©Elijah Nouvelage / Bloomberg / Getty Images via CNN
Pre-reading questions:
I will read each question. Then, please answer them.
- What is the most popular whiskey brand in your country?
- When do you usually give gifts to your family or friends?
Vocabulary:
I will read the words, meanings, and sample sentences. Then, repeat after me.
- worth /wurth/
- knowledge /NOL-ij/
- cause /kawz/
- presidency /PREZ-i-duhn-see/
- cooperate /koh-OP-uh-reyt/
[adjective] – having a particular value, especially in money
Susanna’s house is worth £300,000.
[noun] – the state of knowing about or being familiar with something
He has no knowledge of what happened last Thursday.
[noun] – to make something happen, especially something bad
He told me that too much caffeine can cause high blood pressure.
[noun] – the job of being president, or the period when someone is a president
The former mayor won the presidency this year.
[verb] – to act or work together for a particular purpose, or to be helpful by doing what someone asks you to do
The witness of the crime refused to cooperate with the police.
Article reading:
Please read the whole article. Then, I will check your pronunciation and intonation.
The United States (U.S.) State Department is trying to figure out exactly what happened to a missing bottle of whisky worth $5,800 that the Japanese government gave former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019. Pompeo said that he has no idea as to what happened to the gift. “Mr. Pompeo has no memory of receiving the gift and does not have any knowledge of what happened to the bottle of whisky,” said William Burck, Pompeo’s lawyer, in a statement.
U.S. government employees are not allowed to keep gifts from foreign governments for their own personal use or gifts worth more than $390. The missing gift can cause serious ethics issues for Pompeo, who is in talks to run for presidency in 2024. In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo said the issue was “crazy talk” and said that he is willing to cooperate in the investigation if the State Department contacts him. Failure to let the U.S. State Department know about the personal gifts can result in a penalty or jail time.
U.S. government employees are not allowed to keep gifts from foreign governments for their own personal use or gifts worth more than $390. The missing gift can cause serious ethics issues for Pompeo, who is in talks to run for presidency in 2024. In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo said the issue was “crazy talk” and said that he is willing to cooperate in the investigation if the State Department contacts him. Failure to let the U.S. State Department know about the personal gifts can result in a penalty or jail time.
Comprehension questions
I will read each question. Then, please answer them based on the article.
- What is the U.S. state department looking for?
- What did Pompeo’s lawyer say about the issue?
- What are U.S. government employees not allowed to do?
- What did Pompeo call the issue?
- What would happen if employees fail to let the state department know about personal gifts?
Discussion questions
I will read each question. Then, please answer them.
- When was the last time you have given someone a gift?
- Have you ever declined a gift?
- What would you say to a government employee who gives you a gift for a favor you have done for him?
- Is gift giving an important part of your country’s culture?
- In your opinion, is it wrong for officials to accept personal gifts from foreign governments?