UNIT 3: JUST IMAGINE!

UNIT 3: JUST IMAGINE!

Complete the questions. What would you do with $ 5 million? Ask and answer questions.

Example:    What … buy?
                What would you buy?

a. … put it under the mattress?
b. How much … give away? Who … give it to?
c. …travel? Where … to?
d. What about your job? … keep on working or … quit your job?
e. … go on a shopping spree?
f. … invest the money?
g. … put it in a bank?
h. … buy shares?
i. … invest in real estate?
j. … be happier than you are now?

All over the world, lotteries create new millionaires every week. But what is it actually like to wake up one day with more money than you can imagine?

    Nearly all of us have fantasized about winning the big prize in a lottery. We dream about what we would do with the money, but we rarely stop to think about what the money would do to us.

    For most of us, our way of life is closely linked to our economic circumstances. The different parts of our lives fit together like a jigsaw _ work, home, friend, hobbies, and sports make up our world. This is where we belong and where we feel at home. A sudden huge windfall would dramatically change it all and smash the jigsaw.

    For example, most people like the idea of not having to work, but winners have found that without work there is no purpose to their day and no reason to get up in the morning. It is tempting to move to a big house in a
wealthy neighbourhood, but in so doing, you leave old friend and routines behind.

    Winners are usually advised not to publicize their address and phone number, but clarity requests and begging letters still arrive. If they are not careful, most of their money will be spent on lawyers’ fee to protect them from demanding relatives, guards to protect their homes and swimming pools, and psychiatrists to protect their sanity!

Winners who lost it all

    There are many stories about people who couldn’t learn how to be rich. In 1999 Abby Wilson from Lake City, Minnesota, won $14 million on Powerball, and brought her nothing but misery. She immediately went on a spending spree that lasted for four years and five marriages. She is now broke and alone. “I’m a miserable person,” she says. “Winning that money was the most awful thing that happened to me.”

    Then there is the story of William Church, 37, cafeteria cook from Boston. He won the Massachusetts lottery, but it turned out to be his unluckiest bet. Three weeks after winning , he dropped dead of a heart attack, brought on by ceaseless hounding from the press, the public, and relatives, after his $3.6 million win was made public.

Winners who survived

    For some people, the easiest thing is to get rid of the money as soon as possible. Jim Calhoun, a seaman from Canada, won $2 million, and blew the money in 77 days. He withdrew thousands of dollars a day from the bank and handed it to former shipmates and strangers in the street. On one occasion, he handed out $150,000 to homeless people in a Toronto park. Later he said he had no regrets about his wasted fortune.

    Michael Kovaleski was the biggest lottery winner at the time when he won $40 million in the Illinois lottery. It has taken him years to get used to the changes in his life. “I couldn’t have done it without my family,” he says. “There were so many lies about me in the press. They said I had dumped my girl friend, bought an island in the Caribbean, and become a drug addict. All wrong.” His fortune has been divided among all the members of his family.

A final thought

    When you next buy a lottery ticket, just stop for a minute and ask yourself why you’re doing it. Do you actually want to win? Or are you doing it for the excitement of thinking about winning?

Answer the questions 

1. According to the article, is it a good thing or a bad thing to win a lot of money?
2. How does winning a large amount of money affect our work? Our home? Our friends? Our relative?
3. In what way is our life like a jigsaw? How does a windfall smash the jigsaw?
4. How can money be wasted?
5. What are the two bad luck stories?
6. What made Jim Calhoun happy?
7. How has Michael Kovaleski survived?

1. Look at the list of charities and charitable causes below. Pick three of the charities and discuss why you think people should donate to them.

• A charity that helps elderly people with food and housing.

• A hospice for people who are dying of an incurable disease.

• An organization that provides emergency supplies and medicine for disaster victims.

• A charity that helps homeless people.

• Cancer research.

• A charity that helps people with AIDS.

• Animal shelters.

2. Imagine that you have $10,000 that you want to give to charity. Which organizations would you give the money to? How would you divide it?
Think about what you would do, and then discuss your ideas.

Amnesty International Amnesty International is a Nobel Prize-winning organization that works to support human rights around the world. It is independent of any government or political party and has over a million members in 162 countries around the world. Amnesty International works to free all prisoners of conscience anywhere in the world. These are people who are in prison because of their beliefs, color, ethnic origin, language, or religion. Amnesty International tries to help these prisoners in two ways. First, by publicizing their cases and, second, by putting pressure on governments to practice human rights.

The World Wildlife Fund The World Wildlife Fund is the largest privately supported international conservation organization in the world. It is dedicated to protecting wild animals around the world and the places where these animals live. The World Wildlife Fund directs its conservation efforts toward three global goals. First, it works to save endangered species like the black rhino or the giant panda. Second, it works to establish and manage national parks and wildlife reserves around the world. Third, it works to address global threats to our environment, such as pollution and climate change.

Save the Children Millions of children around the world experience lives filled with poverty, disease, war, violence, and discrimination. Save the Children believes that children, wherever they live, have the right to a happy, healthy, and secure start in life, and is committed to turning this ideal into a reality for all children. Save the Children helps children by supporting programs that involve community members in improving their day-to-day lives, such as maternal and child healthcare services, education for all children, and income-earning opportunity for women. Save the Children also uses its global experience and research to help children and families during natural disasters and times of war, as well as to advocate for government policy changes that will benefit all children, including future generations.

1. What advice would you give to someone who has won a lot of money?
2. Do you think there should be more help for beggars, the homeless, and the poor in your town and your country?
3. The international community should reduce or eliminate the debts of the world's poorest countries. To what extent would you support this proposal?