英语听力精选进阶版 6454

I'm sometimes told you have to make your own luck. If you don't try something, how can you succeed? This is very true for competitions - if you want a chance of winning something you have to take part. In other words, you have to be in it to win it!

There are people who regularly take part in all sorts of competitions with great enthusiasm. These people are nicknamed 'compers'. They use every spare minute writing slogans and captions¹, answering questions and completing crosswords². You could almost say it's like an addiction³.

The motivation for being a 'comper' is obvious: it's about being a winner and being rewarded with a prize. These can be small or large: from a box of chocolates to a new car, a trip of a lifetime around the world, or even a new house. Isn't that worth competing for? Unfortunately, I haven't won any of those things. But, to be honest, I don't enter many competitions.

Of course competitions that offer money prizes attract entries from millions of people, making the odds⁴ of winning very unlikely. But one man who has been lucky is a retired⁵ lecturer from the UK called Martin Dove. He is a serial⁶ 'comper' and has managed to bag prizes such a yacht and a race horse.

Martin says: "I've been a comper for 40 years. It's like admitting some addiction, isn't it really?" He gets respect from other compers and also admits:"Some people have called me the Master of Comping, the King of Comping, the Guru of Comping. But it's just a word, just a phrase. It's just I was fairly high-profile."

If scanning the supermarket shelves for cereal boxes and crisp packets for your next big win sounds too much like hard work, you can always try the lottery⁷. This is a game where people buy a lottery ticket hoping that the numbers on their ticket are chosen in a draw so that they win a big money prize. Some people dream about being a millionaire and hope this type of game will make that dream real.

For many, winning remains⁸ a dream, but they continue to try their luck as there's always a small chance they might succeed. But what if you do win? Then you have to ask: how am I going to spend all that money? Some people say that 'money can't buy you happiness'. What do you think?

Quiz 测验

1. What do you call people who take part in a lot of competitions?

Compers.

2. How easy is it to win the most valuable prizes?

Not easy. The odds of winning are very unlikely.

3. True or false? You can't find competitions on cereal packets.

False.

4. How do you win a money prize playing the lottery?

The numbers on your lottery ticket have to be chosen in a draw.

5. What question do you need to ask if you win the lottery?

How am I going to spend the money?

Glossary 词汇表

make your own luck 自创好运

competitions 比赛

you have to be in it to win it 你要赢就必须参赛

enthusiasm 热情

compers (为了赢得更多的奖品) 频繁参赛者的人

slogans 口号，标语

captions （图片）注释

addiction 上瘾，着迷

prize 奖励

a trip of a lifetime 毕生难忘的旅行

odds 机率

serial comper 连续参赛者

to bag 获得，赢得

master 大师

guru 大师，专家，权威

lottery 彩票

draw （名词）抽奖

millionaire 百万富翁

to try their luck 碰运气

money can't buy you happiness 金钱难买幸福

1 captions   

n.标题，说明文字，字幕( caption的名词复数 )v.给（图片、照片等）加说明文字( caption的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I stared, trying to grasp the point of the picture and the captions. 我目不转睛地看着漫画，想弄清楚漫画和解说词的意思。 来自辞典例句
• Indicates whether the user or the system paints the captions. 指示是由用户还是由系统来绘制标题。 来自互联网

2 crosswords   

纵横填字谜( crossword的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Doing crosswords gives the mind some exercise. 做纵横字谜游戏能锻炼脑筋。
• He spends all his time on crosswords and other trifles. 他把所有的时间都用在做纵横填字游戏和其他无聊的活动上。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

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 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

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 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。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。