Warm
up: What do you know about Bill
Gates?
Read
the following brief biography of Bill Gates and fill in the gaps
using one of the verbs below:
1. donated 2. dropped
out 3. announced 4. founded 5. enrolled 6. played 7. displayed
William
Henry 'Bill' Gates III is a world famous inventor, business
man and philanthropist who ................... a
major role in the
development of the personal computer. Born in Seattle, Washington, in
1955, he first ................... an interest in computers as a
teenager. At 18 he ................... at Harvard University but
................... in 1975 to devote his energy to Microsoft, a
company he had ...................that same year. Microsoft eventually grew to become one of the world's most valuable
companies. In 2006 Gates ................... that he would transition
from full-time work to part-time work at Microsoft in order to focus on
philanthropy. His last full-time day there was June 27, 2008.
He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman but devotes most of
his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has as its
mission bringing innovations in health, development, and learning to
the global community. He has ................... over twenty-eight
billion dollars to charity.
Question: What do you know about Bill
Gates charitable work?
Listening:
Matthew
Herper interviewed Bill Gates for a Forbes Magazine article and talked in the
video below about some of the things he learned about what Gates is doing with his life now. Before
you watch the it, guess if the following will be true or false according
to the video:
Herper
wanted to write about investments Gates has made in the stock market.
T / F
Gates
thinks the number of deaths caused by infectious disease should be
reduced greatly. T / F
Gates
gives more than money to his foundation. T / F
Gates
thinks his charitable work and his work at Microsoft are totally
different. T / F
Gates
is focused on numbers more than people. T / F
People
are not making much money on vaccines currently. T / F
Gates
is innovative in his charitable work. T / F
Watch
the video again and answer these questions:
How
much is Bill Gates worth?
What
two diseases are mentioned?
Why
did Bill and Melinda Gates choose health care as one of the focuses
for their charitable work?
How
has Bill Gates helped to create a market for vaccines?
What
does he say is the reason presidents and prime ministers are willing
to meet with him?
What
does he tend to talk a lot about?
Why
does he say it is "great for us" that "a lot of people
are making money on vaccines right now?"
What
is groundbreaking about his approach?
Vocabulary:
Choose
a synonym from the list below to replace the underlined words:
1. fundamental 2.
champions 3. looking back 4.
applying 5.
motivation 6.
innovative 7.
overall 8.
remarkable 9.
advantage 10.
effective
Bill
Gates has become one of the biggest proponents
for a technology that a lot of people take for granted in fighting
infectious disease.
He
really has a big
picture
view of how it might be possible, if we could get the shots that kids
get in the U.S. to the rest of the world more effectively, we could
save millions and millions of lives.
People
really forget how foundational
to our civilization vaccines are.
We
had to choose what the most impactful
thing to give the money to would be.
Picking
health, in
retrospect,
was pretty obvious.
One
of the striking
things in your story that I think that's quite different, you talk
about the way he has created a market for these vaccines that never
existed before.
The
humanitarian impetus
and good old Adam Smith style competition really has dramatically
reduced the cost of those vaccines.
Now,
here's a guy who's bringing
to bear
incredible resources, incredible drive, incredible focus, some of the
same kinds of skills that he applied as a software engineer.
He
brings a particular approach to these dollars that really is
groundbreaking.
The
constant thinking of how do we save, looking for projects where you
can get the most leverage,
where you can save the most lives, for the smallest investment really
is a rigorous and a pretty powerful way to do this.
Discussion
questions
What
do you think are the most striking things about Bill Gates?
The
mission of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is to
bring innovations in health, development, and learning to the global
community. Do you know of any other impactful things it has done?
Do
you think you would like to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation? Why or why not?
Do
you believe rich-world companies have an obligation to do something
for people in poor countries?
Think
of another successful multinational. What do you think is fundamental
to its success?
Do
you know any scientists or business people who have played a major
role in Spain's history?
Can
you think of anyone who has a big picture view of things?
Do
you know of any groundbreaking work being done in health care right
now?
What
skills do people bring to bear in your line of work?
Do
you think that a good way to leverage money today is investing in
property?
Do
you know anyone else who dropped out of high school or university and
became successful?
Is
there anything you would be a proponent for if you were very wealthy?
Add
your own discussion questions
Click here for the transcript to the video.
Click here for the Forbes magazine article.
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