英语听力精选进阶版 8167

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 achance 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 andcaptions, answering questions and completing crosswords¹. You could almost say it's like anaddiction.

The motivation for being a 'comper' is obvious: it's about being a winner and being rewardedwith a prize. These can be small or large: from a box of chocolates to a new car, a trip of alifetime around the world, or even a new house. Isn't that worth competing for? Unfortunately, Ihaven'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, makingthe odds³ of winning very unlikely. But one man who has been lucky is a retired⁴ lecturer fromthe UK called Martin Dove. He is a serial⁵ 'comper' and has managed to bag prizes such a yachtand a race horse.

Martin says: "I've been a comper for 40 years. It's like admitting some addiction², isn't it really?"He gets respect from other compers and also admits:"Some people have called me the Masterof 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 lottery⁶. This is a game where peoplebuy a lottery ticket hoping that the numbers on their ticket are chosen in a draw so that theywin a big money prize. Some people dream about being a millionaire and hope this type of gamewill make that dream real.

For many, winning remains⁷ a dream, but they continue to try their luck as there's always a smallchance they might succeed. But what if you do win? Then you have to ask: how am I going tospend all that money? Some people say that 'money can't buy you happiness'. What do you think?

1 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。

2 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。

3 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？

4 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。

5 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？

6 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。

7 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。