Businessman and the fisherman an american businessman was on holiday in a fishing village in the south of mexico. one morning, he met a young fisherman with a small boat full of lovely, yellowfin tuna fish. ‘what beautiful tuna! ’ the american exclaimed. ‘how long did it take to catch them? ’ the american asked. ‘oh, about (1) hours, ’ said the fisherman. ‘why didn’t you fish for longer and catch more? ’ the mexican replied, ‘i (2) want to fish for longer. with this i (3) enough fish for my family.’ ‘but what do you do with the rest of your day? aren’t you bored? ’ the fisherman smiled, ‘i’m never bored. i get up (4) , play with my children, watch football, and take a siesta with my wife. sometimes in the evenings i walk to the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing (5) songs.’ 1 headway elementary fourth edition • student’s book • unit 6 pp.50–51 © oxford university press photocopiable the american couldn’t understand, ‘look, i am a very successful businessman. i (6) to harvard university and i (7) business. i can help you. fish for four hours every day and sell the extra fish you catch. then, you can buy a bigger boat, catch more, and (8) more money. then buy a second boat, a third, and so on, until you have a big fleet of fishing boats. you can export the fish and leave this village and move to mexico city, or la, or new york city, and open a fishing business.’ the fisherman smiled, ‘but how long will all this take? ’ the businessman thought about it for a bit. ‘probably (9) 15 to 20 years, ’ he said. ‘and then what, señor? ’ asked the fisherman. ‘why, that’s the exciting part! ’ laughed the businessman. ‘you can sell your business and become very rich, a millionaire! ’ ‘a millionaire? really? but what do i do with all the money? ’ the young fisherman didn’t look excited. the businessman could not understand this young man. ‘well, you can (10) work and move to a lovely, old fishing village where you can sleep late, play with your grandchildren, watch football, take a siesta with your wife, and walk to the village in the evenings where you can play the guitar, and sing with your friends all you want.’ the fisherman’s wife and children came running to meet him. ‘papa, papa (11) you catch many fish? ’ ‘i (12) enough for us today and tomorrow, and some for this gentleman, ’ said their father. he gave the businessman some fish, thanked him for his advice and went home with his family.