【新唐人2012年12月13日訊】 (美国之音電)
- 禮節美語-229-Gambling I
Patricia去找同事Kelly。
Patricia: Hey, Kelly…the boss just called me into his office. You and I have to go to Macau for a meeting with our international marketing department. The meeting is on a Friday afternoon so I was thinking we could spend the weekend down there!
Kelly: Macau, eh? So I guess you’re thinking about doing some gambling, right?
P: Well, it is legal in Macau. We might as well take advantage of this golden opportunity! Oh, there’s John.John and I used to win some serious money in Las Vegas.
Patricia告訴Kelly，老闆讓他們兩人星期五去澳門出差，跟公司的國際營銷部同事開會，問Kelly願不願意索性在澳門待一個週末，去賭場試試手氣。這時候，另外一位同事John走過來，Patricia說，John和他以前就曾在美國的賭城拉斯維加斯贏過不少錢，他說的some serious money意思是可觀的數額。John說，
John: Yep, Pete and I used to go to Las Vegas at least twice a year. Gambling can be a lot of fun.
K: I’ve never really seen the appeal of gambling. I know it’s possible to win big, but I’ve never won. I really hate losing money.
P: I hear you….but if you ever hit a jackpot you’ll be addicted for life!
J: Winning is a pretty good feeling, but a lot of people can take it too far. Patricia, did you hear about Joe?
P: You mean Joe Klein? How’s he doing?
J: Not so good. He lost his house and his wife left him. We didn’t know it at the time, but he actually had a serious gambling problem.
John和Patricia以前每年至少一起去兩次拉斯維加斯。Kelly說自己逢賭必輸，所以賭錢對她沒有appeal吸引力。Patricia說，雖然win big贏大錢的機會不多，但是if you ever hit a jackpot, you’ll be addicted for life. 一旦中了頭獎，就會一輩子上癮。John說，贏錢感覺是不錯，但千萬不能take it too far玩過頭，他們有個朋友Joe Klein had a serious gambling problem. 就是賭錢上癮，結果輸了房子不說，老婆也不要他了。
P: Really? That’s too bad.
J: He was over $75,000 in debt…so eventually the bank took his house. As you can imagine, his wife wasn’t too happy about that.
K: See? These are exactly the kind of stories I’m talking about! I think gambling can be as addictive as illegal drugs!
J: And I would have to agree. I don’t have an addictive personality by nature so I’m generally able to control myself. But…I have lost more money than I can afford on more than one occasion.
Kelly 覺得，gambling can be as addictive as illegal drugs. 賭博跟毒品差不多，讓人上癮。John 表示贊同，他說自己雖然自控能力比較強，and don’t have an addictive personality by nature 也不是那種做事喜歡上癮的人，但是賭錢的時候，還是不止一次輸得超出了自己的承受能力，這裡說的 more than one occasion 意思是不止一次。
