Lecture Four

Vocabulary

If you should find your American dream and become very rich in the land, how would your life be different from now?

If I were a millionaire…

The Richest Man in America, Down Home

Sam Walton Wal-Mart

Rolls Royce Forbes

Down Home

• simple

• informal

• rural

• southern U.S.

carry on like plain folks (Para. 5); folksy ways (Para.6); friendly, cheerful, a fine neighbor who does his best to blend in, never flashy, never throwing his weight around (Para. 7); not a front-page person (Para. 11)

synonyms for “down-home”

Who Are They?Sam WaltonJamie BeaulieuJim Hendren Gordon Garlington IIIJohnny BakerJim Von GrempFerold F. ArendJohn Mayhall

owner of Wal-Martcompany lawyerthe barberretired presidentwaitercorporate affairs directornight managerpastor of local church

Comprehension & Structure

1. What was the waiter’s imagination about Sam Walton’s life? What was the reality?

2. What are Sam Walton’s character traits regarding his life style?

3. What are Sam Walton’s character traits regarding his work style?

Introduction

mansion

Rolls-Royce

dogs with diamond collars

servants everywhere

no palace, worn furniture

an old pickup truck

a muddy bird dog

not spotted any servants

imagination reality

free of self-importance

friendly and easy-going

Character Traits

life (5-13)

1. free of self-importance

•waits in line like everyone else to buy shells at the local Wal-Mart

•has no reserved seat in church

•forgot his money in the Barber’s one day and went home for his wallet immediately

2. friendly and easy-going

•asks his employees to call him by his first name

•chats about national news, or reads in his chair… in the Barber’s

free of self-importance

friendly and easy-going

Character Traits

life (5-13)

never flashy

hard working

generous

work (14-22)

3. never flashy

•a rich man on the run, steering clear of reporters, dreamers and schemers

•a man who cares only about the success achieved by his people

4. hard-working

•sales meetings or the executive pep rally

•the tennis game story

5. generous

•set up a college scholarship fund and a disaster relief fund

•believed in cultivating ideas and rewarding success

Key Structures

1. Only in America can a billionaire carry on like plain folks and get away with it.(L14)

2. …, come shooting season, waits…(L17)

3. No matter how big a time he had on Saturday night,…(L27)

4. John Mayhall finds him waiting…(L33)

5. But just how long Walton can hold firm to his folksy habits with celebrity hunters keeping following him wherever he goes is anyone’s guess. (L45)

6. …who was stunned at such generosity after the stingy employer he left to join Wal-Mart…(L75)

Key Structures

7. The reason for our success is our people and the way they’re treated and the way they feel about their company.(L78)

8. I’ve never seen anyone yet who worked for him or was around him for any length of time who wasn’t better off. (L81)

Key Structures

Key Words

1. reserve

2. spot

3. on the run

4. steer clear of

5. achieve

6. admit to

7. cultivate

8. carry on

9. liable

10.turn out

Tony Sam Walton

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