a lot of money it wouldn't change my life at all.

Man: Oh, yes!

Part II National teach children to save day

Exercise A.

Keys:

1. Thursday, April 17

2. teaching children how to save money

3. 2500

4. 5000 presentations

Exercise B.

Keys:

1-4: 4 3 2 1

Tapescript:

On Thursday, April 17, \"National Teach Children to Save Day,\" 2 500 bankers will make 5 000 presentations in elementary school classrooms across the country to teach children how to save money.

\"Bankers are committed to investing in the future of children because we want them to be able to make smart financial decisions throughout their lifetime,\" said

American Bankers Association Executive Vice-president Donald G. Ogilvie. \"Education and money management skills are keys to a better life.\"

The ABA Education Foundation declared \"National Teach Children to Save Day\" as a way to show banking industry support for teaching children money management skills and encouraging them to save money for the future. In 1996, Americans saved only 4.9% of their disposable incomes, compared to 1970 when they saved 8%.

The Foundation coordinated a great effort with state bankers associations to encourage bankers to participate in \"National Teach Children to Save Day.\" It also prepared a resource kit with tools to help bankers make presentations in classrooms. More than 125 000 students will be part of this national initiative.

The ABA Education Foundation also offers tips for parents to foster the savings habit in their children:

• Give them an allowance with the understanding that part of it goes into their own savings — a first step towards learning to budget.

• To make their savings visible and real, have them build up savings in a piggy bank. Then help them open their own bank savings account, and have them make deposits each month.

• Use their monthly statements, or the record in their savings passbooks, to

show them how their money is multiplying.

• For every dollar your children earn, encourage them to spend 25 cents on what they want or need now, put 25 cents away for a bigger-item purchase later and save or invest the rest. (That's a 50% savings rate!)

• Make savings and investing fun. Give your children play money to \"invest\" in stocks they can track in local newspapers. If the stocks go up, pay them in more play money; if the stocks decline, they pay you.

Part III Credit cards

Keys:

Outline

I. importance

II. A. later

III. The potential disadvantages

A. lots of purchases

B. interest

IV. The benefits

B. emergencies

C. travel

Tapescript:

Credit cards are an important part of American life. Whether we have a positive or negative image of credit cards, they are an inescapable part of our finances, either now or in the future.

Without a credit card, it's just about impossible to rent a car, make a hotel or airline reservation, or even get a membership at a video store.

Since credit cards are so important, yet so many people are in financial trouble because of them, we feel education is extremely important. We want to show our customers that credit cards are not toys; they are an important responsibility.

A credit card can be used to \"charge\" things like clothes, tapes or CDs, dinner at a restaurant, or maybe a hotel room while you're on vacation. When you charge something, you are agreeing to pay for your purchase at a later date. Basically, you are buying something now and paying for it later.

Credit cards come with a \"limit.\" Let's say your credit card has a limit of $100. That means you can charge up to $100.00 worth of items on your card. You will get

a statement in the mail each month that lists the charges you have made. You will also have to make a payment every month that you have a balance owing.

Since we're about educating our customers on the realities of credit and credit cards, we're going to be perfectly honest. First, using a credit card can be very expensive. Banks don't offer credit cards just because they like you. They offer them because they make money when customers use credit cards.

How do they make money? When you charge something on a credit card, you not only will have to pay for what you bought, but you will also have to pay interest, or a finance charge, if you don't pay your bill in full by the due date. The finance charge is your extra cost for having something now and paying for it later. The interest rate on a credit card can be 15% or even higher. If, however, you pay your bill in full every month by the due date, you do not have to pay interest. And of course, we highly recommend you do that!

It's very easy to make lots of purchases on your card and then be surprised at how quickly they add up when your bill arrives! If you're not careful when you use a credit card, you could find yourself in a lot of debt. And it always takes much longer to pay it off than to spend it.

You will also want to be careful about buying things with credit card you wouldn't normally be able to afford. Again, you can get in over your head and end up paying a tremendous amount of interest.

However, when used correctly, credit cards can be very helpful. It's sometimes hard to do certain things without a credit card. Credit cards are also helpful for emergencies and are good for travel. Some credit cards even insure your purchase, meaning if something is lost, stolen, or broken, it can be replaced.

We believe the best way to become responsible with credit is to learn through hands-on experience. If you begin at a young age with a low limit, you won't be likely to blow it and get in financial trouble later on.

Part IV More about the topic: Gulf Between the Rich and Poor

Exercise A.

Keys:

Exercise 1

1-3: 3 1 2

Exercise 2

1. so much of their income, ever larger houses and cars, social programs or infrastructure repairs

2. happier, fewer disputes of work, lower levels of stress hormones, less often, at an older age

Tapescript:

Woman: In 1998, the United Nation's Human Development Report contains some interesting statistical comparisons about global wealth. For example the report notes that the world's three richest people own assets which exceed the combined growth domestic products of the world's poorest 48 countries. In another amazing comparison the report says the statistics show that installing water and sanitation for all the world's poor would cost roughly the same amount of money as is spent annually on ice-cream in Europe. It also notes that basic education for everyone would cost slightly less than is spent annually for cosmetics in the United States. What's wrong with this picture? The author of a new book entitled Luxury Fever says the answer is \"spending priorities\". Robert Frank, a professor of economics at Cornell University in Ithyca, New York has written a book which says Americans are spending so much of their income on ever larger houses and cars that they can't afford to spend on social programs or infrastructure repairs.

Frank: It's a strange position really when you look back on it. Over the last 25 years, we've been spending much more on building larger houses, we've been spending vastly more on automobiles. People in the middle of the income distribution don't have any more money in terms of real purchasing power than they did 25 years ago. People near the bottom of the income distribution have even less than they had. People at the top of course have done spectacularly well. There's been about a doubling in the real purchasing power that has been experienced by the top 1% of earners. So naturally, people at the top find it a

perfectly reasonable thing to do to buy bigger houses or more expensive cars. But that's of the chain of imitative spending all the way down the income ladder, and many of the people in the middle who feel they desperately need larger houses because others have them really could be spending their money in other ways if we look back.

Woman: The time required as you put it to earn enough money to pay for a larger house could be used and could be freed up to use for family and friends.

Frank: Well that's true. There is always a cost of buying more things. Instead of building a bigger house or buying a more expensive car, I can work fewer hours and spend time with family and friends. And what the behavioral studies show very clearly is that if everyone did that, people would be happier. They'd have fewer disputes of work. They'd have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood. They get sick less often. They die at an older age. (To) sum it up, there is no free lunch. If we spend more on one thing, that always means spending less on another. And the best evidence we have such as that rich and poor life would be both healthier and happier if we rearranged our spending patterns in these ways.

Exercise B.

Keys:

vice president, Myths of Rich and Poor, positive side, increased prosperity, better off, 30 years ago

hundreds of gadgets, easier, more pleasurable, cellular and cordless phones, computers, answering machines, microwave ovens

3/4, washing machines, half, clothes dryers, 97%, color televisions, 3/4, VCRs, 2/3, microwaves and air conditioners,

3/4, automobile, 40%, home, half, stereo systems

Tapescript:

Woman 1: Another economist and author, however, see the positive side to the increased prosperity of Americans. W. Michael Cox is the vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas. And his book is entitled Myths of Rich and Poor. Mr. Cox disputes the widely held notion that there's a huge gap between the rich and poor in America. He says all Americans are better off than they were 30 years ago.

Woman 2: Technological advances have created hundreds of gadgets that did not exit 30 years ago. Mr. Cox contains in his new book, appliances like cellular and cordless phones, computers, answering machines, microwave ovens. He says these new inventions make life today both easier and more pleasurable. And he says these conveniences are available to a broader cross-section of the general public in the United States than in any other country in the world. That's because improvements in productivity and the openness of the U.S. market has made them affordable for just about anybody.

Cox: Today of all the people in poverty in America, almost 3/4 have washing machines, half have clothes dryers, 97% have color televisions, 3/4 have VCRs, 2/3 have microwaves and air conditioners, 3/4 own their own automobile, 40% own their own home, half have stereo systems.

Part V Do you know…?

Exercise A.

Keys:

1. Tokyo 2. Osaka 3. Oslo 4. Zurich 5.

6. Copenhagen 7. Geneva 8. Paris 9. Reykjavik 10. London

Exercise B.

Keys:

1. The Euro has appreciated against the US dollar.

2. Persistent economic turmoil.

3. Tehran.

4. The economist team checks prices of a wide range of items from bread and

milk cars and utilities to compile this report.

5. Business clients use it to calculate the amount of allowances granted to overseas executives and their families.

Tapescript:

Europe ranks as the most expensive region in the world according to the latest survey by a prestigious London research group, the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Seven of the world’s 10 most expensive cities are in Europe, according to the report released Monday.

The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Oslo as the third most expensive city in the world. Other European cities in the top 10 include Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Paris, Reykjavik and London.

Tokyo and Osaka remain on top of the list, as they have for a decade. ranked fifth.

The editor of the report, Bill Ridgers, says strong European currencies, led by the euro, account for the continent's high cost of living.

\"We've seen an increase in the relative cost of living in the euro-zone countries as the euro has appreciated against the U.S. dollar, the prices have become relatively more expensive. And the flip side to that is that we've seen U.S. cities

actually slipping down in the list because they are becoming relatively cheaper as the dollar becomes slightly weaker,\"

New York City has dropped out of the top 10, and now ranks as the 13th costliest city. Latin American cities also have slipped down the ranks amid persistent economic turmoil in the region. Mexico City is in 56th place and Sao Paulo is 120th, just fourth from the bottom of the list.

Tehran remains the world's cheapest city, with a cost of living less than one-quarter that of Tokyo.

The Economist team checks prices of a wide range of items, from bread and milk to cars and utilities, to compile the semi-annual cost of living report.

Business clients use the service to calculate the amount of allowances granted to overseas executives and their families.