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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Learn new money vocabulary and business English.

Date: Nov 10 2010

Themes: Work

Grammar: Modal Verbs

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Intro

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

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

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Is greed ever good? According to Gordon Gekko, Michael Douglas’s character in the new movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, it is. The film is a sequel to the 1980s hit Wall Street, which captured the glitzy, fast-paced world of the New York Stock Exchange and inspired quite a few viewers to put on pinstripe suits, start smoking cigars, and become stock brokers.

In the new movie, Gordon Gekko has just been released from prison and seems to want to reform himself. But can he really be trusted? Find out what Amy and Ella think.

Dialog

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

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

Amy

Ella

Amy: I don’t really understand what happens at the stock market.

Ella: Yeah, it’s baffling to me too. I don’t know much.

Amy: It seems like the traders and other people who work there don’t really understand it sometimes either, since we’ve, you know, had so many problems lately.

Ella: Yeah, looks like it’s just gambling basically, just not as…you know, a little classier version than the casinos.

Amy: Do you think that the stock market can make for good movie drama? I mean, are you interested in seeing this movie with Michael Douglas, the Wall Street sequel?

Ella: I don’t know. I’ve been to Wall Street, visited NASDAQ and stuff. There was just no interest at all for me there. Unless there’s murder, maybe.

Amy: Yeah. Maybe there’s murder. I don’t know too much about the film. But I think the crime in it is more like white collar crime.

Ella: That is interesting. You don’t hear about those too often.

Amy: Yeah, I know the first movie in the 80s was a big hit, you know, it kind of put a spotlight on this culture of these traders who were just wheelin and dealin, you know, living life in the fast lane. And it’s interesting now, you know, we might have kind of a different perspective on it. It might not seem quite so glamorous.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Neither Amy nor Ella seems to know much about the stock market. But Ella thinks that whatever goes on there, it isn’t very interesting. She visited Wall Street when she was in New York, and she found it pretty boring. She thinks a movie about stock brokers could be OK, especially if murder is somehow involved.

Amy thinks that times have changed since the first Wall Street movie came out in the 1980s. We know more now about white collar crime and have less faith in our financial institutions. These days, stock brokers are more likely to be mistrusted than glamorized.

Do you like to live life in the fast lane? Do you think it’s a good idea to invest money in the stock market?

Comments

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Yutiko

Ukraine

As for me I like to live in the fast lane.That`s why I decided to change my work.Now I`m issuing credits in the bank…One day I understood I didn`t dream to do this.I wanted to be a stewardess or work in the sphere which connected with travelling or transportation.So I decide to become a customs broker

piksy

Algeria

i like it

lenny80a

Germany

I don't like to live my life in the fast lane. I prefer to live my life peaceful, quiet, far way from glitzy and fast -paced.

lenny80a

Germany

Definitely NO. I don't trust the stock brokers. They are wheeling and dealing with customers 's money and the entire world in a economical fall crises leaded.

Marcelolic

Brazil

Hummm of course not!I prefer to lead my life quietly and full quality but I know people who invest money in the stock market I thinks much crazy hehe

rosendo

Mexico

if i would had a buch of money i'll invesment in land , i think this is not devalued.

Bogle

Germany

Investing money in stocks is not always in the fast lane. Especially if you put your money in a 401k. It is not like gambling to do stocks. If someone came to you and asked for some money to start up a business, and that person was going to pay you back even more, that is just like stocks. You are putting money in companies and sharing (or losing) the profit. Some stocks are safe. Some stocks are not. But not all stock trading must be quick. You could invest in one stock and take it out when you retire…then you can retire more comfortably. You will not have to struggle when you are too old to work. Every stock is different and there are many many different ways to invest.

Golden Lena

Russian Federation

Now I live in the fast lane, but I don't work in financial area. I think stock market has high risk and I prefer to use more conservative instruments such as cash or bank deposit. Before you invest your money, you should earn it.

afufu

China

I am very interested in finance. I believe I will get a job which is involved with finance in future. 'Wall Street' must be a very good movie for me. So, I will watch it when I have time.

anna_poland

Poland

I'm not a supporter of investing money in the stock market. I know, that gives a great chance to earn a lot of money. But on the other side, there is a danger of losing money. This is a huge risk. Not everyone can cope with the stress.

tar_ban

Saudi Arabia

with money no faith no truth no emotion

fawaz-sama

Saudi Arabia

I hate life in the fast lane , it is make you nerve.

I don't think it is a good idea .

crobertodmedina

Guatemala

It to risky, because you do not know what could happen…, And this movie sounds like The TV series White Collar…

levycrazy

China

money :root of evils

Bogle

Germany

The movie Wall Street was not a big hit. By any stretch. At the box office it just narrowly broke 40 million. The production budget alone cost 15 million to make. And then you've got the high price of advertising and whatnot. It also had a minimal release hitting only a minuscule 730 screens and didn't even break into the top 25 of 1987 alone. It vanished only 9 weeks after opening day. In all the years since with rentals and dvd sales and such, it's only made another 8 million. A bit hit? Not even a mediocre one by anyone's standards. I don't think I've ever heard anyone even once, YOU KNOW, mention it. Why are all these English lessons constantly littered with "you know" and "like" at pointless intersections?? Are all the ebaby players from the valley? You're teaching English here…cut that stuff out. You're going to like, you know, confuse people.

kukuka

Ukraine

I don't think it's a good idea to invest money in the stock market since there is the Forex market which offers you much more possibilities to earn a fortune.

I like to live life the way I feel like living it at the moment, if you know what I mean.

clutchmann

Hungary

This kind of life is very interesting but I think it is not bearable for long time. Lots of stress and risks are in such lifestyle.

If you have a little saved money for that aim, it is worth to invest money in the stock market but it is better to share it between several shares because your risk becomes lower in this case. It is important to follow up the conditions in the stock market in every day because you have to be very flexible to change your investments in the right time.

thewaytoyourhart

Hungary

I wish I could live in the fast lane, achieving more in my life. I' d have more time left for another stuffs I cannot deal now with. I got mixed feelings about investments in the stock market. You know there is a financial crisis now, the prospects for the future are rather uncertain and unpredictable. Anyway, I got sometimes this strange idea to try out something risky like this,- you know perharps working as a stock broker- in the hope of becomming a milionaire by working easy and just making good businesses. But on the other hand you need to be smart, clever, experienced and well-qualified at least. At the end of the day, I' m rather pessimistic whether I could be successful in it or not and I think it's not my way of life.

melamarc

Philippines

hmmm.. u have to be aware on evrything like investing in a stock market, theres a lot of money and time to be involve here just take a wrong step and everything that u work for will be blew up..its a very risky bussiness.

Naruto11

Algeria

In fact living in the fast lane its quite difficult but interesting , so I think this is not a problem to try it in a periode of life (if it's possible of course ) and if I have a lot of money I would play with stock market if it's HALAL (authorized by the good god)