The High Cost of Winning

The High Cost of Winning

 

People Weekly © 2004

Time Inc. All rights reserved

 

1

Jay Sommers, 36, Won: $5.8 million, Outcome: Lost it all, delivered pizza

Jay Sommers was 20 when he won a $5.8 million lottery¹ jackpot in Michigan in 1988. With his first annual $290,000 payment he bought not one but five new cars.

 

Spending so fast he couldn’t pay taxes, Sommers asked a businessman friend to manage his money. One day in the mid-’90s Sommers went to the bank and discovered all his money was gone—frittered away by his friend’s bad investments and shady deals.

 

To make ends meet, he took a pizza delivery job. “People recognized me and it was humiliating,” says Sommers. “One minute I’m famous and five years later I’m broke. It’s been a rollercoaster ride.”

 

Single and living near Detroit, Sommers now does construction work. “I’m still bitter and I’ll be bitter the rest of my life,” he says. “I think I’d be further along today if I had never won.”

 

William Post, 64, Won: $16.2 million, Outcome: Brother hired a hit man to kill him

Gone are the days when William Post, 64, would find a pair of pants he liked and buy 400 of them. Gone too are the mansion², farm, cars and diamonds. In fact, looking around Post’s ramshackle home in Pennsylvania, you’d never suspect that in 1988 he won $16.2 million.

 

As an overnight multimillionaire, Post indulged himself with lavish³ and sometimes bizarre spending sprees. In 1994 his brother Jeffrey pleaded no contest to hiring a hit man to kill Post and his then wife, Connie, allegedly in order to get his hands on Post’s estate. Spooked by the plot, Connie left Post not long after.

 

Today Post lives on a $558 monthly Social Security disability check. Despite declaring bankruptcy⁴ in 1994 and suffering from health problems including severe asthma⁵, Post maintains, “I’m a very happy man now. Money can’t buy peace of mind.”

 

Vocabulary Focus

fritter (v) [5fritE] to waste money, time or an opportunity

shady (adj) [5Feidi] dishonest or illegal (informal)

make ends meet (idiom) to have just enough money to pay for things one needs

ramshackle (adj) [5rAm7FAkl] badly or untidily made and likely to break or fall down easily

 

Specialized⁶ Terms

hit man (n phr) 杀手 a person paid to murder someone

no contest (n phr) 不抗辩；缄默 a plea made by a defendant⁷ that doesn’t admit guilt⁸ or declare innocence⁹; this plea subjects the defendant to conviction as in the case of a guilty plea but does not obstruct¹⁰ denial of the truth of the charges in another proceeding¹¹; also called “nolo contendere,” a Latin phrase meaning “I do not wish to contend (argue)”

allegedly (adv) 所谓地，假设（某人不法或有罪）地 supposedly; relating to saying that someone has done something illegal or wrong without giving proof

Social Security (n phr) 社会安全制度，（美国）老人社会福利金 a system of payments made by the government to people who are ill, poor or who have no job; in the U.S. payments are made to old people, those whose spouses¹² have died, or people who are unable to work because they are ill

 

赢得头彩的惨痛代价

 

杨嘉倩译

 

1

杰·森莫思，36岁

赢得彩金：580万美元

结局：失去全部奖金，靠送披萨为生

杰·森莫思1988年在密西根中了580万美元的彩票头彩奖金时，只有20岁。当他领到第一笔每年29万美元的款项时，他买了不只一辆，而是5辆新车。

森莫思因为花钱如流水以致付不出税金，只好请求一位朋友帮他管理财务。20世纪90年代中期的某一天，森莫思到了银行才发现由于他朋友所做的不当投资和一些不合法的交易，他所有的钱已荡然无存。

为了维生，他接了送比萨的工作。“这真的很丢脸，因为大家都认得出我。”森莫思这么说，“才一分钟我就家喻户晓，5年之后我却身无分文。其间起伏就好像在坐云霄飞车一般。”

仍旧单身，住在底特律附近的森莫思，现在是建筑工人。“我的心里还是充满了怨恨，而且也会一辈子怨恨下去，”他表示，“如果没中彩票，我想我现在的日子会过得更好。”

 

威廉·柏斯特，64岁

赢得奖金：1620万美元

结局：他的兄弟雇用职业杀手谋杀他

威廉·柏斯特64岁时，找到一条喜欢的裤子，会一口气买个400条的日子已经过去；豪宅、农场、车子钻石也已不复存在。其实，看看柏斯特在宾州摇摇欲坠的家，你怎么也不会料想到他在1988年曾经赢得1620万美元。

一夜之间成了千万富翁，柏斯特放纵自己挥霍无度，有时候甚至陷于怪异的花钱狂热中。1994年，他的兄弟杰佛瑞对于雇用职业杀手杀害柏斯特与他当时的妻子康妮，以染指柏斯特财产的指控，缄默以对。这项阴谋吓坏了康妮，不久她便离开了柏斯特。

柏斯特目前靠着社会安全每个月558美元的残疾津贴支票维生。尽管他在1994年宣布破产，而且饱受各种病痛折磨，包括严重的气喘，柏斯特坚信，“我现在非常快乐。金钱无法买到心灵的平静。”

 

 

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 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

3 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

6 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

7 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

8 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

9 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

10 obstruct   

v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物

参考例句：

• He became still more dissatisfied with it and secretly did everything in his power to obstruct it.他对此更不满意，尽在暗里使绊子。
• The fallen trees obstruct the road.倒下的树将路堵住了。

11 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

12 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句