NTE_UI_AchievementTest2_AudioScript.doc

                            Upper Intermediate

Achievement Test 2 Audio Script

D = Dan, M = Maria, S = Steve

D:                I was watching the news the other day and they were talking about a Chinese vase that sold for over £43 million at auction. Unbelievable! Apparently it was discovered by a brother and sister who were found it after the death of their parents. The original estimate, when they took it along to be valued, was between £800,000 and £1.2 million! So that vase is now officially the most expensive Chinese work of art in the world.

M:                That’s incredible. Can you imagine ever having so much money that you could afford to buy something like that? I wonder who bought it.

S:                I don’t know Maria, I can’t really agree with such extravagance. I mean, when you think how many people are living on less than £1 a day, don’t you think it’s a bit over-the-top?

M:               I know what you mean Steve, but I guess that if you’ve really earned that money, you have the right to do what you want with it. I’m with you though, when people throw their money around just because they can.

D:               Hmm, it’s a difficult question but it got me thinking, and I went online and started looking up all kinds of other ‘most expensive’ items and it was quite an eye-opener! For instance, guess how much the world’s most expensive suit is?

S:                Suit as in jacket and trousers?

D:               Yeah. So?

M:               I’ll go for £20,000.

D:                No, you’re way out.

S:                OK then, £100,000. Though it’d have to be made of pure gold!

D:                Wrong! £599,000.

S:                Come on Dan, you must have misread the number.

D:                No, I’m not joking. Apparently it’s got 480 single-cut diamonds sewn into it, and it took 600 hours to make.

M:                It sounds a bit vulgar to me. Very flashy.

D:                And it gets worse. How about the most expensive house in the world?

M:                Ah, I know this one because I read about it the other day. It’s in Mumbai in India, isn’t it?

D:               Correct.

M:               From memory I think it’s worth over £600 million, and has twenty-seven floors, so it towers over the buildings around it.

D:               All for one family, there’s a health club, a gym and a ballroom, not forgetting a fifty-seater cinema. Oh, and 600 staff!

M:               Well, good luck to them I say.

S:               Mmmm …