David Jones and His Salary
. y4 @ B; _* K- x7 i( vComputer programmer David Jones earns £35,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a cheque card. Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.; t+ H& _. p( }- ]8 Y
The 16-year-old works for a small firm In Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David's firm releases two new games for the home computer market each month.- u6 X8 J; e. o- P/ ~
But David's biggest headache is what to do with his money. Despite his salary, earned buy inventing new programs, with bonus payments and profit-sharing, he cannot drive a car, buy a house, or obtain credit cards.
1 f" m' `; p" x2 \) P2 x! IHe lives with his parents in Liverpool. His company has to pay £150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive.
6 b. \ |* U7 BDavid got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school and working for a time in a computer shop. "I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs," he said.3 i$ v* \) R6 S/ \/ A
"I suppose £35,000 sounds a lot but I hope it will come to more than that his year." He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother £20 a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.7 m s0 D; c& C( e
"unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school," he said. "But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway."8 H# A; e2 s* L
David added: "I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear."
0 A% @" c; z8 W* wExercise. U! h8 v; Z6 R$ G: l& X
1. Why is David different from other young people of his age?
) t7 t! P1 O1 sA) Because he earns an extremely high salary.. z H2 b' [' {1 O: v
B) Because he is not unemployed.. V) a: E; V- k1 s- d
C) Because he does not go out much.4 t+ u I6 k: f
D) Because he lives at home with his parents.
" G0 V! I1 Y9 }* `0 V2. David's greatest problem is# c5 O1 |& X# z2 M( @2 ~% [1 T
A) finding a bank that will treat him as an adult. , S3 n0 X v! l9 ]4 r
B) inventing computer games.
" P( z3 q5 J0 [+ r" oC) spending his salary. : `4 C/ o3 t4 C9 x
D) learning to drive.' B# r$ s6 B# e/ g9 X3 N
3. He was employed by the company because
1 d% |! j3 f/ q% GA) he had worked in a computer shop.8 G2 g( U, H& t% N1 @; y
B) he had written some computer programs.9 c2 G& ~& a8 m" w& K
C) he had worked very hard. 8 D. b) j* H" H' H& l8 Y
D) he had learned to use computers at school.- {* M' a5 m, p5 ~ w2 }) j
4. He left school because- N ^4 c* }2 b' }& k
A) he did not enjoy school
* c( j+ C; @) d8 H+ H3 EB) he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him.; T3 J: z) e2 Q4 y
C) he was afraid of getting too old to start computing.' p: s. Z' y% t/ p, i7 ^
D) he wanted to earn a lot of money.
9 b. J6 d2 E- }- y4 x5. Why does David think he might retire early?
) v$ Q0 x3 Z2 gA) Because you have to be young to write computer programs.
& d& n+ B+ W! U# r9 pB) Because he wants to stop working when he is a millionaire.+ k$ s6 d+ [( t
C) Because he thinks computer games might not always sell so well.
2 L4 ~2 u' F4 @, N" h1 A3 oD) Because he thinks his firm might go bankrupt.) p& D, ^: d: q2 ^
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