ESL Podcast 192 – Winning the Lottery

Daniela: I got our lottery¹ tickets during my lunch break. The jackpot is up to $168 million. Imagine if we won.

Boris: Thanks for getting mine, too. When is the drawing?

Daniela: Saturday at 6 PM. It’s being televised on channel 4.

Boris: What would you do if you had $168 million?

Daniela: The first thing I would do is quit my job! No more slaving away for me. What would you do?

Boris: If I were rich, I would travel around the world. If I were younger, I’d learn how to fly a plane. I’ve always wanted to do that.

Daniela: It’s never too late. You could still do that.

Boris: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I’d probably just retire and buy myself a nice new house.

Daniela: Yeah, that sounds nice. I suppose I’d have a lot of family and friends asking for money.

Boris: I know I would. I can just see them coming out of the woodwork and pestering² me. Maybe winning the lottery isn’t such a good thing.

Daniela: You’re right. It’s a curse³. When you win, you can give me all of the money.

Boris: Yeah, right. Don’t hold your breath!

Script⁴ by Dr. Lucy Tse

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 pestering   

使烦恼，纠缠( pester的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He's always pestering me to help him with his homework. 他总是泡蘑菇要我帮他做作业。
• I'm telling you once and for all, if you don't stop pestering me you'll be sorry. 我这是最后一次警告你。如果你不停止纠缠我，你将来会后悔的。

3 curse   

n.祸因，祸根；诅咒，咒骂；骂人话

参考例句：

• His wealth proved a curse to him.他的财富成了祸根。
• The rabbits are a curse in this part of the country.兔子在这一带农村是一种祸害。

4 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。