UNIT
11 Money in the Bank
LE V EL 3 – RE A DING WORK SHEE T:
READING
Read the text. How can language affect behavior?
Living in the Now Through
Language
There have been many studies about the relationships
among culture, behavior, and language. For example,
we know that speakers of languages that do not have
different words for red and orange find it hard to see
the difference between those two colors. One of the
languages spoken in Australia does not have words for
left and right, so the speakers of that language use only
the words for the directions north, east, south, and west.
As a result, they understand geography very well.
A more recent study appears to show a relationship
between personal behavior and grammatical
structures. That sounds like a very strange idea, but
economist Keith Chen published a paper that showed
that people who speak a language that does not have
a strong future tense are often better at planning for
the future than people who speak a language that has
a strong future tense.
Examples of languages with weak future structures are
Norwegian, Japanese, German, and Swedish. Examples
of languages with strong future structures are English,
Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek. For example, in English
people say things like, “I’ll go to the grocery store
tomorrow,” or “I’m going to buy a car next year.” In
German, these sentences would have a present tense
verb, so they would be something like, “I go to the
grocery store tomorrow,” and “I buy a car next year.”
Chen found that speakers of languages with weak
future tenses were about 30% more likely to save more
money, 24% more likely not to smoke, 29% more likely to
exercise, and 13% less likely to be very overweight than
speakers of languages with strong future tenses.
Chen wanted to test whether the results just meant that
some countries are better than others at getting people
to save money and have healthy habits, so he studied
people of different language groups in the same country
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General PAGE 1 OF 2
and found that the statistics were the same. An example
of a country with large numbers of weak future tense
speakers (German) and strong future tense speakers
(French) is Switzerland.
You might think that people who speak a language with
strong future tenses would have a stronger connection
with the future than speakers of languages with
weak future tenses. According to Chen, strong future
structures in language make people feel that events are
far in the future, so they don’t need to worry about them
now. If we say, “I will retire when I’m 65,” that seems
farther in the future than “I retire when I’m 65,” so the
speaker of a language with the second structure feels a
more urgent need to save money than the first speaker.
Some linguists and economists have questioned the
theory that language influences culture and makes
people think or act a certain way. The opposite view
is that languages develop to reflect the culture and
behavior of the people who speak them. However,
since Keith Chen published his paper, studies by other
researchers showed similar results. Of course, this does
not mean that no one who speaks a language like
English or Spanish is good at planning for the future, or
that everyone who speaks a language like Norwegian
or German is good at planning. The studies do show
a tendency, however, so maybe we should all learn to
speak Swedish or Japanese!
 UNIT

11 Money in the Bank

LE V EL 3 – RE A DING WORK SHEE T: General PAGE 2 OF 2

VOCABULARY
Complete the definitions with words from the box.

financial planning grammatical structure influence reflect tendency

1 : the process of deciding how you will have more money in the future
2 : a strong possibility that something will happen in a certain way
3 : to show the nature of something
4 : a form in a language, for example, the present perfect tense
5 : to affect the way someone or something does things

COMPREHENSION
Choose True or False.

1 How people see colors can depend on the language they speak. True / False
2 This theory proposes English speakers should save more than German speakers. True / False
3 “I buy a house” is an example of a future tense verb. True / False
4 Chen’s theory is that strong future tenses make the future seem far away. True / False
5 The main idea of Chen’s theory is that language influences what people do. True / False

THINKING
Does your language have strong future tense forms? Are you good or bad at planning for the future? Based on
the answer to those two questions, are you a good example of Keith Chen’s theory or not?

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 UNIT

11 Money in the Bank LE V EL 3 – RE A DING WORK SHEE T: Science PAGE 1 OF 2

READING
Read the text. What kinds of technology are used in creating money?

Making Money With Science

We usually don’t think of science in connection with
designing and printing money, but chemistry, physics,
and other sciences are used in the design of bank notes,
or what is generally called paper money. In the past,
when paper money was produced with traditional
printing, there were many problems with counterfeit
money. Anyone with a good printing press and good
art skills could copy and print money. Now, many
countries use modern techniques to make counterfeiting
much harder.
For example, the US $100 bill is very hard to copy. It has
raised printing on part of the bill, so you can feel the text
if you touch it. It also has an area that looks blank but
has a watermark image of Benjamin Franklin on it if you
shine a light on it. In addition, it has a blue ribbon that
is woven into the paper, and the ink on part of the bill
changes color from bronze to green if you change the
position of the bill. The unusual paper is ¼ linen and ¾
cotton that has red and blue fibers in it.
The Mexican $1,000 peso bill is also very hard to copy.
The background of the bill has many colored lines
because a photocopy machine prints dots instead of
lines. On both sides of the bill, there are images of the
map of Mexico and a compass rose that you can see
if you hold the bill up to the light. The images on both
sides of the bill are in exactly the same place. The bills
also have two folio numbers that have to match. Many
countries apart from the ones mentioned above use
watermarks, ink that changes color, or security fibers in
their bills.
There are also other forms of technology used for
bills. Officials in Canada found that there were many
counterfeit bills in their system, so they started printing
money on polymer, which is a type of plastic, instead
of paper. It is much harder to reproduce. Polymer bills
were first used in Australia in 1988, and other countries
that have started using it in place of paper are New
Zealand, the UK, Malaysia, Chile, and Mexico. Another
common technique is invisible marks on bills. The marks
can only be seen under fluorescent or infrared light.
Other bills have microtext. This is text that can only be
read with a microscope, so most people don’t notice
it at all. Finally, many countries now put holograms on
their bills. A hologram is a type of picture that looks
three-dimensional. If you have ever seen a bill with a little
window in it, the window probably has a hologram.
Of course, counterfeiters have access to technology,
too, but the technology that is needed to produce
modern money makes counterfeiting much too hard
and expensive for the average criminal. If you are smart
enough to be able to copy modern money, you should
probably just get a very good job at a tech company!
ribbon (n): a long, narrow piece of cloth
woven (adj): made from threads crossing over and
under each other
fiber (n): a long, thin piece of natural or synthetic
material, like a thread
linen (n): cloth made from a plant called flax
compass rose (n): a circle with points showing
the directions

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11 Money in the Bank

LE V EL 3 – RE A DING WORK SHEE T: Science PAGE 2 OF 2

VOCABULARY
Complete the definitions with words from the box.

counterfeit fluorescent infrared invisible watermark

1 : a type of light that can be felt as heat but cannot be seen

2 : a design on a piece of paper that you can only see when you hold it up to the light
3 : illegal copies of money, art, clothes, tickets, or other products
4 : impossible to see
5 : a substance that produces light when electricity is passed through it

COMPREHENSION
Complete the sentences with words from the box.

colored lines counterfeit microtext polymer raised printing

1 The US $100 bill has .

2 cannot be copied on a photocopy machine.
3 Canada and many other countries print money on .
4 Most people don’t notice on bills.
5 It is very hard and expensive to modern money.

THINKING
How can counterfeit money cause problems for the economy of a country?

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 UNIT

11 Money in the Bank

LE V EL 3 – RE A DING WORK SHEE T: Services PAGE 1 OF 2

READING
Read the text. How does tourism affect a country’s economy?

Helping or Hurting?
According to a 2017 report by the World
Economic Forum, the two countries
with the largest tourism industries in the
world are the US (#1) and China (#2), but
there are several smaller countries in the
top 10. Among those are Japan (#4),
the UK (#5), and Mexico (#7). Countries
with large tourism industries are not
always the ones that depend the most
on tourism for their economies. For
example, the US has the largest tourism
industry in the world, but only 2% to 5%
of the US economy depends on tourism.
Brazil is #10 in the top 10 largest tourism
industries, but, like the US, only 2% to 5%
of its economy is based on tourism. On
the other hand, Mexico’s economy depends on tourism in the Bahamas, almost 50% of working people work
much more. Tourism is 7% of Mexico’s total economy, directly in tourism.
so it is very important to that country. Malta and Croatia Even people who do not work directly in the industry
are small countries, so they are not in the top 10 in terms get benefits from it. Areas with a lot of tourism often
of the size of their tourism industries, but tourism is an have better roads and other public services than areas
enormous part of their economies representing as much with little tourism. The money from tourism means that
as 15%. people have more money to spend at local businesses,
Mass tourism can be very good for a country’s economy. so in general, the economy in tourist areas is strong.
Tourism creates jobs. There are a lot of people who Of course, mass tourism can have disadvantages. If there
work directly in tourism, such as hotel employees and is an event like a natural disaster, tourism may stop for
tour guides, but many other jobs come from the need quite a while, and that can destroy the economy of an
for more restaurants, transportation services, and shops area or even a whole small country. Another problem is
where tourists buy souvenirs. Also, a country with a lot of that sometimes tourism makes prices go up so much that
tourism has to have good infrastructure, and this creates local people cannot easily find apartments that they can
jobs for people who build roads, hotels, and restaurants. afford to live in or restaurants they can afford to eat at.
There are many opportunities for small businesses like Even food in grocery stores may be more expensive than
restaurants or tourist recreation services. In 2017, the in other areas of the country. Finally, too much tourism
World Travel and Tourism Council reported that tourism can hurt the environment or change the culture of a
creates one in 10 jobs in the world. That number is much place. Tourism helps the economies of many countries,
higher in countries that depend on tourism. For example, but too much tourism can have negative effects.

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11 Money in the Bank

LE V EL 3 – RE A DING WORK SHEE T: Services PAGE 2 OF 2

VOCABULARY
Complete the paragraph with words from the box.

depend on infrastructure is based on mass tourism public services

I live in an area with 1 , so we see many, many tourists from all over the world every year. Our economy
2 tourism, and most people work in hotels or recreation for tourists. In general, tourism is good
for us because we have better 3 like roads, bridges, and parks than some other areas of my country.
We also have good 4 like hospitals and transportation. The only problem is that we completely
5 tourism, so if something happens and tourists stop coming, it will really hurt our economy.

COMPREHENSION
Choose the correct option.

1 The main idea of the text is that tourism …

a is good for the economy. b is bad for the economy. c is both good and bad.
2 The countries mentioned in the article that depend the most on tourism are …
a the US and the UK. b Malta and Croatia. c Mexico and Brazil.
3 According to the article, a country with mass tourism has to have good …
a infrastructure. b jobs. c English.
4 A report in 2017 said that tourism creates one in … jobs in the world.
a five b ten c twenty
5 Tourism also helps people learn about …
a the culture. b the environment. c the culture and the environment.

THINKING
Does the economy of your country or your area depend on tourism? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of tourism to your country?

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This page may be photocopied and used within the class.