VOA标准英语2010年-Filled With Comedy ‘Lottery Ticket’

BOW WOW as Kevin Carson and LORETTA DEVINE as Grandma in Alcon Entertainment’s comedy “LOTTERY¹ TICKET,” a Warner Bros.

In a new "urban comedy" film, young rap star Bow Wow plays an inner city teenager who wins a huge lotto jackpot and then has to deal with both the up and down sides of becoming an instant millionaire. Here's a look at Lottery Ticket.

"I want you to play my numbers for me on the way home …and don't let anybody copy them either, all right, because those are my numbers. I dreamt them up last night and they're right out of the Holy Scripture² here."
"Okay."

 
David Lee
BRANDON T. JACKSON as Benny, BOW WOW as Kevin Carson and NATURI NAUGHTON as Stacie in Alcon Entertainment’s comedy 'LOTTERY TICKET', a Warner Bros.

Teenager Kevin is probably the only person in the Atlanta public housing project not excited about the lottery jackpot that has climbed to $370 million. Kevin has other things on his mind: keeping his job at a shopping mall shoe store, pipe dreaming about starting his own business and trying to get a date with the neighborhood's prettiest girl. But his grandmother wants a ticket, so he waits in the long line to buy it:

"How many tickets do you need, man? What do you have?"

"I just need one, all right? Here, play those numbers for me."

As an afterthought, he buys one more ticket for himself (using numbers from the slip of paper in the fortune cookie from his Chinese restaurant lunch); and, don't you know it, against all odds⁴ his ticket is the sole winner:

"You got all six numbers!"

"Yes! We won!"

"I've got to call somebody."

"No! Nobody can know about this, all right?"

Kevin worries that if word gets out, everyone will want a share of the good fortune. The trouble is it's a holiday weekend and when he and his best friend go to the state lottery office they find it closed:

"Closed!?"

"Closed …for the Fourth of July. We open again Tuesday at 9AM."

"Tuesday? That's three whole days. Do you know how much can happen in three whole days?"

Sure enough, word about his winning ticket spreads like wildfire and Kevin spends the weekend fending⁵ off opportunists and criminals alike, while also learning who his true friends are:

It is definitely a crazy story coming from nothing and then all of a sudden you have all of this money and all of this power and everybody wants a piece.

 
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
ICE CUBE as Mr. Washington in Alcon Entertainment’s comedy 'LOTTERY TICKET,' a Warner Bros.

Shad Gregory Moss⁶, better known by his stage name "Bow Wow," became famous as "Lil Bow Wow" with his first rap album at age 13 (10 years ago) and says he could identify with his character Kevin's dilemma⁷:

"People turn on you. You have trust issues. You don't know who to trust or what to believe any more. It's definitely real. We see it every day," Lil Bow Wow says. "We see kids come from the inner cities who go to school for one year and then they sign these $80-$90 million (pro sports) contracts. These are things that are actually going on: a young kid coming from the 'hood³ making it and now he's in this whole other position. It is real."

"You know what, you don't even have to go to design school. You could start your own shoe company."

"Yeah, I guess I could."

"That is all you've been talking about since you were nine years old. This is it, Kevin."

 
David Lee
Director ERIK WHITE on the set of Alcon Entertainment’s comedy 'LOTTERY TICKET', a Warner Bros.

Naturi Naughton co-stars as Stacey, Kevin's lifelong friend, who reminds him that money can't buy love and trust, but it can let him do positive things:

"Her character really wants to emphasize him doing something with that money. It's not just about giving it to friends, it's about giving it to the entire community so we can come up out of the projects and do something with our lives and feel inspired by someone taking the time to give back to the community," Naughton says. "I think Stacey cares more about that then about just getting a piece of the money."

The cast also features Ice Cube as a neighborhood hermit⁸ who becomes Kevin's protector. The rapper and actor is also producer of Lottery Ticket, a change of pace from the broad comedies he usually stars in:

"In my music everything is pretty hard-core, talking about all the things that trouble me or trouble us; but in the movies, people pay their hard-earned money and they want to go be entertained and want to get a lift. We have moments in there and say the things that need to be said sometimes, but ultimately people have fun and to me that's what movies are all about."

 
David Lee
BRANDON T. JACKSON as Benny, BOW WOW as Kevin Carson, TERRY CREWS as Jimmy The Driver and KEITH DAVID as Sweet Tee in Alcon Entertainment’s comedy 'LOTTERY TICKET', a Warner Bros.

Veteran music video director Erik White makes his feature film debut⁹ with Lottery Ticket and says he wanted comic episodes to surround, but not drown out the film's 'learning moments'.

"It's not a full-on comedy," White explains. "It's more of a great story with funny stuff in it, which makes it a little bit different from the typical 'urban' film. I really wanted to get across a story with some moral fiber¹⁰ to it, to give people something to think about when they leave the theater. That was one thing that always bothered me about some urban films: when you walk away you're not left with anything to ponder. I think this concept was something that works with that."

"If you won the lottery, what would you do?"

"Me? You know, take care of my family, travel, and finish school …all that good stuff; but if I had your kind of money, I'd give back. Give people something to live for instead just living, you know?"

Lottery Ticket was filmed on location in an Atlanta, Georgia public housing neighborhood with a cast of comedy and rap music stars including T-Pain, Brandon T. Jackson, Terry Crews, Bill Bellamy, Mike Epps and Loretta Devine.

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 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

3 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。

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 fending   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的现在分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
• Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系，提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网

6 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

7 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

8 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

9 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

10 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。