The High Cost of Winning

The High Cost of Winning

 

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Denise Rossi, 53, Won: $1.3 million, Outcome: Stripped of her winnings

Blind-sided—that’s how Thomas Rossi felt when Denise, his wife of 26 years, hit him with divorce papers in 1997. “I thought we got along well,” says Rossi, “I couldn’t understand it. She wanted me to move out of the house very fast. It wasn’t like her to act this way.”

 

Two years later it all made sense. Rossi learned Denise had scored $1.3 million in a lottery¹ on December 28, 1996—11 days before she filed for divorce. He took her to court for not disclosing the money, and the judge awarded Thomas Rossi the entire haul. According to her lawyer Connolly Oyler, Denise could have kept half and perhaps all of her loot had she been honest, but the court ruled that “her failure to disclose was a fraud.”

 

Billie Bob Harrell Jr., 50, Won: $31 million, Outcome: Lost his marriage—and his life

Billie Bob Harrell Jr. was just about broke when he won $31 million in June 1997. He quit his hardware store job and took his family to Hawaii. He gave tens of thousands to his church, and lavished² cars and houses on friends and family. He even bought 480 turkeys for the poor.

 

Suddenly, strangers were calling, demanding donations. Harrell had to change his phone number several times. The strain of it all damaged his marriage, and less than a year after winning Harrell split from his wife.

 

Harrell’s reckless spending and lending vaporized the rest of the money. In the end, all he wanted was to have his family back. One night in 1999, his oldest son found him dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. “Winning the lottery,” Harrell had earlier told a friend, “was the worst thing that ever happened to me.”

 

Vocabulary Focus

blind-side (v) [5blaind7said] to surprise someone, usually with harmful results; to attack someone from behind

hit (v) [hit] to present suddenly or unexpectedly, usually in a negative way

haul (n) [hC:l] a large amount of something

vaporize (v) [5veipEraiz] to make or cause something to disappear

 

Specialized³ Terms

disclose (v) 公布，暴露 to make something known publicly or to show something that was hidden

loot (n)（通常指以不当手段取得的）钱或值钱的物品 money and valuable objects, often stolen items

 

赢得头彩的惨痛代价

 

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丹妮丝·罗西，53岁

赢得奖金：130万美元

结局：失去她赢得的一切

当汤马斯·罗西于1997年毫无预警地接到结发26年的妻子，丹妮丝的一纸离婚协议书时，他的感觉是——“我以为我们相处得很好，”罗西这么说，“我不懂这是怎么一回事。她要我立刻搬出我们的家。这一点也不像她的作风。”

两年之后，一切水落石出。罗西获悉丹妮丝在1996年的12月28日，也就是她提出离婚前的11天，中了一笔130万美元的彩票。因为丹妮丝隐瞒了这笔钱，罗西与她对簿公堂，而法官判罗西可获得全部的奖金。根据丹妮丝的律师康诺利·欧意乐表示，如果她一开始就诚实的话，有可能保住全部或至少一半的财产。但是法庭裁定，“她不愿泄露拥有财产，是一种诈骗的行为。”

 

比利·鲍伯·哈洛二世，50岁

赢得奖金：3100万美元

结局：家破人亡

比利·鲍伯·哈洛二世在1997年6月赢得3lOO万美元时，正濒临破产。他辞去五金店的工作，带着全家人去夏威夷。他捐赠了数万美元给他所属的教会，又非常大方地买车子及房子送给朋友和家人。他甚至买了480只火鸡给穷人。

突然，陌生人要求捐赠的电话不断涌入。哈洛必须数次更换电话号码。这种紧绷的压力毁了他的婚姻，他在赢得奖金之后不到一年便与妻子分开。

哈洛随便花钱及把钱借贷给别人的方式，很快地就将剩余的钱消耗殆尽。到了最后，他只希望家人能再回到身边。1999年的一个夜晚，他的大儿子发现他举枪自尽。哈洛之前曾经对一位朋友这么说，“中彩票头奖，是发生在我身上最不幸的一件事。”

 

 

 

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 lavished   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I lavished all the warmth of my pent-up passion. 我把憋在心里那一股热烈的情感尽量地倾吐出来。 来自辞典例句
• An enormous amount of attention has been lavished on these problems. 在这些问题上，我们已经花费了大量的注意力。 来自辞典例句

3 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。