VOA慢速英语2018 谁想成为亿万富翁？

Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?

This is What’s Trending Today…

Who wants to be a billionaire?

谁想成为亿万富翁？

For a $2 ticket, people have a chance to win the Mega Millions record-breaking lottery¹ jackpot of $1.6 billion. The drawing is on Tuesday night in the United States.

人们只要一张2美元的彩票，就有机会赢得超级百万（Mega Millions）创纪录的16亿美元的彩票头奖，开奖时间是美国的周二晚上。

Players also have a chance at winning the Powerball jackpot, which is now up to $620 million. That drawing will be on Wednesday night.

人们还有机会赢得现在高达6.2亿美元的强力球（Powerball jackpot），开奖时间将在周三晚上。

Mega Millions is a lottery game played in 44 American states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin² Islands. The winning ticket must match six numbers, from 1 to 70. Several states permit online ticket purchases. Out-of-state or overseas purchases are not permitted.

超级百万是一种在美国44个州、华盛顿特区以及美属维尔京群岛销售的彩票，中奖者必须匹配从1到70的6个数字。有几个州允许在网上销售彩票，但是不允许外州以及国外购买。

The first Mega Millions drawing was on May 17, 2002. That winner received a jackpot of $28 million – a small amount compared to this week’s jackpot.

第一期超级百万的开奖时间是2002年5月17日，那位中奖者赢得了2800万美元的头奖，与本周的头奖相比金额很小。

The most recent Mega Millions drawing on October 19 was for a jackpot of $1 billion dollars. But no one won. It was the 25th drawing in a row that did not result in a winner.

最近一期超级百万开奖是在10月19日，头奖为10亿美元，这是连续25期没有人中头奖。

About 280 million tickets were sold for the October 19 drawing. Those tickets covered 60 percent of all possible number combinations³.

10月19日那期开奖大约售出了2.8亿张彩票，这些彩票覆盖了所有可能数字组合的60%。

So, what are your chances of winning the $1.6-billion jackpot this time?

那么，这次赢得16亿美元头奖的概率有多大？

Very, very small.

概率非常非常小。

The financial website The Motley Fool says the chance of someone winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302,575,350. The chance is a little better with the Powerball. It is 1 in 292,201,338.

金融网站“傻瓜投资指南”（The Motley Fool）表示，超级百万头奖的中奖概率是302,575,350分之一。强力球彩票的中奖概率略高，为292,201,338分之一。

You are more likely to get struck by lightning than win the jackpot, at least in the United States. The National Weather Service says a person has about a 1 in a million chance of getting hit.

至少在美国，你更可能被闪电击中而不是中头奖。美国国家气象局表示，人们有百万分之一的概率被闪电击中。

You are much more likely to get accepted to Harvard University. The Ivy⁴ League school accepted 5 percent of its 39,000 applicants⁶ for its 2021 class. That is a 1 in 20 chance.

你更有可能被哈佛大学录取。这所常春藤联盟学校录取了其2021年课程3.9万名申请者中的5%，这是20选1的概率。

Americans even have a better chance at becoming president than they do at winning this week’s jackpot. The U.S. population is about 326 million. There are about 10 presidents in an average lifetime. So, a person’s chances at becoming president are 1 in 32.6 million. However, the U.S. Constitution requires that a person be at least 35 years old and a “natural born citizen” to be elected president.

美国人甚至成为总统的概率都要比中本周头奖的概率大。美国大约有3.26亿人口。人一生之中平均要经历大约10位总统。所以，一个人成为总统的概率是3260万分之一。然而，美国宪法规定要年满35周岁，并且在美国本土出生的公民才能当选总统。

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

lottery - n. a way of raising money for a government, charity, etc., in which many tickets are sold and a few of the tickets are chosen by chance to win prizes

jackpot - n. a usually large amount of money won in a game of chance

drawing - n. an act of choosing something (such as a winning ticket) from a group without knowing

applicant⁵ - n. someone who formally asks for something (such as a job or admission⁷ to a college)

in a row - phrase. following one after another

average - n. ordinary or usual

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 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

3 combinations   

n.合作( combination的名词复数 )；密码组合；联合体；排列

参考例句：

• The music students are learning how to score tunes for various combinations. 学音乐的学生把曲调改编为各种器乐组曲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some antigens, or combinations of antigens, are much more potent than others. 某些抗原或者联合抗原可比其它抗原作用强得多。 来自辞典例句

4 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

5 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

6 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

7 admission   

n.允许进入；承认；入场费，入会费，入场券

参考例句：

• We attached a condition to his admission to our school.我们对准许他入校附加了一个条件。
• By her own admission,she was responsible for the accident.她自己承认，事故应该由她负责。