📙 Part 2: Describe a businessman you admire

This episode's vocabulary

Founder (noun) - someone who establishes an organization.

Franchise (noun) - a right to sell a company's products in a particular area using the company's name.

Represent (verb) - to speak, act, or be present officially for another person or people.

Company (noun) - an organization that sells goods or services in order to make money.

Endeavor (noun) - an effort or attempt to do something.

Excursion (noun) - a short journey usually made for pleasure, often by a group of people.

Enterprise (noun) - an organization, especially a business, or a difficult and important plan, especially one that will earn money.

To progress (verb) - to improve or develop in skills, knowledge, etc.

Commercial (adj.) - related to buying and selling things.

Disparate (adj.) - different in every way.

Industrious (adj.) - an industrious person works hard.

Work ethic (adj.) - the belief that work is morally good.

Charisma (noun) - a special power that some people have naturally that makes them able to influence other people and attract their attention and admiration.

To work out (phrasal verb) - (of a situation) to happen or develop in a particular, esp. a satisfactory, way, or (of a person) to be suitable for a particular situation.

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Questions and Answers

M: Today Rory is going to describe a businessman he admires. He's going to say who this person is, how he knew this person, what business the person does, and he's going to explain why he admires this businessman. Rory, could you start speaking now, please.

R: I suppose this is quite typical of a British person, but I'll go with it anyway. I quite like Richard Branson. He's the founder of Virgin or the Virgin Corporation. Sometimes it's called the Virgin franchise. He's definitely British. And I think more accurately, I'm pretty sure he's English. It would be quite difficult not to be aware of him, frankly speaking, since he's in the news, either like himself, or represented by his company. I think the most recent endeavor of his was the excursion into space with Virgin Galactic. That's the, well, one element of the company that he owns. But that's just a small part of what the larger enterprise does. The history of the company is actually quite varied. I think they started in the 1980s as a sort of record company, like a music record company. And then they progressed into lots of different fields like commercial aviation. There used to be a company called Virgin Atlantic, for example. And I think there still is. And they had beverages, there was virgin cola for a while. I don't think that was as successful as the airline company. But still, I remember drinking it when I was much younger, and it didn't really taste that much different from a regular Coke, to be honest with you. I don't know what that says about the two products. But there you go. And all sorts of other disparate bits and pieces via certain other franchises. It's quite impressive when you think about actually. Of course, it isn't all just the work of one man. I think he must have worked with 1000s of other people over the years. And of course, technology is developed over time to aid with the different companies and products he's been involved in. But Richard seems to be the glue that holds all of these things together. I think that's down to his industrious, work ethic, incredible charisma and willingness to take a chance on just about anything. It hasn't always worked out. But at least he's tried. And that's better than not trying at all.

M: What about your friends? Do they like this person?

R: I don't know if they like him, but they certainly heard of him.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your lovely answer!

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