VOA慢速英语2018 谁想成为亿万富翁？

Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?

This is What’s Trending Today…

Who wants to be a billionaire?

谁想成为亿万富翁？

For a $2 ticket, people have a chance to win the Mega Millions record-breaking lottery 1 jackpot of $1.6 billion. The drawing is on Tuesday night in the United States.

人们只要一张2美元的彩票，就有机会赢得超级百万（Mega Millions）创纪录的16亿美元的彩票头奖，开奖时间是美国的周二晚上。

Players also have a chance at winning the Powerball jackpot, which is now up to $620 million. That drawing will be on Wednesday night.

人们还有机会赢得现在高达6.2亿美元的强力球（Powerball jackpot），开奖时间将在周三晚上。

Mega Millions is a lottery game played in 44 American states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin 2 Islands. The winning ticket must match six numbers, from 1 to 70. Several states permit online ticket purchases. Out-of-state or overseas purchases are not permitted.

超级百万是一种在美国44个州、华盛顿特区以及美属维尔京群岛销售的彩票，中奖者必须匹配从1到70的6个数字。有几个州允许在网上销售彩票，但是不允许外州以及国外购买。

The first Mega Millions drawing was on May 17, 2002. That winner received a jackpot of $28 million – a small amount compared to this week’s jackpot.

第一期超级百万的开奖时间是2002年5月17日，那位中奖者赢得了2800万美元的头奖，与本周的头奖相比金额很小。

The most recent Mega Millions drawing on October 19 was for a jackpot of $1 billion dollars. But no one won. It was the 25th drawing in a row that did not result in a winner.

最近一期超级百万开奖是在10月19日，头奖为10亿美元，这是连续25期没有人中头奖。

About 280 million tickets were sold for the October 19 drawing. Those tickets covered 60 percent of all possible number combinations 3.

10月19日那期开奖大约售出了2.8亿张彩票，这些彩票覆盖了所有可能数字组合的60%。

So, what are your chances of winning the $1.6-billion jackpot this time?

那么，这次赢得16亿美元头奖的概率有多大？

Very, very small.

概率非常非常小。

The financial website The Motley Fool says the chance of someone winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302,575,350. The chance is a little better with the Powerball. It is 1 in 292,201,338.

金融网站“傻瓜投资指南”（The Motley Fool）表示，超级百万头奖的中奖概率是302,575,350分之一。强力球彩票的中奖概率略高，为292,201,338分之一。

You are more likely to get struck by lightning than win the jackpot, at least in the United States. The National Weather Service says a person has about a 1 in a million chance of getting hit.

至少在美国，你更可能被闪电击中而不是中头奖。美国国家气象局表示，人们有百万分之一的概率被闪电击中。

You are much more likely to get accepted to Harvard University. The Ivy 4 League school accepted 5 percent of its 39,000 applicants 6 for its 2021 class. That is a 1 in 20 chance.

你更有可能被哈佛大学录取。这所常春藤联盟学校录取了其2021年课程3.9万名申请者中的5%，这是20选1的概率。

Americans even have a better chance at becoming president than they do at winning this week’s jackpot. The U.S. population is about 326 million. There are about 10 presidents in an average lifetime. So, a person’s chances at becoming president are 1 in 32.6 million. However, the U.S. Constitution requires that a person be at least 35 years old and a “natural born citizen” to be elected president.

美国人甚至成为总统的概率都要比中本周头奖的概率大。美国大约有3.26亿人口。人一生之中平均要经历大约10位总统。所以，一个人成为总统的概率是3260万分之一。然而，美国宪法规定要年满35周岁，并且在美国本土出生的公民才能当选总统。

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

lottery - n. a way of raising money for a government, charity, etc., in which many tickets are sold and a few of the tickets are chosen by chance to win prizes

jackpot - n. a usually large amount of money won in a game of chance

drawing - n. an act of choosing something (such as a winning ticket) from a group without knowing

applicant 5 - n. someone who formally asks for something (such as a job or admission 7 to a college)

in a row - phrase. following one after another

average - n. ordinary or usual