READ THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE AND THEN ANSWER THE FOLLOWING EXERCISES.
Who wants to be a billionaire?
Forbes magazine has released its nineteenth annual list of the world’s richest people. It comes as no surprise that Bill Gates tops the list for the eleventh straight year. His wealth, at $46.5 billion ($46,500,000,000), was slightly down on last year’s $46.4 billion, although he probably isn't losing sleep over this. Second richest was American investor Warren Buffet ($44bn), and third was India’s Lakshmi Mittal ($25bn). Other unbelievably rich people in the top 100 include Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich (#21), Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (#25), E-Bay founder Pierre Omidyar (#35) and Benetton boss Luciano Benetton (#35).Forbes said the number of billionaires increased to a record 691 this year (341 from the USA) compared with last year's 587. Of these, 68 are women, including disgraced American businesswoman Martha Stewart. The billionaires are from 45 different countries, including first-timers, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland. The youngest is Germany’s Prince Albert von Turn und Taxis, who is just 21. Next are Google’s co-founders Larry Page, 32, and Sergey Brin, 31. Forbes says it takes more than “brilliance and elbow grease” to become a billionaire, and that certain personality types are more likely to make it to their list. They have an interactive quiz on their website to test if you have a billionaire personality (www.forbes.com).
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TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:
- Forbes magazine has released its annual list of the world’s richest people. T / F
- Bill Gates tops the list for the twentieth straight year. T / F
- Bill Gates is poorer than last year. T / F
- Americans were ranked in the top three on the billionaire list. T / F
- Thirty per cent of the billionaires are women. T / F
- The youngest billionaire is just two years old. T / F
- To become a billionaire you just need brilliance and elbow grease. T / F
- Certain personality types are more likely to become billionaires. T / F
SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
| (a) | released | worrying |
| (b) | tops | shamed |
| (c) | wealth | conceivably |
| (d) | losing sleep over | genius |
| (e) | unbelievably | fortune |
| (f) | disgraced | hard work |
| (g) | first-timers | heads |
| (h) | brilliance | astonishingly |
| (i) | elbow grease | newcomers |
| (j) | likely | issued |
| (a) | It comes as | year |
| (b) | Bill Gates tops | with last year's 587 |
| (c) | for the eleventh straight | it to their list |
| (d) | slightly down on | the list |
| (e) | he probably isn't losing | co-founders |
| (f) | compared | more than “brilliance and elbow grease” |
| (g) | disgraced American | sleep over this |
| (h) | Google’s | last year’s $46.4 billion |
| (i) | it takes | businesswoman Martha Stewart |
| (j) | more likely to make | no surprise |
| Forbes magazine has released its nineteenth ...................................................list of the world’s richest people. It comes as no surprise that Bill Gates tops the list for the eleventh ................................................... year. His wealth, at $46.5 billion ($46,500,000,000), was slightly down on last year’s $46.4 billion, although he probably isn't losing ..................................... over this. Second richest was American investor Warren Buffet ($44bn), and third was India’s Lakshmi Mittal ($25bn). Other ............................................. rich people in the top 100 include Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich (#21), Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (#25), E-Bay founder Pierre Omidyar (#35) and Benetton boss Luciano Benetton (#35). Forbes said the number of billionaires increased to a record 691 this year (341 from the USA) ...................................with last year's 587. Of these, 68 are women, including ...................................... American businesswoman Martha Stewart. The billionaires are from 45 different countries, including first-timers, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and Iceland. The youngest is Germany’s Prince Albert von Turn und Taxis, who is just 21. Next are Google’s co-founders Larry Page, 32, and Sergey Brin, 31. Forbes says it takes more than “ ...................................... and elbow grease” to become a billionaire, and that certain personality types are more likely to make it to their list. They have an interactive quiz on their website to test if you have a billionaire ......................................................(www.forbes.com). sleep annual compared personality straight disgraced brilliance unbelievably |
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