Spending money on sport

1. [Multiple choice]

Australia is among the top few countries of the world in terms of its population.

(51 countries are larger in terms of population.)

Answers for Quiz [1].

• 1. true
• 2. false (correct)

2. [Multiple choice]

Australia performed badly in the Olympics.

(They were placed fifth or sixth on the Olympic medal table.)

Answers for Quiz [2].

• 1. true
• 2. false (correct)

3. [Multiple choice]

The writer is challenging someone who criticised the financing of athletes as a waste of public money.

(When he writes “If you want to look at the amount of money spent on our athletes, look at ………”…. this suggests that before criticising this expenditure, people should look at other areas of spending first, where money has definitely been ill-spent.
questionable – adj – of suspect value, honesty, morality etc
)

Answers for Quiz [3].

• 1. absolutely (correct)
• 2. not really

4. [Multiple choice]

Whose money has been wasted overall?

Answers for Quiz [4].

• 1. sports clubs’ money
• 2. Geoff’s money
• 3. taxpayers’ money (correct)
• 4. a taxpayer’s money

5. [Multiple choice]

How much taxpayers’ money does Geoff claim is spent every year on funding the ‘Grocery Watch’ to monitor food prices?

Answers for Quiz [5].

• 1. $3 million
• 2. $4 million (correct)
• 3. an unstated sum, but it is definitely a lot

6. [Multiple choice]

What is described as a ‘useless initiative’?

Answers for Quiz [6].

• 1. the Grocery Watch (correct)
• 2. the Whale Watch
• 3. paying tax to the government
• 4. paying for sports facilities and training

7. [Multiple choice]

The Whale Watch and the Grocery Watch

(They are the only two named, but there are ‘others, none of which has shown any sign of being useful’.)

Answers for Quiz [7].

• 1. are the only areas where government money has been wasted.
• 2. are the worst examples of wasted government money.
• 3. are only two examples of how money has been wasted by the government. (correct)

8. [Multiple choice]

Does the writer consider the money spent on training athletes for the Olympics was ill-spent?

Answers for Quiz [8].

• 1. no (correct)
• 2. yes

9. [Multiple choice]

Geoff is an athlete himself.

(Geoff feels strongly about priorities of public spending, but there is no evidence or implication that he does any sport himself. He may be an athlete, if so we can’t tell.)

Answers for Quiz [9].

• 1. Yes, he obviously is.
• 2. Not necessarily. (correct)

10. [Multiple choice]

Do you think Geoff is Australian?

(He writes ‘we’ and ‘our’ when talking about Australia – ‘we have 0.3% of the world’s population….. our athletes’, and his address is given as in Canberra – the capital of Australia. He may simply live in Australia, or be visiting the country, or simply be married to an Australian, but his use of ‘we’ and ‘our’ suggest he is Australian.)

Answers for Quiz [10].

• 1. yes, very likely (correct)
• 2. no, probably not

11. [Multiple choice]

Which of the following means ’there was little gain in doing what we did’?

(for all the good it did = it did not achieve / produce much; it was not very successful / hardly worthwhile / of little use / of limited benefit
eg They sent both children to private school – for all the good it did – i.e. sending their children to private school did not mean they were educated well / their children derived little benefit from being sent to private schools.
Our neighbours promised they would stop having their TV on so loud – for all the good it did – i.e. it did no good at all, it didn’t change anything, their promising to do sth didn’t result in any improvement.
)

Answers for Quiz [11].

• 1. it was worth it
• 2. down the drain
• 3. for all the good it did (correct)
• 4. on top of the world

12. [Multiple choice]

Which phrase means ’very happy indeed’?

Answers for Quiz [12].

• 1. down the drain
• 2. on top of the world (correct)
• 3. for all the good it did
• 4. it was well worth it
• 5. it was worth it

13. [Multiple choice]

Which of the following phrase means ’wasted’?

(The writer uses the modifier ‘virtually’ when speaking of money that has been ‘thrown down the drain’. This means he considers a lot of money has been ill-spent, but it was not necessarily a total waste of money.)

Answers for Quiz [13].

• 1. for all the good it did
• 2. on top of the world
• 3. it was worth it
• 4. down the drain (correct)
• 5. a total waste of money

14. [Multiple choice]

All things considered, Geoff thinks Australia

(to punch above your weight – informal – to perform to a higher standard than you might be expected to, given your size / age / ability / funding, or, as here, your population)

Answers for Quiz [14].

• 1. gave generous subsidies for the training of athletes for the Olympics
• 2. underperformed at the Olympics
• 3. punched above her weight at the Olympics