VI. Answer the questions.

1. Does the magazine article talk more about the positive side of winning a lot of money, or the negative side?

2. How can a large amount of money affect our work? ...our home? ... our friends?

3. How does the article say money can be 'frittered away'?

4. Give three facts each about the lives of Val Johnson, Alice Hopper, and Malcolm Price. Why are they all mentioned? In the imaginary family that has won £1 million, who says, 'It won't change us'? Who says, 'I want it to change us'?

5. What do the children want to have? What does the neighbor want?

6. Who in the family doesn't buy anything? What do the others buy?

VII. Read the article and match the underlined words and expressions 1-6 to definitions a-f below.

CREDIT CARD INVENTOR DIES AT 88

The man who millions of shoppers have to thank- or blame- for the state of their finances has died aged 88. In 1958, during the US post-war ¹consumer boom, American bank executive Joseph Williams invented as early version of the modern-day Visa card. The Diners Club card already existed and allowed shoppers to make ²cash-less transactions. But the ³balance had to be paid off in full within 30 days. Some banks offered credit on their bank cards, but these could not be used nation-wide. Williams saw ⁴a gap in the market for a card that could be used across the country. He and his team began distributing the Bank America card in California. Over the next ten years the card was ⁵licensed by other banks, before it was finally renamed the Visa card in 1970. Now, there are an estimated 785m major credit cards in circulation in the US. The average US credit card dept carried over each month per ⁶household last year was nearly $9,000 (£5,500), triple the average of $3,000 (£1,800) in 1990. In British, the average UK household today owes more than £6,000 on credit and ^*store cards.

*store card - a kind of credit card which you can use to buy goods in the department store which issued it.

a) a home…

b) paying for things without handling real money…

c) a missing service / product which is identified as a business opportunity …

d) a period when business is good because people are spending more …

e) the final amount owing in an account …

f) given permission to do something in return for money…

VIII. Match the multi-word verbs in italics to their meanings a-e.

1) Please make out your cheque to Hannah Green and associates. …….

2) It takes my bank two working days to carry out even a simple transaction. ……

3) Could you fill in this form with your personal details, please. ……..

4) I’d like to pay this cheque into my savings account, please. ……..

5) We need to take out lots of cash to pay the workmen. …….

a) to make a deposit

b) to perform

c) to remove / take away

d) to complete with information

e) to write the name of a person or business on a cheque