Conversation,
Man: Hi, Sis. I just came over to drop off the DVDs you wanted, and . . . Hey, wow!? Where did you get all of this stuff?
Woman: I bought it. So, what do you think of my new entertainment center? And the wide screen TV . . .
Man: Bought it?
Woman: . . . and my new DVD player. Here, let me show you my stereo. You can really rock the house with this one.
Man: But where did you get the dough to buy all this? You didn't borrow money from mom and dad again, did you?
Woman: Of course not. I got it with this!
Man: This? Let me see that . . . Have you been using Dad's credit card again?
Woman: No, silly. It's mine. It's student credit card.
Man: A student credit card? How in the world did you get one of these?
Woman: I got an application in the mail.
Man: Well, why did you get one in the first place?
Woman: Listen. Times are changing, and having a credit card helps you build a credit rating, control spending, and even buy things that you can't pay with cash . . . like the plane ticket I got recently.
Man: What plane ticket?
Woman: Oh yeah, my roommate and I are going to Hawaii over the school break, and course, I needed some new clothes for that so . . .
Man: I don't want to hear it. How does having a student credit card control spending? It sounds you've spent yourself in a hole. Anyway, student credit cards just lead to impulse spending . . . as I can see here. And the interest rates of student credit cards are usually sky high, and if you miss a payment, the rates, well, just jump!
Woman: Ah. The credit card has a credit limit . . .
Man: . . . of $20,000?
Woman: No, no quite that high. Anyway, . . .
Man: I've heard enough.
Woman: Did I tell you we now get digital cable with over 100 channels? Oh, and here's your birthday present. A new MP3 player . . .
Man: Yeah. Oh, don't tell me. Charged on the credit card. Listen. Hey, I don't think having a student credit card is a bad idea, but this is ridiculous. And how in the world are you going to pay your credit card bill?
Woman: Um, with my birthday money? It's coming up in a week.
Man: Hey, let's sit down and talk about how you're going to pay things back, and maybe we can come up with a budget that will help you get out of this mess. That's the least I can do.
Vocabulary,
- stuff (noun): miscellaneous items
- His room is filled with stuff he bought on his credit card. - dough (noun): informal for money
- He didn't have enough dough to buy the TV, so he borrowed money from his brother. - spend yourself in a hole (idiom): spend too much that leads to heavy debt
- Some people spend themselves in a hole because they can't control their shopping habits. - impulse (noun): a sudden desire
- You can let your impulses to buy stuff get in the way of good common sense and judgement. - ridiculous (adjective): absurd, silly, without good reason
- Spending more money than you earn is ridiculous and can lead you to major financial problems.
IDIOMS,
- "dough" = informal for money
- - "I need more dough to pay off my credit card bill."
- "have money to burn" = have a lot of money
- - "Sara's dad always gives her a big allowance, so she has money to burn."
