课外短文本1
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
We do!
People who get it wrong.
In 1989, Val Johnson won￡850,000 on the pools. Immediately, she went on a spending spree that lasted for four years and five marriages. She is now penniless and alone.“I'm not a happy person,” she says.“Winning money was the most awful thing that happened to me.”
Then there is the story of Alice Hopper, who says that her￡950,000 win four years ago brought her “nothing but misery”. She walked out of the factory where she worked, and left a goodbye note for her husband on the kitchen table. She bought herself a villa in Spain, and two bars. But she found the bars more and more difficult to run. She now sings in a local Karaoke bar to earn money for groceries. “I wish I was still working in the factory,” she says.
课外短文本2
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
We do!
“It won't change us!”
That's what all winners say when they talk to reporters and television cameras as they accept the cheque and the kisses from a famous film star. And some winners, like Malcolm Price, really mean it. He refused to change his way of life when he won￡2.5 million. The next Saturday night, he went to his local pub as usual, and as usual, he didn't buy his friends a drink. They were furious! He, too, is a lonely man now.
Imagine you are an average family and you have just won￡1 million. “But it won't change us, darling,” you say to your wife. “Yes, it will!” she disagrees and argues. “I want it to change us. It will make life better! It'll be brilliant!”
Already, the children are changing. Just this morning they were ordinary, contented kids. Now they are demanding computer games, CD players, and motorbikes. Your son comes home with a music system that is bigger than the living-room.
In the first week you receive two thousand letters advising you how to spend your money.
You begin to think that winning a fortune brings more problems than it solves!
课内文本
“Who wants to be a Millionaire? I don't,” says Charles Gray
Angus Deayton interviews ex-millionaire Charles Gray
A lot of people are determined to become a millionaire. They spend half their time dreaming up ways of getting rich, and the rest of their time thinking about all the enjoyable things they would do once they got rich. But do all millionaires find the happiness that they thought they would get when they achieve their goals? Some millionaires continue to be concerned about money when they become millionaires. They are hardworking to get all that money. Then they are hardworking to make sure they never lose it!
But there are people who have turned their backs on their millions and found different ways to be happy in their lives. Charles Gray is one example.
Sixteen years ago, Charles was a college professor with a huge six-bedroom house and $2 million. Today he lives in a small dormitory room where there is only second-hand furniture. There are certainly no signs that Charles was a rich man! There is a small garden outside with a few fruit trees. Charles grows some vegetables and a few flowers. He gets his clothes and a lot of other things from charity shops.
But Charles appreciates this change. He was pleased to give up the lifestyle of a rich man. He was tired of being a person who had everything in a world where many people had nothing. He made the choice to give all his money away. And this, he said, brought him happiness.
“A few years ago,” says Charles, “I was a millionaire, but was aware there were a lot of hungry people in the world.” Therefore he gave away all his money to charities. When he had two thousand dollars left, he gave away small bank notes in the streets of local poor areas. Did he feel like Father Christmas? “It was a lot of fun,” says Charles.
Charles believes that many people want to earn a lot of money so that they will not have any worries. However, most people never make much money. Charles Gray decided to drop out and has discovered that having only a little money makes you free. Are there any things he misses? “No, I'm much happier now. I wouldn't go back to being rich for anything — no way.”