The Lottery Ticket 乐透彩券
“Hello, Liana, I didn’t know you shop here, otherwise I could have given you a lift, carrying all those bags in the bus must be drudgery!” Liana turned round to the loud voice behind.
“Oh, hello Joyce, it’s alright, thanks anyway. James will help…”
“I am going to get some lottery tickets, do you want one? Not that we need the jackpot, but they do provide a bit fun to boring Saturday night TV. Come on, I’ll get you one if you don’t mind the numbers I choose.” Joyce took a big handful of tickets and started to pick the numbers.
“We don’t buy lottery tickets; James doesn’t believe…”
“Never mind him, here, I’ll choose the same numbers for these two tickets and we each have one, if we get any prize, count it as my treat. Must dash, George is waiting for me in the restaurant to have lunch. Good luck. Liana,” Joyce put a ticket in Liana’s hand and rushed away.
“Err…thanks, Joyce, goodbye…” Liana wasn’t sure what to do with the ticket. Suddenly James appeared.
“Ready, dear? What’s the matter? Are you looking for something?” He took over some bags.
“I just saw Joyce, and she bought a lottery ticket for me.” Liana showed him the ticket.
“Never mind her! She does nothing but showing off!” James took over the ticket and dropped it in a shopping bag.
“哈啰，莉安娜，我不知道妳在这里购物，不然我可让妳撘个便车，在公交车上提那些袋子一定很辛苦吧!” 莉安娜往背后那个大声音转过身来。
“喔，哈啰，乔伊斯，没关系，多谢了，詹姆士会帮…”
“我要去买一些彩券，妳要一张吗? 并非我们需要中头奖，但彩券为星期六晚间无聊的电视节目提供一点乐趣。来嘛，我来买一张给妳如果妳不介意我挑选的号码。” 乔伊斯拿了一大把彩券开始挑号码。
“我们不买乐透彩券的﹔詹姆士不相信…”
“别理他，这儿，这两张我选相同的号码我们各一张，如果我们中了任何奖，就当是我请客。得赶啰，乔治正在餐厅等着我吃午餐哩。祝好运了。莉安娜，”乔伊斯将一张彩券塞在莉安娜的手中就匆忙走了。
“哦…谢谢了，乔伊斯，再见…”莉安娜决定不下要把那张彩券怎么办。詹姆士突然出现了。
“好了吗? 亲爱的?怎么了? 妳在找什么东西吗?”他接过几个袋子。
“我刚看到乔伊斯，她买了一张乐透彩券给我。” 莉安娜将彩券拿给他看。
“别理她! 她只不过在炫耀而已!”詹姆士接过彩券就丢进一个购物袋里。
Early on the following Sunday morning, Joyce was outside Liana’s door.
“Morning, Joyce, What brought you…?”
“Liana dear, you remember that lottery ticket I bought you? You said James doesn’t believe in the lottery. Where is the ticket?” Joyce sounded strange.
“I don’t know. I think….”
“Think hard, Liana, it’s important!” Joyce was impatient.
“I gave it to James and he…I really don’t know what he did with it. Why? I could pay you the pound if you…” Liana couldn’t understand why Joyce got so worked up about the ticket.
“I don’t want your money, I just want the ticket. Come on, Liana, think harder, where did James put the ticket? You must know,” Joyce looked angry.
接着的那个星期天一大早，乔伊斯在莉安娜的门外。
“早啊，乔伊斯，什么事把你带来…?”
“莉安娜亲爱的，你记得我买给你的那张乐透彩券吗? 你说詹姆士不相信乐透。那张彩券在哪里?” 乔伊斯听起来很奇怪。
“我不知道。我想…”
“仔细想，莉安娜，很重要的!” 乔伊斯有点不耐烦。
“我把它给詹姆士了而他…我真的不知道他把彩券怎么了。为什么? 我可以付你一镑如果你…”莉安娜不明白乔伊斯为什么会因为那张彩券而弄得这么气急。
“我不要你的钱，我只要那张彩券。快点，莉安娜，再仔细想，詹姆士把彩券放到哪儿去了?你一定知道的，”乔伊斯看起来生气了。
James came back from his morning run.
“Where did you put my lottery ticket, James?” Joyce asked hopefully.
“What lottery ticket? Oh! The one you gave Liana? I dropped into…”
“Where? Where did you drop, James?” Joyce was anxious.
“What’s the matter, Joyce? It’s only a ticket…” Liana was puzzled.
“That’s a runner up ticket! Oh, I mean I didn’t know I was going to pick the right numbers, this is the first time I ever wan anything big. Not that the money matters, but it would pay for a nice holiday in Australia, and I did pick the numbers, and you didn’t really want it, did you? Liana, I thought …”
“Oh … I see, you want the ticket back.” Liana looked at Joyce’s face, and had a strange feeling, “I’ll ask James to look for it.”
詹姆士从他的晨跑回来。
“你把我的乐透彩券放在哪里，詹姆士?”乔伊斯满怀希望地问。
“什么乐透彩券，乔伊斯? 喔!你给莉安娜的那一张吗?我丢进了…”
“哪里? 你丢进了哪里，詹姆士?” 乔伊斯很焦急。
“怎么了，乔伊斯? 只是一张彩券…”莉安娜有点迷惑。
“那是张二奖彩券耶! 喔，我是说我不知道我会挑对号码，这是我第一次赢的从未有过的大奖。并不是金钱的问题，可是它可用来付去澳洲度个蛮不错的假，而我的确挑选号码，你也并不真的要它的，不是吗， 莉安娜?我想…”
“喔…我知道了，你要讨回那张彩券。” 莉安娜望着乔伊斯的脸，有点奇怪的感觉，“我去问詹姆士找找看。”
“Look in the shopping bags!” James was on his way to the bathroom.
Liana searched through the bags and found the crumpled ticket.
“Oh, Liana, thank you, George would be pleased to know I got the ticket, he thought you would never give it back to me. I know you would,” Joyce grabbed the ticket from Liana’s hand, “I shall remember to bring you a souvenir back from Australia, must dash now. Bye!”
Liana stood on the doorway silently. She just came round to realise what had happened.
“A runner up prize! It could pay for my new cooker, new washing machine and a new bike, or even a car. Oh Good Heavens! She is just going to blow it on a holiday in Australia!” Liana had a trace of anger in her voice, “She said it was going to be a treat for me!”
“Never mind. Easy come easy go! That’s what lottery prizes come to.”
“购物袋里找找看!” 詹姆士正要去浴室。
莉安娜寻遍购物袋找到那张皱折的彩券。
“喔，莉安娜，谢谢你，乔治知道我拿到这彩券一定会很高兴的，他认为你 决不会还给我的。我知道你会的，” 乔伊斯从莉安娜的手里把那彩券抓走， “我会记得从澳洲带个纪念品回来给你的，现在得赶啰。再见!”
莉安娜静静地站在门口。她这才恍然觉悟到底发生了什么事。
“二奖彩券! 那可够付我的新炉子，新洗衣机和一台新脚踏车，或甚至一辆汽车。喔老天啊!她竟然要把它花在一个澳洲的假期!” 莉安娜的声音里含着一丝丝的生气， “她说那是当请我客的!”
“别介意了。来得容易去也容易! 那就是乐透奖金的结局。”
A month later, Liana went to a village fair, she was shocked to hear bad news about Joyce and George. Their house was burgled while they were on holiday in Australia; they had lost a large sum of money because the insurance company was having trouble too.
Liana put a load of dirty clothes into the old washing machine and turned it on, but nothing happened.
“James, the washing machine needs a kick from you to start.”
“Alright, dear.”
“Poor Joyce, she must feel horrible.” Liana sighed.
“Didn’t I say? Easy come easy go!”
“What? Oh.”
一个月后，莉安娜去个村庄市集，她听到有关乔伊斯和乔治的坏消息吃了一惊。当他们在澳洲度假时他们的家被偷了﹔因为他们的保险公司也有问题而使得他们损失了一大笔钱。
莉安娜将一大堆脏衣服放入那旧洗衣机打开开关，但洗衣机动都没动。
“詹姆士，洗衣机要你踢一脚才肯开动。”
“好的，亲爱的。”
“可怜的乔伊斯，她一定觉得很难过。” 莉安娜叹着气。
“我不是说了吗? 来得容易去也容易啊!”
“什么? 喔。”
