Answers

B4 Money = happiness

Step 1 Speaking 

Hard to think of any question? Here are some examples.

  1. What was the last present you received?
  2. Who gave it to you?
  3. Do you still use it? Why/why not?
  4. Have you ever received a present that was an ‘experience’.
    Describe it. Did you enjoy it? Why/why not?
  5. Do you prefer to give presents or to receive them?
  6. Can you remember the best/worst present you have ever received?
    Say why it was really good/not so good.
  7. Do you sometimes buy a present for yourself?
  8. etc.

Step 2 Reading 

2010 If you earn more money than your friend, you won’t necessarily be happy.
1978 When you win money, you become happy but that feeling doesn’t stay with you forever.
2014 Giving an experience results in more happiness than giving an object.
2013 People who gave presents were happier than those who received.


Answers to the questions:

  1. Studies seem to show that whilst wealth can make you happy, it’s not entirely true.
  2. Because it will very quickly become normal – not new.
  3. That even if you win the lottery, you will soon return to your ‘pre-win’ state ie you won’t be happy.
  4. 1. Social relations will be better 2. They become part of your identity 3. Less likely to have comparisons made.
  5. The amount doesn’t matter. It’s how you spent the money that matters.
  6. Scratch as a verb means to rub out but it also means to stop doing something.
    A scratchie is the lottery card where you need a coin to rub out (scratch) the numbers with a coin. So scratch that scratchie, in this article, means – stop playing the lottery.

Step 3 Grammar 

c. This means that the person is imagining that they had money.

Step 4 Song 

Lyrics of Money - Pink Floyd:

2 Money, get away
1 Get a good job with more pay and you're OK
5 Money, it's a gas
4 Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
6 New car, caviar, four star daydream,
3 Think I'll buy me a football team

Money, get back
11 I'm all right, Jack, keep your hands off of my stack
12 Money, it's a hit
8 Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
7 I'm in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
10 And I think I need a Lear jet

16 Money, it's a crime
15 Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
17 Money, so they say
14 Is the root of all evil today
13 But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're giving none away