Answer Key
2 They talk about a car, travelling and investing the money.
3 1 c 2 h 3 f 4 a 5 g 6 b 7 d 8 e
4 provided that; unless; as long as None of the sentences refer to events in the past.
Transcript
Father: Simon, do you have time for a little chat?
Simon: Sure, Dad.
Father: I just wondered if you’d thought about what you were going to do with the money your grandfather left you?
Simon: Well, I have started to give it some thought. It’s quite a lot of money so I want to make sure I don’t just waste it. I had thought about leaving it in the bank for a while.
Father: Well, unless you invest it properly, you won’t earn much interest and it may lose value over time.
Simon: Yes, but if I invest it, I won’t be able to access the money quickly when I’ve decided what to do with it, will I?
Father: Well, what sort of thing would you like to do?
Simon: Well, at first I thought about taking a trip around the world, but if I went travelling, I’d lose a year of study and I wouldn’t have any money left over for anything else.
Father: Very true. If you were to spend a year travelling around the world, you’d probably need an awful lot more money than this!
Simon: Right, so the other thing I wanted to do was buy a car.
Father: Do you think that’s a good idea? It’s not just the initial cost of the car you have to consider, you know. If you own a car, you also have to pay for insurance and road tax every year and then there’s the petrol …
Simon: Yes, Dad, but I’m planning to get a part-time job as well and it would be great if I could drive to work instead of travelling on the bus, especially if I have to work late at night.
Father: I still think you should think about investing some of your money for the future.
Simon: But I’m scared that if I invest it, I might lose it all when the stock market goes down.
Father: Well, it’s best not to look at it like that. You won’t lose any money provided that you think of it as a long-term investment. Now, I know you want to buy a car but as long as you get a second-hand one, you should still be able to invest some of the money as well. That’s what I would do if I were you.
Simon: But Dad, there’s this fantastic new car that I’ve seen …