Famous People Martha Stewart

Pre-Reading Warm Up Questions ☀

Martha Stewart 1. Do you like cooking or baking? Do you enjoy gardening? Do you enjoy entertaining people in your home?

Martha Stewart changed the lifestyles of North Americans. 2. Do you ever watch cooking shows, gardening shows, or home decorating shows on television? Do you buy Stewart was born Martha Kostyra on August 3, 1941, in New Jersey. cooking, gardening, or home decorating magazines? She grew up in a large family, where she learned to cook, sew, and garden. She worked as a model for many years, starting when she 3. Did you ever watch the Martha Stewart Show on was 13. television or buy the Martha Stewart Living magazine?

Stewart graduated from college in 1962. While she was in college, 4. What is the New York Stock Exchange? she met and in 1961 married Andy Stewart, a law student. In 1967, 5. Have you ever heard the term “insider trading”? What do their only child, Alexis, was born. From 1967 to 1972, Martha you think it means? worked as a stockbroker in New York City.

In 1972, the family moved to Connecticut, where Martha and her husband restored an old farmhouse. In the late 1970s, Stewart started a catering business. Ten years later, her business was worth a million dollars. Soon after, she wrote the first of her many books on how to cook, decorate, and garden. All of her business ventures were very successful.

In 1990, Stewart and her husband were divorced.

Stewart started publishing her magazine Martha Stewart Living in 1991. Her business empire soon included two magazines, a television show, several books, and many home and garden products that she designs and then sells in department stores.

In 1999, the public was able to buy shares in Stewart’s company on the New York Stock Exchange. Many people did, and Stewart became a billionaire.

In June 2002, Stewart was investigated for selling her shares in a research organization just before their price went down. Many people believe she was told ahead of time that this was going to COMPREHENSION ✍ happen and sold her shares to avoid losing money. This is against the law. In March 2004, she was found guilty of obstructing justice A. True or False. Read the statements below. If the and lying to investigators. She was sent to prison for 6 months, and statement is true, write T beside the sentence. If it is was released in March of 2005. false, write F. If it is false, correct the information. When she first entered prison the value of her own company’s 1. Martha Stewart learned many valuable skills while stocks went down, and she lost a great deal of money. However, growing up in a large family. since then, the public has found new confidence in her company, and once again the value of her stock has increased drastically. 2. Martha Stewart worked as a lawyer.

In prison, Stewart was offered her own TV reality show by Mark 3. Her catering business failed. Burnett, the highly successful creator of Survivor and The 4. Stewart made a lot of money when her company went Apprentice. Her new show is modeled after the Apprentice, and focuses on areas of expertise in media, home renovation, public. entertaining, design, merchandising, technology and style. 5. Stewart’s company lost a lot of money when she was charged with “insider trading”.

1 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details. Famous People Martha Stewart

B. Practice asking and answering the following questions with your partner. Then write the answers in complete sentences.

1. What did Martha Stewart and her husband do in 1972? 2. What kind of work did Martha Stewart do before she started her catering business? 3. What did her business empire include? 4. What kind of books has she written? 5. What happened when Martha Stewart’s company went public? 6. Why was Stewart investigated in 2002? 7. What punishment did she receive?

DISCUSS VOCABULARY REVIEW ✍ 1. Why do you think cooking and home A. Match the words on the left with the correct meaning on the right. decorating shows have become so popular in recent years? _____ 1. model a. in advance, before the scheduled time _____ 2. stockbroker b. stocks, part ownership in a company 2. Do you enjoy restoring old things? _____ 3. catering c. not let something happen, stay away from _____ 4. venture d. person who displays clothing for advertising 3. Do you think Martha Stewart should have had _____ 5. publish e. repair, rebuild, bring back to good condition to go to jail for lying to the government? _____ 6. empire f. a business which makes food for others 4. Do you think she will become very successful _____ 7. investigate g. interfere with, get in the way of again now that she is out of jail? _____ 8. shares h. person who buys and sells shares in companies _____ 9. ahead of time i. print and sell books, magazines, etc. 5. Look through a Martha Stewart Living _____ 10. avoid j. examine, look for information magazine. What do you like about this _____ 11. obstruct k. a job, a business, an attempt to do something magazine? Is there anything you don’t like _____ 12. restore l. a group of businesses under the same control about the magazine?

B. Choose the correct word(s) from the left column above to complete the following sentences. (You may have to change the verb tense.)

1. They are going to hire that new ______company for their wedding. 2. We bought an old house but we plan to ______it before we move in. 3. There was a terrible car accident last night. The police are ______now and trying to find out why it happened. 4. The movie starts at 8:00, but I want to be there 15 minutes ______so I can buy popcorn and get a good seat. 5. She is a very beautiful woman. She should be a fashion ______. 6. If you want to lose weight, you should ______eating cookies and cakes. 7. I want to invest some money in that new company. I should call a ______.

2 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details. Famous People Martha Stewart

ANSWER KEY

Please note: The reading for this topic is also available in full-page format at the end of the lesson (page 4).

PRE-READING QUESTIONS 1, 2, 3 & 5. Individual answer 4. The New York Stock Exchange is the oldest and largest stock exchange in the US, listing many of the country’s largest corporations.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

A. True or False 1. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. T

B. Written Answers 1. In 1972, Stewart and her husband moved to Connecticut and restored an old farmhouse. 2. Before starting her catering business, Stewart worked as a stockbroker in New York City. 3. Stewart’s business empire included two magazines, a television show, several books and many home and garden products. 4. She has written many books on how to cook, decorate and garden. 5. When Martha Stewart’s company went public, she became a billionaire. 6. Stewart was investigated in 2002 because it was believed she had committed insider trading by selling off her shares in a research organization just before their price went down. 7. Stewart was sent to prison for six months.

VOCABULARY REVIEW

A. Matching 1. d 2. h 3. f 4. k 5. i 6. l 7. j 8. b 9. a 10. c 11. g 12. e

B. Choose the correct word 1. catering 2. restore 3. investigating 4. ahead of time 5. model 6. avoid 7. stockbroker

3 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details. Famous People Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart changed the lifestyles of North Americans.

Stewart was born Martha Kostyra on August 3, 1941, in New Jersey. She grew up in a large family, where she learned to cook, sew, and garden. She worked as a model for many years, starting when she was 13.

Stewart graduated from college in 1962. While she was in college, she met and in 1961 married Andy Stewart, a law student. In 1967, their only child, Alexis, was born. From 1967 to 1972, Martha worked as a stockbroker in New York City.

In 1990, Stewart and her husband were divorced.

In 1999, the public was able to buy shares in Stewart’s company on the New York Stock Exchange. Many people did, and Stewart became a billionaire.

When she first entered prison the value of her own company’s stocks went down, and she lost a great deal of money. However, since then, the public has found new confidence in her company, and once again the value of her stock has increased drastically.

In prison, Stewart was offered her own TV reality show by Mark Burnett, the highly successful creator of Survivor and The Apprentice. Her new show is modeled after the Apprentice, and focuses on areas of expertise in media, home renovation, entertaining, design, merchandising, technology and style.

4 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details.