书虫1级《彩票大赢家》7. 谁会是赢家？

7. So who's going to win?

On Thursday evening Sally Cash went home. When she arrived, her husband Colin was in the living-room. 'Hi,' Colin said. 'Did you have a good day?'

Not bad,' Sally said. 'I'm working on a very interesting case. It's going to be on the news tonight, I think. Let's put the television on.'

After about ten minutes, the newsreader said:

And now for some news about Sunshine Lotteries. The winner of last Saturday's lottery was Jason Williams. He had the winning ticket, and Sunshine Lotteries gave him a cheque for five million pounds. Now Mr Williams wants to give one million pounds to the charity "Help the Children".

But is it Mr Williams's money? Mrs Emma Carter says that it isn't. This is Mrs Carter's story. In the town last Saturday afternoon a young man hit her on the head and snatched her bag. And in that bag was a lottery ticket – the ticket with the winning numbers. Mrs Carter remembers the numbers very well, she says. So is it Jason Williams's ticket, or Mrs Carter's ticket? Who's going to get the money? We have a lawyer with us here, so let's ask him that question.'

The lawyer talked very interestingly.

Who's that?' asked Colin.

That's old Sam Green,' said Sally. 'He's a good lawyer. He's working for Sunshine Lotteries, I think.'

And who are you working for, Sally?'

Jason Williams.'

And he snatched this woman's bag, yes?' said Colin. 'Is he going to go to prison, do you think?'

Perhaps,' Sally said. 'But when he comes out, he's going to have five million pounds – or four million pounds.'

But it's Emma Carter's money!' Colin said. 'It was her ticket, in her bag. Of course it was!'

Well, she says it was,' said Sally. 'But how do we know? She's an old woman. Old people forget things easily. Perhaps she thought about her lottery numbers, but forgot to buy a ticket that day.'

So the bag-snatcher wins, eh?' said Colin. He looked at Sally. 'He hits an old woman on the head, and wins five million pounds. Wonderful!'

I know,' Sally said. 'It's difficult to like Jason Williams, it's true. He has a wife and child, but his wife left him because he hit her and the baby. But we must be careful. Perhaps he is telling the truth about the lottery ticket.'

Never!' said Colin. 'When the case comes to court, they're going to believe Mrs Carter, not Jason Williams. He's nasty!'

When the case comes to court, they're going to believe Mrs Carter, not Jason Williams.'

No, he isn't. He wants to give one million pounds to "Help the Children". People are going to like that. What a nice young man!'

Colin laughed. 'Lawyers!' he said. 'So who's going to win, Sally?' he asked.

The lawyers, of course. Five million pounds is a lot of money, and we're going to have a wonderful time. There's a lot of us, you see. There's Mrs Carter's lawyer, Jason's wife's lawyer, the lawyer for "Help the Children", the lawyer for Sunshine Lotteries – and me, Jason's lawyer. We're going to talk about it in court for days and days. And lawyers are expensive. When we finish, a lot of that five million pounds is going to be our money!'

Sally smiled, happily. 'Colin, shall we get a new car? A Mercedes, perhaps?'