What Would You Do with a Million Dollars?

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• pay off
• debt
• lend
• donate

• well-off
• contest
• take up
• taxes

• charity
• grand

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In case you haven’t heard already, English, baby! now has a million members. That’s pretty cool. You know what else would be cool? Winning a million dollars.

Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you won that much money? It’s fun to think about all the things you’d be able to buy with a million bucks, like an expensive car, a new house, or fancy new clothes and shoes. But is a million dollars really enough money to make a person rich these days? In the U.S., a million dollars would definitely make you extremely well-off. But it’s probably not enough money to allow you to quit your job and never work again.

Listen to Jason and Beren talk about what they’d do with a million dollars.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Beren

Jason:  I just entered this contest where I could win a million dollars.

Beren:  Uh-huh.

Jason:  And it got me thinking, like, what would I do if I won a million dollars?

Beren:  I know what I would do if I won a million dollars. I think first I’d buy a helicopter.

Jason:  Nice!

Beren:  And then I’d get an above-ground swimming pool.

Jason:  OK. At the house you’re at right now?

Beren:  Uh-huh, at the house I’m at right now.

Jason:  OK.

Beren:  Then, I really really want one of those Aston Martin James Bond cars, so I’d get a couple of those. And then I would probably buy a house, or buy the house that I live at at now.

Jason:  OK, that would probably take up all million dollars right there.

Beren:  Do you think? Really?

Jason:  Yeah. I mean, a million isn’t that much when you think about it, ‘cause after taxes it’s only like 60 grand, and then you’re gonna want to pay off all your debts, and lend a bunch of people money, and donate some money to your favorite charity, and like, you know, give your parents a gift or whatever. And the next thing you know, you’re down to twenty bucks!

Beren:  Woah, that’s true. A million dollars, though, it sounds like so much money.

Jason:  I feel like once you got there you’d be like, now I need a hundred million dollars.

Beren:  That’s true. That’s true. I do need a hundred million dollars.

Grammar Point

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Lesson MP3

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