Computer programmer David Jones earns ￡35,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a cheque card. Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.
The 16-year-old works for a small firm In Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. Davids firm releases two new games for the home computer market each month.
But Davids biggest headache is what to do with his money. Despite his salary, earned buy inventing new programs, with bonus payments and profit-sharing, he cannot drive a car, buy a house, or obtain credit cards.
He lives with his parents in Liverpool. His company has to pay ￡150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive.
David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school and working for a time in a computer shop. I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs, he said.
I suppose ￡35,000 sounds a lot but I hope it will come to more than that his year. He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother ￡20 a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school, he said. But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway.
David added: I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.
Exercise
1. Why is David different from other young people of his age?
A) Because he earns an extremely high salary.
B) Because he is not unemployed.
C) Because he does not go out much.
D) Because he lives at home with his parents.
2. Davids greatest problem is
A) finding a bank that will treat him as an adult.
B) inventing computer games.
C) spending his salary.
D) learning to drive.
3. He was employed by the company because
A) he had worked in a computer shop.
B) he had written some computer programs.
C) he had worked very hard.
D) he had learned to use computers at school.
4. He left school because
A) he did not enjoy school
B) he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him.
C) he was afraid of getting too old to start computing.
D) he wanted to earn a lot of money.
5. Why does David think he might retire early?
A) Because you have to be young to write computer programs.
B) Because he wants to stop working when he is a millionaire.
C) Because he thinks computer games might not always sell so well.
D) Because he thinks his firm might go bankrupt.
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