中考真题2024年江西市阅读理解D篇-巨额财富背后的喜与忧

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本文用真实的例子告诉我们金钱并不能买来快乐。

In October 2018, someone in South Carolina won $1.5 billion. The nearly impossible odds (概率) of winning were 1 in 302.5 million! Many people probably wish they’d been the lucky ones happily accepting the prize.

2018 年 10 月，南卡罗来纳州有人中了 15 亿美元。几乎不可能的中奖概率是3.025亿分之一！很多人可能都希望自己是那个幸运儿，高高兴兴地领奖。

It’s not hard to imagine the things one could do with this newfound wealth, but would this money actually make someone happy? The experiences of several lottery (抽奖) winners show that it probably wouldn’t. Suddenly coming into big money can change a person’s life in unexpected and sometimes unpleasant ways. Take William Post, for example, who had only $2.46 in the bank when he won $16.2 million in a New York lottery in 1998. Within 3 months, he was poor again because of careless spending. He wasn’t as happy as he felt before winning the prize.

不难想象人们可以用这笔新获得的财富做些什么，但这笔钱真的会让人快乐吗？几位彩票（抽奖）中奖者的经历表明，这可能不会。突然获得巨额奖金可能会以意想不到的方式改变一个人的生活，有时甚至是令人不快的方式。以威廉-波斯特（William Post）为例，1998 年他在纽约彩票中赢得 1,620 万美元时，银行里只有 2.46 美元。不到 3 个月，他就因为花钱大手大脚而再次陷入贫困。他不再像中奖前那么开心了。

Then there was Callie Rogers, a British teenager from a common family, won $3 million in 2003. She bought her family and friends lavish gifts and bought herself expensive clothes. After six years, Callie lost all her money and realized that money didn’t make her happy. In fact, she became worried that people were friendly with her only to get her money.

2003年，来自普通家庭的英国少女凯莉-罗杰斯（Callie Rogers）中得了300万美元。她给家人和朋友买了奢侈的礼物，还给自己买了昂贵的衣服。六年后，凯丽输光了所有的钱，她意识到金钱并不能让她快乐。事实上，她开始担心人们对她友好只是为了得到她的钱。

Lottery winners are not the only ones who can end up unhappy. People who get big money for some other reasons, e.g. receiving money from others, are also at risk. They may not know how to deal with money and do not ask experts for advice. They waste money on things they don’t need and give away too much money to friends and relatives.

并不是只有彩票中奖者才会不快乐。因其他原因（如收受他人钱财）而获得巨额财富的人也面临风险。他们可能不知道如何处理金钱，也不会向专家请教。他们把钱浪费在不需要的东西上，把太多的钱送给亲朋好友。

Researchers found that people are happy when they are able to pay for their basic needs, such as food, clothes, a safe place to live, and health care. People are also happy when they give reasonable (合理的) amounts of money to charities. Giving makes them feel as if they’re making a difference. Lavish things, such as expensive clothes and cars, only make people happy for a moment.

研究人员发现，当人们有能力支付食物、衣服、安全住所和医疗保健等基本需求时，他们会感到快乐。当人们向慈善机构捐赠合理的金钱时，他们也会感到快乐。捐赠让他们觉得自己在改变世界。奢侈的东西，如昂贵的衣服和汽车，只能让人一时快乐。