Gamble - 英语听力.mp3

[00:00.10]Now, the VOA
[00:13.73]Special English program
[00:15.37]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:17.71]Many people believe that
[00:20.30]money makes the world go around.
[00:23.24]Others believe that
[00:25.03]money buys happiness.
[00:27.22]I do not agree with either idea.
[00:30.70]But I do admit that money
[00:33.54]can make people do strange things.
[00:36.52]Let me tell you about a person
[00:39.56]I once knew who liked
[00:41.70]to play card games for money.
[00:44.25]He liked to gamble.
[00:46.05]My friend Bob had a problem
[00:49.38]because he liked to gamble
[00:51.82]at all costs.
[00:53.67]He would play at any time
[00:56.26]and at any price.
[00:58.55]To take part in a card game
[01:01.49]such as poker, my friend
[01:03.68]would have to ante up.
[01:05.97]He would have to pay
[01:07.86]a small amount of money
[01:09.80]at the beginning of the game.
[01:11.84]Bob always played with cold,
[01:16.08]hard cash -- onlycoins
[01:18.86]and dollar bills.
[01:20.06]Sometimes my friend would clean up.
[01:23.69]He would win a lot of money
[01:26.49]on one card game.
[01:28.53]He liked to tell me that one day
[01:32.16]he would break the bank.
[01:34.50]What a feeling it must be
[01:36.84]to win all of the money
[01:39.68]at a gambling table!
[01:41.32]Other times my friend
[01:44.11]would simply break even.
[01:46.20]He neither won nor lost money.
[01:49.08]But sometimes Bob
[01:52.32]would lose his shirt.
[01:54.01]He would lose all the money he had.
[01:57.74]He took a beating
[02:00.28]at the gambling table.
[02:01.92]When this happened, my friend
[02:05.16]would have to go in the hole.
[02:07.80]He would go into debt
[02:10.39]and owe people money.
[02:12.38]Recently, Bob turned to crime
[02:16.91]after losing all his money.
[02:19.26]In his job, he kept the books
[02:22.40]for a small business.
[02:24.29]He supervised the records
[02:26.63]of money earned and spent
[02:28.96]by the company.
[02:30.01]Although my friend
[02:32.15]was usually honest,
[02:33.99]he decided to cook the books.
[02:37.28]He illegally changed
[02:39.86]the financial records of the company.
[02:42.35]This permitted him
[02:45.19]to make a fast buck.
[02:47.03]My friend made some quick,
[02:49.72]easy money dishonestly.
[02:52.21]I never thought Bob
[02:55.29]would have sticky fingers.
[02:57.03]He did not seem like a thief
[03:00.37]who would steal money.
[03:02.21]But, some people will do
[03:05.19]anything for love of money.
[03:07.23]Bob used the money he stole
[03:11.66]from his company to gamble again.
[03:14.45]This time, he cashed in.
[03:17.27]He made a lot of money.
[03:20.15]Quickly he was back on his feet.
[03:23.44]He had returned
[03:25.23]to good financial health.
[03:27.62]His company, however,
[03:30.36]ended up in the red.
[03:32.69]It lost more money than it earned.
[03:36.58]The company was no longer profitable.
[03:40.06]It did not take long
[03:42.85]before my friend's dishonesty
[03:45.19]was discovered.
[03:46.93]The company investigated
[03:49.22]and charged him with stealing.
[03:51.61]Bob tried to pass the buck.
[03:55.50]He tried to blame someone else
[03:58.58]for the deficit.
[04:00.32]His lie did not work, however.
[04:03.51]He ended up in jail.
[04:06.00]Today, I would bet my bottom dollar
[04:10.54]that my friend will
[04:12.58]never gamble again.
[04:14.32]I would bet all I have that
[04:17.70]he learned his lesson about gambling.
[04:20.44](MUSIC)
[04:32.03]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES,
[04:33.93]in VOA Special English,
[04:36.91]was written by Jill Moss.
[04:39.25]I'm Faith Lapidus.