Ex.3 For questions 1—4, choose the answer (А, В, С or D) which you think best fits according to the text.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 3314.

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Henrietta Lake talks to a remarkable 14-year-oid entrepreneur who is certainly going places.

Ex.2 Read the text about a teenager who set up his own business. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A-I for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Ex.1 You are going to read a text about a 14-year-old boy who set up his own business importing motorized skateboards and scooters.

Appendix.

What difficulties do you think he had to overcome?

A Coming up with the idea

В The price of speed

С Going on to achieve greater things

D Getting the customers

E A dream come true

F Raising the finance

G A transatlantic deal

H No laughing matter

I Schoolboy success

Life in the fast lane

Between studying for nine GCSEs, including business studies, 14-year-old Dominic McVey has set up his own company. Scooters UK, The business, which imports motorized scooters and skateboards from the United States, has already made a profit of over £5,000 on sales of the equipment.

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Dominic needed £3,000 to set up his business and pay for the initial stock. He used savings from

Birthday and Christmas money and cashed in some investments that his father had made when Dominic was born. The young entrepreneur had also invested in shares on the stock market. ‘I had to do the deals in my dad's name because I was too young,' he says, ‘but he doesn't know anything about the market, so I told him what to buy and sell.'

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‘I realized the potential for the business when I noticed that a lot of inner-city streets were being closed to cars or they were chock-a-block with traffic,' he explains. ‘I thought there would be a great market for these scooters and skateboards, particularly now that more restrictions on cars in town centres have been made.'

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‘You can take a smaller one with you on a train in a backpack and then unfold it and use it when you get into town. Men in suits are riding them up and down Wall Street in the US and it is my aim to get them to do the same in this country. I approached the American manufacturer and, after doing some research into their company and the scooters, I was allowed to become their UK distributor.'

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The motorized scooters, which sell for £499 and can travel at up to 22 mph, are not classified as motor vehicles and do not need a licence or tax. He also sells unmotorized skateboards for £129. They have special high-speed wheels and are capable of reaching 10 mph.

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'I ride them around town in busy areas and usually end up with a crowd of people running down the street wanting to know where to buy them, or winding down their car windows at traffic lights,' he says. Recently he went with his mother on a sales trip to Paris. 'The scooters are really popular there because the centre of the city is pedestrianized at the weekend. I went out with 500 leaflets and came back with none.

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In the early stages Dominic had to overcome one or two obstacles. When he tried to open a business account at his bank, he made an appointment to see the manager. However, the bank thought it was a joke and when he arrived there they had not set up any time for the meeting. ‘This really upset me,' says Dominic, ‘but I managed to get a good rate of interest on the account because they were so embarrassed. I think people should take children more seriously.'

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Now that he has succeeded in setting up the business Dominic wants to expand it. He plans to open a showroom for his scooters in the City of London, ‘right by some traffic lights so people stop and look.' His idea would then be to sell the business and look for further opportunities to make money. ‘I'd like to be able to retire before I'm 40,' he tells me.

1)How did Dominic raise the necessary money to set up his company?

A He invested all his savings on the stock market.

В Не borrowed it from his father.

С Не used money from a variety of sources.

D It was a birthdaypresent.

2)What type of people does he want to buy hisscooters?

A fashionable people

В Americans

С businessmen

D people who do not own a car

3)Why did Dominic go to Paris?

A He went shopping withhis mother.

В Не wanted to see the new pedestrian precinct.

С Не took somescooters to sell there.

D He wanted to distribute information about his scooters.

4)What upset Dominic about his visit to the bank?

A The manager laughed at him.

В The manager refused to see him.

С The meeting with the managerwas very short.

D The manager did not expect him to turn up.