SPEAKING AND WRITING BY © BBC | British Council 2009
SPEAKING
Choose two sentences with your partner and say why :
1. "Always bear in mind that your own will to succeed is more important than
any other thing."
-- Abraham Lincoln
2. "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."
-- B. R. Hayden
3. "Success is a journey, not a destination."
-- Ben Sweetland
4. "All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success
in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for
yourself. It's what you do for others."
-- Danny Thomas
5. "Success does not consist of never making mistakes but in never making
the same one a second time."
-- George Bernard Shaw
READING
Which of these situations is an example of success, in your opinion?
• A man loses his job and sets up a new business which goes on to become a
multi-million pound enterprise. But along the way, he becomes so obsessed with
his new company that he neglects his family and they leave him
• A boy loses a leg in a road accident. He goes back to school and passes his
exams the same year.
• A sportsman wins Olympic gold in the marathon. Although the tests are all
negative, he knows in his heart he was taking performance enhancing drugs.
• Some students pass their exams very easily. They had worked very hard but the
teacher had also given them the answers on the morning of the test.
• A single mother with no free time gets a part-time job as a secretary. She loses it
within a week and goes back to care for her children full-time.
• A film director wins five Oscars for a film that has shocked his local Scottish city
community because it gives a false impression of their history.
• A young scientist discovers something that could become a cure for cancer. At
the moment, it is uncertain if his discovery will amount to anything.
SPEAKING
In pairs, make conversation about your answer to these questions:
• Do you think that it is good to be famous? What are the pros and cons of such a
life?
• What do you think the expression ‘life in a goldfish bowl’ means?
• Do famous people generally behave responsibly?
• Maybe you are a parent. Which famous person would you want to inspire your
child?
• Are there any famous people who are famous but are untalented?
• Why are they famous?
• Have you ever met anybody famous? Who? When? What did you say?
• Who would you most like to meet, and why?
• And finally, do you have any friends who are famous? Is it a secret?
