6 Minute English / The psychology of greed

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Beth.

I'm writing my birthday wish list, Beth. Listen: I want a new laptop, a gold Rolex watch and a red sports car.

Phew, that s quite a lot, Neil! Isn t that a bit greedy?

So what? Greed is good! We re genetically built to want things that increase our social status power and material possessions like money, a nice house, a fast car all that stuff!

Hmm, I'm not so sure, Neil. Remember, greed is also one of the seven deadly sins.

In this programme, we ll be discussing greed, the desire to accumulate stuff , keep it for yourself, and not share it with others. And, of course, we ll be learning some useful new vocabulary too. But first I have a question for you, Beth. You reminded me of a famous quote by one of history s greatest leaders: The world has enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed. But who said it? Was it:

a) The Dalai Lamab) Mahatma Gandhi orc) Martin Luther King?

I think it was Mahatma Gandhi.