读者文摘:美国历史上最大的彩票骗局(1)

The video was grainy, but it showed enough to possibly crack open the biggest lottery¹ scam in American history.

这个视频画面有颗粒感，但这足以破解美国历史上最大的彩票骗局。

A heavyset man walks into a QuikTrip convenience store just off Interstate 80 in Des Moines, Iowa, two days before Christmas 2010.

2010年圣诞节前两天，在爱荷华州得梅因80号州际公路旁，一名身材魁梧的男子走进一家QuikTrip便利店。

The hood² of his sweatshirt is pulled over his head, obscuring his face. He grabs a fountain drink and two hot dogs.

他运动衫的兜帽拉过头顶，遮住了脸。他买了一杯饮料和两个热狗。

“Hello!” the cashier says brightly. Head down, the man replies in a low-pitched drawl: “Hell-ooooh.”

“你好!收银员兴高采烈地说。那人低下头，慢吞吞地低声说：“见鬼!”

They exchange a few more words. The man pulls two pieces of paper from his pocket.

他们又交谈了几句话。这名男子从口袋里拿出两张纸。

The cashier runs them through the lottery terminal and then hands over some change.

收银员使它们通过彩票终端机，然后递交了一些零钱。

Once outside, the man pulls off his hood, gets into his SUV, and drives away.

一到外面，这名男子就脱下兜帽，钻进他的SUV，开车离开了。

The pieces of paper were play slips for Hot Lotto, a lottery game that was available in 14 states and Washington, DC.

那两张纸是热乐透的投注单，这是一种彩票游戏，在美国14个州和华盛顿特区都可以买到。

A player (or the game’s computer) picked five numbers and then a sixth, known as the Hot Ball.

一个玩家(或者游戏的电脑)选择了5个数字，然后选择了第6个，这就是热球。

Players who got all six numbers right won a jackpot that varied³ according to how many tickets were sold.

所有六个号码都答对的玩家将赢得头奖，头奖金额根据售出的彩票数量而定。

At the time of the video, the jackpot was approaching $10 million. The stated odds⁴ of winning it were 1 in 10,939,383.

在拍摄这段视频时，头奖金额接近1000万美元。据说中奖的几率是10939383分之一。

Six days later, on December 29, the Hot Lotto numbers were selected: 3, 12, 16, 26, 33, 11.

六天后的12月29日，热乐透中奖号码被选中：3，12，16，26，33，11。

The next day, the Iowa Lottery announced that a QuikTrip in Des Moines had sold the winning ticket.

第二天，爱荷华州彩票机构宣布，是得梅因市的一个QuikTrip便利店售出了该中奖彩票。

But no one came forward to claim the now $16.5 million jackpot.

但没有人站出来认领金额为1650万美元的头奖。

After a month passed, the Iowa Lottery held a news conference to note that the money was still uncollected.

一个月过去了，爱荷华州彩票机构召开新闻发布会，宣布这笔钱仍未领取。

The lottery issued another public reminder⁵ three months after the winning numbers were announced,

在中奖号码宣布三个月后，公司又向公众发出提醒，

then another at six months and again at nine months, each time warning that winners had one year to claim their money.

然后又在六个月后和九个月后分别发出提醒，每次都提醒获奖者有一年的时间领取奖金。

In November 2011, a man named Philip Johnston, a Canadian attorney, called in with the correct serial⁶ number from the winning ticket.

2011年11月，一位名叫菲利普·约翰斯顿的加拿大律师打来电话，提供了中奖彩票上正确的序列号。

But when asked what he’d been wearing when he bought it, his description of a sports coat and gray flannel⁷ dress pants did not match the QuikTrip video.

但是，当问到他买彩票时的穿着时，他回答的运动外套和灰色法兰绒西裤和便利店的视频不相符。

Then, in a subsequent call, the man admitted he had “fibbed”; he said he was helping⁸ a client claim the ticket so the client wouldn’t be identified.

然后，在随后的电话中，该男子承认自己“撒了个小谎”；他说，他是在帮助一位客户认领彩票，这样就不会透露这位客户的身份。

This was against the Iowa Lottery rules, which require identities of winners to be public.

这违反了爱荷华州彩票机构的需要公布获奖者身份的规定。

Lottery officials were suspicious: The winner’s anonymity⁹ was worth $16.5 million?

彩票机构官员对此表示怀疑：获奖者的匿名身份价值1650万美元?

1 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

2 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

3 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

4 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

5 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

6 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

7 flannel   

n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服

参考例句：

• She always wears a grey flannel trousers.她总是穿一条灰色法兰绒长裤。
• She was looking luscious in a flannel shirt.她穿着法兰绒裙子，看上去楚楚动人。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。