MARGARET: Mr. Wilson, I’d like you to meet

Dr. Edward Smith.

MR. WILSON: It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Smith.

DR. SMITH: Pleasure to meet you, too.

MARGARET: Dr. Smith is an economist. He just finished writing a book on international trade.

MR. WILSON: Oh? That’s my field, too. I work for the
United Nations.

DR. SMITH: In the Development Program, by any chance?

MR. WILSON: Yes. How did you guess?

DR. SMITH: I’ve read your articles on technical assistance. They’re excellent.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Formal Greetings

Every billionaire in the world who is under the age of 30 has inherited their wealth, according to new research by Forbes magazine.

Forbes recently published its World's Billionaires List. And all 15 people on the list who are aged 30 or younger did nothing to create their wealth — they simply received it.

According to Forbes this is the first time since 2009 there have been no self-made billionaires aged under 30. And the magazine says it's a sign that a "great wealth transfer" has begun from aging billionaires to the younger members of their families.

The youngest billionaire on the list is 19-year-old Livia Voigt of Brazil. She is worth $1.1 billion thanks to her late grandfather, who founded the electrical equipment company WEG Industries.

The richest of the young billionaires are the Mistry brothers, Firoz, 27, and Zahan, 25. They are each worth $4.9 billion thanks to their shares in the multi-industry Indian company Tata Sons. They inherited their wealth from their father, who died in a car crash in 2022.

Among the 25 youngest billionaires on the list — who are all aged 33 or younger — a few in their early 30s are self-made. However, just one of those self-made billionaires is new: 33-year-old Shunsaku Sagami of Japan. Sagami is the founder of M&A Research Institute, and is worth $1.6 billion.

One self-made billionaire who is still fairly young at 34 is Taylor Swift, who is worth $1.1 billion. In 2023, she became the first musician to become a billionaire mainly from the money she makes from her music.



Every Billionaire Under 30 Inherited Their Wealth

Do you go to work even when you're not feeling well?

If you do, you're not alone. A survey of workers in the US has found that 9% of people never take sick days.

Some said that's just because they don't get sick very often. But others said pressure at work makes them less likely to take sick days.

And some part-time workers said they feel financial pressure to go to work even when they aren't feeling well — because they need the money!

Yahoo News and YouGov surveyed almost 1,500 US adults — although only about half of them were actually workers, so the other half weren't able to comment.

About 16% said they take one or two sick days a year. Twelve percent said they take "a few" days, and 4% said they take "more than a few" days.

Another 3% of people said they don't have the option to take sick days where they work.

But how do your colleagues feel when you take a sick day — or when you go in to work even when you're not well?

More than one-third of people said they prefer their colleagues to stay at home if they're sick. But 5% said people should work even when they're sick.

However, only 7% of people said they always believe their colleagues really are sick when they have a day off!

Experts told Yahoo News that going to work when you're unwell isn't a sign of commitment, however — they said it just shows you're disrespecting yourself and your body.


Almost One Tenth of US Workers Never Take Sick Days

Richard Floyd McCoy, arrested six months after the DB Cooper hijacking, displayed striking similarities in his own hijacking, demanding $500,000 and parachutes in a manner reminiscent of Cooper. However, McCoy's escape was short-lived as the FBI found him with cash and parachutes, leading to a 45-year prison sentence. Some believe McCoy and Cooper may be the same person. Sheridan Peterson, a Boeing employee and skilled skydiver, drew suspicion due to a physical resemblance and remained a suspect until his death in 2021. Eric Ulis, an amateur sleuth, was 98% convinced of Peterson's involvement. Another suspect, Robert Rackstraw, an army veteran and helicopter pilot, became a late '70s suspect but never explicitly denied being Cooper. However, Rackstraw's age in 1971 contradicts the reported age of Cooper at the time.