The Reading / Listening - Gifts - Level 5

A man (Mr X) has lost a court case to get back hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts that he gave to his ex-girlfriend. He is a company CEO. His ex, Ms Y, was a flight attendant. The two met on a flight. Mr X became besotted with her and gave her expensive gifts to win her love. He said he also gave her "loans". The court said the value of the presents and loans was $369,200. The judge said that Mr X had "displayed a consistent pattern of showering [Ms Y] with lavish gifts". The judge said there had been no expectation that Ms Y would have to repay or return anything.

The couple were in a relationship for just over a year. They split up after Mr X thought Ms Y was having an affair. He argued that his ex-partner had requested interest-free loans for her credit cards, life insurance premiums, overseas trips, and the advice of a feng shui master to assess her apartment. However, there was no evidence to prove this. Ms Y said all gifts were "made out of love and affection". The judge concluded: "Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on a sour note, [Mr X] became embittered and was determined to extract a price from [Ms Y]."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Gifts - Level 4 or  Gifts - Level 6

Sources
  • https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/dbs-lawsuit-linked-to-jho-lows-associate-says-1mdb-taskforce-014754774.html
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/11/asia/ceo-sues-girlfriend-singapore-hnk-intl
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqxgzynk7o


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. A man (Mr X) has lost
  2. He is a
  3. The two met
  4. Mr X became besotted
  5. the value of the presents
  6. a consistent
  7. showering Ms Y
  8. The judge said there had been no
  1. and loans
  2. pattern
  3. company CEO
  4. with lavish gifts
  5. expectation
  6. with her
  7. on a flight
  8. a court case

Paragraph 2

  1. The couple were
  2. They split
  3. Mr X thought Ms Y was having
  4. his ex-partner had requested interest-
  5. life insurance
  6. the advice of a
  7. love and
  8. their relationship ended
  1. feng shui master
  2. an affair
  3. premiums
  4. on a sour note
  5. in a relationship
  6. affection
  7. up
  8. free loans

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A man (Mr X) has lost a (1) ________________________________________________ get back hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts that he gave to his ex-girlfriend. He is (2) ________________________________________________. His ex, Ms Y, was a flight attendant. The two met on a flight. Mr X (3) ________________________________________________ her and gave her expensive gifts to win her love. He said he also gave her "loans". The court said the value of the presents and loans was $369,200. The judge said that Mr X had "displayed (4) ________________________________________________ of showering [Ms Y] (5) ________________________________________________". The judge said there had been no expectation that Ms Y would have to (6) ________________________________________________ anything.

The couple were (7) ________________________________________________ for just over a year. They split up after Mr X thought Ms Y was (8) ________________________________________________. He argued that his ex-partner had requested interest-free loans for her credit cards, (9) ________________________________________________, overseas trips, and the advice of a feng shui master to assess her apartment. However, there was no (10) ________________________________________________ this. Ms Y said all gifts were "made out of love and affection". The judge concluded: "Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on (11) ________________________________________________, [Mr X] became embittered and (12) ________________________________________________ extract a price from [Ms Y]."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Aman(MrX)haslostacourtcasetogetbackhundredsofthousandsofdoll
arsofgiftsthathegavetohisex-girlfriend.HeisacompanyCEO.Hisex,M
sY,wasaflightattendant.Thetwometonaflight.MrXbecamebesottedw
ithherandgaveherexpensivegiftstowinherlove.Hesaidhealsogavehe
r"loans".Thecourtsaidthevalueofthepresentsandloanswas$369,200
.ThejudgesaidthatMrXhad"displayedaconsistentpatternofshowerin
g[MsY]withlavishgifts".Thejudgesaidtherehadbeennoexpectationth
atMsYwouldhavetorepayorreturnanything.Thecouplewereinarelatio
nshipforjustoverayear.TheysplitupafterMrXthoughtMsYwashavinga
naffair.Hearguedthathisex-partnerhadrequestedinterest-freeloansf
orhercreditcards,lifeinsurancepremiums,overseastrips,andtheadvi
ceofafengshuimastertoassessherapartment.However,therewasnoe
videncetoprovethis.MsYsaidallgiftswere"madeoutofloveandaffectio
n".Thejudgeconcluded:"Unfortunately,whentheirrelationshipended
onasournote,[MrX]becameembitteredandwasdeterminedtoextract
apricefrom[MsY]."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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