English Listening B2 Episode 11 - Track 01
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
EPISODE 11 REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS
TRACK 1
Presenter Monica, is it true that being very rich (1)
? People often say this, but is it really true?
Monica No, it's not. In fact, there was some research done quite recently at Harvard University where they studied 4,000 millionaires. And they found that the people with $10 billion or more (2)
than the people with about 1 or 2 million. So having a lot of money actually seems to make people happy. But what they also found was that people who'd made their own money (3)
than people who'd inherited it or people who had got rich by marrying into a wealthy family, say.
Presenter So it’s better (4)
?
Monica Definitely, yes, (5)
.
Presenter What about suddenly having a lot of money, say if you win the lottery or you suddenly inherit money from someone who dies. (6)
? You often hear stories of how it makes people unhappy.
Monica Well you do hear stories like that, yes, but they’re just isolated cases; in fact, winning (7)
on people. Of course, people like to believe that winning money leads to disaster because that makes them feel better about not winning. But the idea that winning a lot of money causes misery (8)
; it’s simply not true.
Presenter (9)
done on this, haven’t there?
Monica Yes, that’s right. According to most studies, suddenly having a lot of money (10)
to have a positive effect on you as a negative effect. And most people don’t in fact spend all their money.
Presenter Can you give us some examples?
Monica Yes. For example, a recent study looked at (11)
if they won the lottery. And it found that people spent a lot in the first five years, but (12)
in their lifetime, (13)
. So most people do spend a lot, but they save a lot as well. And then there was an interesting study in California, and they measured (14)
as a result of winning the lottery. And they found that people feel very happy when they win, which isn’t surprising, but as they adjust to the idea of being rich and go back to normal again after a few months – (15)
. So over the long term, getting richer doesn’t actually affect how happy you are, (16)
, of course.
Presenter So, if you’re happy anyway, (17)
even if you get rich, is that the message?
Monica Yes, that’s right. Money won’t make you happy, but it won’t stop you from being happy, either. And studies have also shown that it depends on how you spend the money. So people who buy a lot of things, like clothes or houses or cars, (18)
happy. As soon as you have a car, you want a better car and so on, so that doesn’t make you happy for long. But spending money on experiences (19)
happiness.
Presenter Experiences?
Monica Yes, for example, going on a holiday of a lifetime or doing something you’ve always wanted to do. That’ll make you happy while you’re doing it, and it’ll make you happy later because (20)
. So it’s a better way to try and be happy.
Presenter OK, so there we have it. When you win that £5 million, forget the cars and The new house, and (21)
.
