新西兰英语 599 SkyCity’s Plans

 　　SkyCity is the casino in Auckland. It is situated¹ in the Sky Tower in the centre of the city. Auckland wants a new convention centre and SkyCity has offered to build it, opposite SkyCity with an overhead walkway between the two buildings. It will seat 3,500 people and cost $350m. This means that Auckland rate payers will not have to pay for the new building.

　　SkyCity says that a new convention centre will provide jobs and will bring visitors to the city in winter as well as summer. Visitors who attend conferences are usually people who spend a lot of money in the city. They often bring a spouse² or partner with them.

　　However, in return for building a new convention centre, SkyCity wants 500 more gaming machines – pokies. It already has more than 1600 pokie machines.

　　Pubs and clubs which have pokie machines have to give back 37% of their profits to the community. However, SkyCity gives back only 2.5% of their profits from pokie machines although it does also sponsor some community events.

　　A spokesperson for Problem Gambling³ Foundation says there are eight gambling addicts⁵ for every 10 machines. The more gaming machines there are, the more addicts. Over 70% of people who go to the Problem Gambling Foundation for help are addicted⁶ to pokies. Forty percent of the money lost on pokies is lost by people with a gambling problem.

　　Vocabulary

　　convention – conference, formal meeting

　　spouse – husband or wife

　　spokesperson – person who can speak about the organisation⁷ e.g. chairman

　　addict⁴ – first syllable⁸ is stressed in the noun; 2nd syllable is stressed in the verb. Note: passive verb – is addicted, are addicted.

　　Useful structures

　　in return for…

　　the more gaming machines (there are), the more addicts.

1 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

2 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

3 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

4 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

5 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

6 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

7 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

8 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。