An Economist

 
 
 

Vocabulary

leisure	trade (2)	derivatives
stocks	spend (2)	brokerage house
earn	average	in terms of
worry	mean (2)	globalization
finance	guess (2)	telecommunication
whole	around	in times of
crisis	exchange	in general
feature	approach	find/found/found
body	function	country (2)
broker	chief (2)	time to time
so-so	take care	for example
exotic	find out	contact (2)
choose	right (4)	meet/met/met

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 
 
 
 

Transcript

My name is Przemyslaw Kwiecien. I’m 29. I’m from Poland, I live in Warsaw.

What do you do for a living?

I work as the chief economist for trade brokers of a exchange brokerage house. We trade derivatives but also stocks. I earn more than the national average.

What does globalization mean to you?

We are more open in global terms which is communication, but not only in terms of telecommunications, but also in terms of easier travel or easier contact between people around the whole world.

What worries you?

Especially as I work in finances, in times of crisis, they start some questions. We need to find out certain answers which are not that simple.

What makes you happy?

In general life makes me happy. I meet my wife — so love.

How do you spend your leisure time?

I try to do a lot of sports. I’m approaching my thirties, I need to take care of my body functions. But I also have other things: I like to meet with friends. From time to time I also like to play some computer games.

What country would you like to visit?

I haven’t been to South America and I haven’t been to Southeast Asia, for example Malaysia, so I think this will be nice, warm weather, and probably quite exotic features so-so I guess.

If I could choose a place to go, I would go to Southeast Asia right now.

 

 

Questions

1. Who is this person?

2. What is his occupation or profession?

3. Is he positive or negative towards globalization? Give examples.

4. Does he worry about anything?

5. What makes him happy?

6. What are his hobbies and pastimes?

7. Where would he like to visit?

 

A. Did you or your friend study economics? Does your friend work in a stock exchange?

B. Do you live in Poland? Are you from Poland? Have you ever been to Poland?

C. Have you met people from Poland? Who were they? What were they doing?

D. Describe the geography and climate of Poland.

E. Describe the economy of Poland. What does it import and export?

F. What problems or challenges does Poland face?

G. What is Polish food or cuisine like?

H. What are some tourist attractions (cultural, historic, natural)?

I. What do you associate with Poland? What comes to mind when you hear the name “Poland”? What are some stereotypes about Poland?