Further reading

Reading
Before you read
Answer the questions
Name some billionaires in the world that you know?
Who are the richest people in the world? Where does their money come from? How do they spend their money?
Match the verbs and nouns
Verbs
Nouns

Leave
Make
Pay
Buy and sell
Inherit
invest
open
Property taxes
A fortune
A lot of money in something
A bank a count
Money
Stocks and shares
A fortune to someone

While you read
The witch of Wall Street
Hetty Robinson learnt all about money when she was very young. As a child, she read the financial pages of the newspaper to her wealthy father. Her father died when Hetty was 30 years old and she inherited $1 million. When she herself died in 1916, she left a fortune of almost $100 million to her two children.
Hetty made her money on the New York stock exchange. She was a financial genius. She made money so easily that people called her The Witch of Wall Street. But although she was one of the richest women in the world, she was very mean. Her meanness was legendary. She counted every cent and she spent as little as possible. She didn’t own a house, because she didn’t want to pay property taxes. She and her children lived in cheap hotels.
She always argued about prices in shops. She walked to the local grocery store to buy broken cookies which were much cheaper, and to get a free bone for her much-loved dog, Dewey. Once she lost a two-cent stamp and spent the night looking for it. She spent almost nothing on clothes, and wore the same long black dress everyday. She washed it herself, but to save soap she only washed the bottom of the dress, where it touched the ground. Other people had their own offices, but Hetty used a desk in the bank where she kept her money, because it didn’t cost anything. She sat in the bank and ate her sandwiches while she bought and sold stocks and shares. It the bank complained, she just moved all her money to another bank.
Hetty’s family paid the price for her meanness. When she was 33 she married a millionaire, Edward Green and they had two children. Green, however, lost all his money, so Hetty left him. When her son, Ned, injured his knee, Hetty didn’t want to pay for a doctor, so she took him to a free hospital for poor people. Unfortunately the doctor knew that Hetty was rich and he asked for money. Hetty refused and took the boy away. His leg didn’t get better and two years later doctors removed it.
But eventually Ned got his revenge. At the age of 81, Hetty had an argument with a shop assistant about the price of a bottle of milk. She became so angry that she had a stroke and died. So Hetty’s meanness finally killed her. Ned inherited half his mother’s fortune, and he spent it all on parties, holidays and expensive jewellery. He even bought a chamber pot covered with diamonds.
Read the article quickly and answer these questions
Who was the Witch of Wall Street?
When did she live?
Who were Ned and Edward?
What was strange about her life?
How did she die?
Read the article again. Mark these sentences True or False. Correct the false sentences
She knew a lot about finance when she was young.
She owned a big house
She didn’t have many clothes.
She sent her clothes to a laundry.
She rented an office in Wall Street.
She had lunch in restaurants.
She married a rich man.
She sent her son to the best hospital in New York.
She died in an accident.
Her son invested her money.











After you read
Give three reasons why Hetty was called the Witch of Wall Street.
What do you think is
The worst example of Hetty’s meanness?
The funnies example of her meanness?
The most interesting part of the story?
The most ironic part of her life?
Why do you think Hetty was so mean?
Do you know any other example of mean behavior?