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新浪首页 > 教育天地 > Wanna Bet？众乐乐不如独乐乐(1)

Wanna Bet？众乐乐不如独乐乐(1)

http://www.sina.com.cn 2002/07/09 09:55 空中美语

　　语音讲解：
　　　(点击右键“另存为”可下载语音)

　　Waiting in line is a fact of life. There are often long lines to buy movie tickets, or crowds around popular food stalls. But in the past few months, people have been lining up for a different reason: the lottery. Hoping to pick a winning number, people are willing to stand in line for ages.

　　Enormous cash prizes encourage people to spend small fortunes on lottery tickets. Many people firmly believe in luck, but what are the odds of winning?

　　Not very good, if you believe in math. A formula called“the gambler’s ruin”proves that buying more tickets does not improve your chances of winning. With the lottery, there is a high probability that it is the game’s organizers who will“win.”

　　So remember, while it is true that you cannot win anything if you do not buy a ticket, it is also true that you will not lose anything if you do not play.

Wanna Bet？众乐乐不如独乐乐(1)

　　翻译

　　排队是生活中存在的一个事实。常有人为买电影票排很长的队，或是一大群人挤在受欢迎的小吃摊前。不过在过去几个月里，人们排队是为了一个不同的理由：彩票。希望能选到一个中奖号码，人们都愿意花时间排队。

　　巨额的奖金鼓舞着人们花少量的钱去买彩票。许多人对运气坚信不疑，但是赢的几率有多少呢？

　　几率不是很好，如果你相信数学。一则“赌徒破产”的公式证明买更多的彩票并不能提高赢的机会。对彩票来说，游戏组织者“赢”的可能性最高。

　　所以请记住，如果你一张彩票都不买，你真的什么也赢不了；但如果你什么都不玩，那你什么都不会失去也是千真万确的。

　　活用词汇

　　1. food stall n.小吃摊

　　2. odds n.可能性

　　3. formula n.公式

　　How About You

　　根据本课短文，用三个以内的单词(words)回答问题。

　　1. What is a fact of life?

　　2. What encourages people to spend small fortunes on lottery tickets?

　　3. What do many people firmly believe in?

　　根据本课短文，用完整的句子回答问题。(请勿抄下整句或整行。)

　　4. Why have people been lining up for the past few months?

　　5. What does“the gambler’s ruin”prove?

　　6. Who is most likely to“win”the lottery?

　　1. waiting in line

　　2. enormous cash prizes

　　3. luck

　　4. People have been lining up to buy lottery tickets.

　　5. It proves that buying more lottery tickets does not improve your chances of winning.

　　6. The game’s organizers are most likely to win.

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空中美语专栏

Annotation

1. enormous
adj. huge庞大的
China is an enormous country.
中国是个幅员辽阔的国家。

2. fortune
n. a large amount of money财富
Mary’s grandfather left her a fortune when he died.
玛丽的祖父去世时留给她一笔财富。

3. firmly
adv. strongly坚定地
The principal firmly stated the school rules.
校长斩钉截铁地讲述了学校校规。

4. believe in
phr. v. to feel sure of the worth or truth of; to have faith in信仰
Many people believe in Buddhism.
许多人信仰佛教。

5. gambler
n. sb. who plays at a game of chance for money赌徒
The gambler lost all his money in Las Vegas.
这个赌徒在拉斯维加斯输光了他所有的钱。

6. probability
n. likelihood概率；可能性
The probability of winning the lottery is very slim.
中彩票的可能性微乎其微。





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