Unit 10
Richest Families in America
新知思想/趣味科普
Workplace English/Communication skills
BRAIN STORM
Share your ideas with your teacher and try to make sentences.
Who do you think is the richest family in America?
VOCABULARY
Repeat these sentences after your teacher.
1. collectively (adv.) 全體地；共同地
The group does not function well collectively.
該小組的集體表現不佳。
2. cumulative (adj.) 累計的
Your mistakes will give you a cumulative penalty.
你的錯誤將給你累計罰款。
3. net worth (n.) 資產總和
How much is the net worth of Bill Gates?
比爾·蓋茨的資產淨值是多少？
4. privately owned (phr.) 私人擁有的
The resort you see is privately owned.
您看到的度假村是私人擁有的。
5. generation (n.) 一代人
The generation of kids today are techy.
今天的這一代孩子都是高手。
6. inherited (v.) 繼承
Sharon inherited my love for music.
沙龍繼承了我對音樂的熱愛。
7. old money (n.) 傳統的大家族
That woman is old money.
那個女人是老錢。
Dialogue
Read the dialogue aloud with your teacher.
Hey honey, what are you reading?
親愛的，你在讀什麼呢？
I’m just reading this Forbes article about the 185 richest families in America. You haven’t read it, have you?
我在讀一篇福布斯雜誌的文章，講的是美國最富有的185個家族。你沒讀過這篇文章嗎？
No, I haven’t. It sounds interesting though.
沒，我沒讀過。但那聽起來挺有趣的。
Well, did you know that collectively, they’re worth $1.2 trillion? The three richest families are worth one fourth of the cumulative net worth of all of the wealthiest families.
那麼你知道他們總共有價值1.2萬億美元的資產嗎？最有錢的三個家族的資產總和相當於所有最富有家族累計資產總和的四分之一。
Wow, that’s insane! Who are the three richest families?
哇！那太不可思議了！排前三的家族是哪些？
Let me see. The Walton family, which is the family that started Wal-Mart; the Koch family, they are in the oil business; and the Mars family, they are the people making Mars bars.
我來看看。沃爾頓家族，他們是沃爾瑪超市的創始人。科氏家族，他們是做石油業的。馬氏家族，就是他們做的馬氏巧克力棒。
Do the families still control these businesses?
這些家族還控制著這些企業嗎？
It says Koch Industries and Mars Inc. are still privately owned. In fact, they are the second and third largest privately owned companies in America. The article says most of the families on the list are second and third generation members of the family who inherited their wealth.
這上面說科氏工業和馬氏公司仍然是私人擁有。實際上他們是美國第二大和第三大的私有企業。文章說多數排行榜上的家族都是家族財產的第二代或第三代繼承人。
Lucky for them! What about the Vanderbilts and the Rockerfellers? Are they not on the list?
他們真幸運！那范德比爾特家族和洛克菲勒家族呢？他們不在排行榜上嗎？
No, the old money are not on the top 10. But I’m sure they are still filthy rich. It’s upsetting to see people at the top getting richer and richer while the rest of Americans gets squeezed into the bottom.
不在，傳統的大家族不在前十名單裡。但我確定他們仍然腰纏萬貫。看到社會上層變得越來越有錢，而窮人越來越窮，我覺得這是個大問題。
Yeah. The income gap keeps widening. I was listening to a podcast the other day and it said a study found social mobility has been declining over the past two decades. The American dream has been lost.
就是，收入差距越來越大。幾天前我聽播客，說一項研究發現過去的二十年間社會流動性一直在下降。美國夢已經不復存在了。
I am not sure if that’s entirely true. People are still able to move up in society if they’re willing to put in the effort. Think about Mark Zuckerberg and all the tech billionaires. Most of them are self-made.
我不完全同意。如果你願意付出努力，還是能夠有上升空間的。想想馬克扎克伯格還有其他搞科技的億萬富翁，他們多數還是靠自己成功的。
I guess so. It’s getting late. I’m gonna tuck in and let rich people worry about their own problems.
也許吧。天晚了，我要去睡了，讓有錢人擔心自己的問題吧。
Grammar
Rhetorical questions
A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point. Many times when a rhetorical question is used, the speaker already knows the answer to the question, but is simply asking to make a statement.
A simple but effective rhetorical question is the kind we see in today’s dialogue, where the speaker asks “doesn’t it feel warm in here?” This common type of question will usually be in the negative form. When the listener hears your question, they should know that it’s not a direct question, but rather a rhetorical one.
1. Aren’t you a little too old to be playing with dolls?
2. Won’t he get angry when he discovers what we’ve done?
3. Didn’t we agree to meet at 7:00 for dinner?
4. You don’t expect me to go with you, do you?
5. You forgot to bring the food, didn’t you?
DISCUSSION
Make a conversation with your teacher.
1.What do you think are the occupations of the richest families in America?
