Weekender
Lottery Millions
BBC Learning English – Weekender
Lottery millions
February 3, 2006
Callum: Hello, this is Weekender and I'm Callum Robertson. Today we're talking about
Money
The love of money, it is said, is the root of all evil. Our desire to get money is
the reason for many bad things, yet many of us spend our lives trying to get or
earn as much money as we can.
We think that money might make us happier in our lives or at least more
comfortable
For most of us we look forward to a life of regular work, with hope, doing
something we enjoy, so that we can earn enough money to pay the rent and
feed our families.
But some people like to take opportunities to get a lot of money very quickly.
Some choose crime – but, as another saying goes, crime doesn't pay!
And many gamble, they bet money on sporting events for example, play cards
games of chance like roulette.
These days you can also become a millionaire by playing a quiz game on
television. The programme 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' is popular in many
countries.
Also popular in many countries is the lottery. You pay a little money to select
some numbers, then there is a draw and numbers are officially selected. If
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those numbers are the same as the numbers you have chosen, then you can win
a lot of money.
If nobody wins the prize, then that is called a rollover and the money that
wasn't won is added to the prize for the next week.
This has happened for 11 weeks in a row in the Euro Lottery. A lottery that is
held within 9 European countries. The first prize is now a staggering £125
million, that's approximately a quarter of a billion US dollars – a quarter of a
billion US dollars!
The draw for this prize is being held this evening, February 3 2006.
So for a moment try to imagine how your life would change if you won that
much money. Would it change you? Would it change your personality, your
relationship with your friends. Would you continue your job or stop working?
Just what would you do if you won so much money?
I put some of these questions to my colleagues. Listen out to their answers, do
you think you would do the same?
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS
Callum: So it seems that people wouldn't want the money to change their personality. It
might change what they do in their life but they hope that it wouldn't change
them
That's all from this edition of weekender and if you are doing a lottery then,
good luck.
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