2006年VOA标准英语-Eight Winners Share Record US Lottery Jack

By Margaret Besheer
Washington
22 February 2006

Lottery¹ winners   
  
Eight workers at a meat processing plant in the mid-western state of Nebraska have won the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. The drawing was held Saturday night and the winners came forward Wednesday at a press conference to claim their winnings. The lucky winners are still stunned² by their good fortune.

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Lottery officials say the $365 million jackpot was the largest ever in U.S. history. There was only one winning ticket which contained the six magic numbers of 15, 17, 43, 44, 48 and 29.

The winners chose to take a cash option of nearly $178 million instead of getting the full $365 million paid in 30 annual installments³. After taxes, the seven men and one woman who bought the ticket together will each receive about $22 million. Winner Eric Zornes said he did not know what he would do with the money, but returning to work is not in his plans. "What can you do with that kind of money? I've been retired⁴ for about four days now," he said.

The winners work at a meat processing plant in the mid-western state of Nebraska. They said they regularly pooled their money to buy lottery tickets. They bought their winning ticket at a small grocery store near the plant in the town of Lincoln where they worked the overnight shift.

The only woman among the winners, Chastity Rutjens, 29, said at a news conference in Lincoln they are still in shock. "We're still thinking we're going to wake up from a dream, or something, and it's not all true. We're trying to grasp the fact that we are all millionaires now," she said.

Three of the winners continued to go to work after they learned they were millionaires on Saturday night. One of them was Dung Tran, 34, who immigrated⁵ to the United States 16 years ago from Vietnam. Another Vietnamese immigrant, Quang Dao, 56, says he came to the United States looking for a better life. The married father of five said the lottery would change his family's life. "Yes, they are very happy."

Winner Alain Maboussou said his family fled civil war in the Congo and has been living in the United States since 1999. The 26-year old is married and has an infant daughter. He said he worked 70 to 75 hours a week at the meat processing plant and hopes his lottery winnings will allow him to finish his university degree and start his own business. "I'm going to finish up in business administration, major in accounting⁶, and I'm going to open something," he said.

The stunned winners had difficulty answering reporters' questions about what they would do with their new-found wealth. Michael Terpstra said what you dream about doing with the money and what you really do with it are two entirely⁷ different matters. "Oh, I'm going to buy an island, I'm going to buy an airplane. Reality: Umm, gee⁸, not a fan of flying, don't really like water. I have no idea what I'm going to do," he said.

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 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

3 installments   

部分( installment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The first two installments were pretty close together in 1980. 第一次和节二次提款隔得很近，都是在1980年提的。
• You have an installments sales contract. 你已经订立了一份分期付款的买卖契约了。

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 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

6 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！