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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
The High Cost of Winning
People Weekly © 2004
Time Inc. All rights reserved
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Jay Sommers, 36, Won: $5.8 million, Outcome: Lost it all, delivered pizza
Jay Sommers was 20 when he won a $5.8 million lottery1 jackpot in Michigan in 1988. With his first annual $290,000 payment he bought not one but five new cars.
Spending so fast he couldn’t pay taxes, Sommers asked a businessman friend to manage his money. One day in the mid-’90s Sommers went to the bank and discovered all his money was gone—frittered away by his friend’s bad investments and shady deals.
To make ends meet, he took a pizza delivery job. “People recognized me and it was humiliating,” says Sommers. “One minute I’m famous and five years later I’m broke. It’s been a rollercoaster ride.”
Single and living near Detroit, Sommers now does construction work. “I’m still bitter and I’ll be bitter the rest of my life,” he says. “I think I’d be further along today if I had never won.”
William Post, 64, Won: $16.2 million, Outcome: Brother hired a hit man to kill him
Gone are the days when William Post, 64, would find a pair of pants he liked and buy 400 of them. Gone too are the mansion2, farm, cars and diamonds. In fact, looking around Post’s ramshackle home in Pennsylvania, you’d never suspect that in 1988 he won $16.2 million.
As an overnight multimillionaire, Post indulged himself with lavish3 and sometimes bizarre spending sprees. In 1994 his brother Jeffrey pleaded no contest to hiring a hit man to kill Post and his then wife, Connie, allegedly in order to get his hands on Post’s estate. Spooked by the plot, Connie left Post not long after.
Today Post lives on a $558 monthly Social Security disability check. Despite declaring bankruptcy4 in 1994 and suffering from health problems including severe asthma5, Post maintains, “I’m a very happy man now. Money can’t buy peace of mind.”
Vocabulary Focus
fritter (v) [5fritE] to waste money, time or an opportunity
shady (adj) [5Feidi] dishonest or illegal (informal)
make ends meet (idiom) to have just enough money to pay for things one needs
ramshackle (adj) [5rAm7FAkl] badly or untidily made and likely to break or fall down easily
Specialized6 Terms
hit man (n phr) 杀手 a person paid to murder someone
no contest (n phr) 不抗辩;缄默 a plea made by a defendant7 that doesn’t admit guilt8 or declare innocence9; this plea subjects the defendant to conviction as in the case of a guilty plea but does not obstruct10 denial of the truth of the charges in another proceeding11; also called “nolo contendere,” a Latin phrase meaning “I do not wish to contend (argue)”
allegedly (adv) 所谓地,假设(某人不法或有罪)地 supposedly; relating to saying that someone has done something illegal or wrong without giving proof
Social Security (n phr) 社会安全制度,(美国)老人社会福利金 a system of payments made by the government to people who are ill, poor or who have no job; in the U.S. payments are made to old people, those whose spouses12 have died, or people who are unable to work because they are ill
赢得头彩的惨痛代价
杨嘉倩译
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杰·森莫思,36岁
赢得彩金:580万美元
结局:失去全部奖金,靠送披萨为生
杰·森莫思1988年在密西根中了580万美元的彩票头彩奖金时,只有20岁。当他领到第一笔每年29万美元的款项时,他买了不只一辆,而是5辆新车。
森莫思因为花钱如流水以致付不出税金,只好请求一位朋友帮他管理财务。20世纪90年代中期的某一天,森莫思到了银行才发现由于他朋友所做的不当投资和一些不合法的交易,他所有的钱已荡然无存。
为了维生,他接了送比萨的工作。“这真的很丢脸,因为大家都认得出我。”森莫思这么说,“才一分钟我就家喻户晓,5年之后我却身无分文。其间起伏就好像在坐云霄飞车一般。”
仍旧单身,住在底特律附近的森莫思,现在是建筑工人。“我的心里还是充满了怨恨,而且也会一辈子怨恨下去,”他表示,“如果没中彩票,我想我现在的日子会过得更好。”
威廉·柏斯特,64岁
赢得奖金:1620万美元
结局:他的兄弟雇用职业杀手谋杀他
威廉·柏斯特64岁时,找到一条喜欢的裤子,会一口气买个400条的日子已经过去;豪宅、农场、车子钻石也已不复存在。其实,看看柏斯特在宾州摇摇欲坠的家,你怎么也不会料想到他在1988年曾经赢得1620万美元。
一夜之间成了千万富翁,柏斯特放纵自己挥霍无度,有时候甚至陷于怪异的花钱狂热中。1994年,他的兄弟杰佛瑞对于雇用职业杀手杀害柏斯特与他当时的妻子康妮,以染指柏斯特财产的指控,缄默以对。这项阴谋吓坏了康妮,不久她便离开了柏斯特。
柏斯特目前靠着社会安全每个月558美元的残疾津贴支票维生。尽管他在1994年宣布破产,而且饱受各种病痛折磨,包括严重的气喘,柏斯特坚信,“我现在非常快乐。金钱无法买到心灵的平静。”
1 lottery | |
n.抽彩;碰运气的事,难于算计的事 | |
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2 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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3 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
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4 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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5 asthma | |
n.气喘病,哮喘病 | |
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6 specialized | |
adj.专门的,专业化的 | |
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7 defendant | |
n.被告;adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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8 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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9 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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10 obstruct | |
v.阻隔,阻塞(道路、通道等);n.阻碍物,障碍物 | |
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11 proceeding | |
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报 | |
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12 spouses | |
n.配偶,夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 ) | |
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