Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. broke
    • ex. I want to buy a new car, but I can’t because I’m broke.
  2. give away
    • ex. Anna is giving away some of her children’s old toys.
  3. a fortune
    • ex. Jeremy got his fortune from his parents, who started a successful hotel chain 40 years ago.
  4. anonymous
    • ex. I don’t know who wrote the comment. It was anonymous.
  5. obligated
    • ex. I feel obligated to help my parents now because they helped me so much in the past.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Charles Feeney, the founder of Duty Free Shoppers, says that he has achieved his goal to be “broke.” The 89-year-old still has $2 million (about ¥212 million), which is far from broke for most people. However, over the last 40 years, Feeney has given away over $8 billion (about ¥847 billion) of his personal fortune.

Feeney made many anonymous donations and tried his best to keep them a secret. He donated $3.7 billion (about ¥392 billion) to education and more than $870 million (about ¥92 billion) to other social causes. In addition, he gave $76 million (about ¥8 billion) for the Affordable Care Act, which aims to make healthcare available to more people.

Feeney said that he felt obligated to use his fortune to improve the lives of others, so he’s satisfied that most of his money is gone. He added that helping people makes him happy. Feeney explained that the world is full of people who have less than they need, and he wanted to change that.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Giving Away Money

  • Do you agree with Feeney that rich people are obligated to use their fortune to help others? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Imagine that you want to give away a lot of money like Feeney did. What will you use your money to do (ex. improve education, help animals)? Why? Discuss.
  • In your opinion, should the government give away money to people who are having trouble? Why or why not?

Broke vs. Rich

  • Do you think that Feeney's goal to be “broke” was a good goal? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • What can people do to avoid being broke (ex. save money every month, buy cheaper things)? Why? Discuss.
  • Some people say that it’s not easy to be rich. In your opinion, does being rich have more advantages or disadvantages? Why? Discuss.