The Lottery

彩票

Joe was watching television when he heard a knock at the door. He thought, "Who could that be? It's probably one of the naughty neighborhood children. " Joe stood up and walked to the door. When he opened it, he saw a beautiful woman. 乔正在看电视，突然听到有人敲门。他想:“会是谁呢?”可能是附近淘气的孩子。”乔站起身，向门口走去。当他打开门时，看到一个漂亮的女人。

She said, "Good morning, Joe! I have great news. You're the recipient of this check for one million dollars! You won the lottery!"

她说:“早上好，乔!我有个好消息。这张一百万美元支票归你了!你中了彩票!”

Joe couldn't believe it. His mind was overloaded with emotions. Joe said, "Thank you! Thank you!"

乔简直不敢相信。他的脑子乱成一团。乔说:“谢谢你!谢谢你!”

After he calmed down, Joe made a photocopy of the check in case he misplaced the original one. He sat and thought about what he wanted to do with the money. He didn't want to spend it in an arbitrary way. Joe thought, "I know there are others who need this money more than I do. I've always loved animals, so I think I'll buy things for the zoo!"

平静下来后，乔把支票复印了一份，以防把原件放错了地方。他坐下来，想了想他要怎么处理这笔钱。他不想任意挥霍。乔想:“我知道还有人比我更需要这笔钱。我一直很喜欢动物，所以我想我会给动物园买些东西!”

Joe knew that the zoo was in bad shape. The cages were too small, and they weren't insulated from the cold. Animals couldn't thrive in such conditions.

乔知道动物园的情况很糟。笼子太小了，而且不能御寒。动物在这种条件下不能茁壮成长。

He took out some stationery and wrote a letter to the zoo. He offered to help the zoo buy huge cages for the large mammals and reptiles. He offered to buy healthy food for the orangutans to increase their longevity. He even said that he would buy new glass walls for the aquarium because the old ones were cracked.

他拿出纸笔，给动物园写了一封信。他提出帮助动物园为大型哺乳动物和爬行动物购买大型笼子，并为猩猩们购买健康食品，以延长它们的寿命。他甚至说他会为水族馆买新的玻璃墙，因为旧的玻璃墙已经裂了。

Joe's act of philanthropy intrigued the zookeeper. He probed Joe to learn why he spent his money to improve the zoo. It wasn't a social convention for a person to be so gracious.

乔的慈善行为引起了动物园管理员的兴趣。他试探乔，想知道他为什么花钱改善动物园。一个人如此和蔼可亲有些反常。

Joe told the zookeeper, "I know it's not the norm, but my ultimate decision to help these animals is better than anything I could have done for myself. If I ever write an autobiography, I will write that this was the happiest day of my life."

乔对动物园管理员说:“我知道这不正常，但我最终决定帮助这些动物，这比我能为自己做的任何事情都要好。”如果我要写自传，我会写这是我一生中最快乐的一天。”

核心单词表

aquarium n. 水族馆

arbitrary adj. 任意的

autobiography n. 自传

convention n. 习俗

gracious adj. 亲切的

improve v. 改善

insulate v. 隔离

intrigue v. 用诡计取得

longevity n. 长寿

misplace v. 放错地方

naughty adj. 顽皮的

norm n. 标准

orangutan n. 猩猩

overload v. 超载

philanthropy n. 博爱

probe v. 调查

recipient n. 接受者

reptile n. 爬行动物

thrive v. 繁荣

ultimate adj. 最终的

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