The Lottery Ticket 樂透彩券
“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.
“哈囉，莉安娜，我不知道妳在這裡購物，不然我可讓妳撘個便車，在公車上提那些袋子一定很辛苦吧!” 莉安娜往背後那個大聲音轉過身來。
“喔，哈囉，喬伊絲，沒關係，多謝了，詹姆士會幫…”
“我要去買一些彩券，妳要一張嗎? 並非我們需要中頭獎，但彩券為星期六晚間無聊的電視節目提供一點樂趣。來嘛，我來買一張給妳如果妳不介意我挑選的號碼。” 喬伊絲拿了一大把彩券開始挑號碼。
“我們不買樂透彩券的﹔詹姆士不相信…”
“別理他，這兒，這兩張我選相同的號碼我們各一張，如果我們中了任何獎，就當是我請客。得趕囉，喬治正在餐廳等著我吃午餐哩。祝好運了。莉安娜，”喬伊絲將一張彩券塞在莉安娜的手中就匆忙走了。
“哦…謝謝了，喬伊絲，再見…”莉安娜決定不下要把那張彩券怎麼辦。詹姆士突然出現了。
“好了嗎? 親愛的?怎麼了? 妳在找什麼東西嗎?”他接過幾個袋子。
“我剛看到喬伊絲，她買了一張樂透彩券給我。” 莉安娜將彩券拿給他看。
“別理她!她只不過在炫燿而已!”詹姆士接過彩券就丟進一個購物袋裡。
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.
接著的那個星期天一大早，喬伊絲在莉安娜的門外。
“早啊，喬伊絲，什麼事把你帶來…?”
“莉安娜親愛的，你記得我買給你的那張樂透彩券嗎? 你說詹姆士不相信樂透。那張彩券在哪裡?” 喬伊絲聽起來很奇怪。
“我不知道。我想…”
“仔細想，莉安娜，很重要的!” 喬伊絲有點不耐煩。
“我把它給詹姆士了而他…我真的不知道他把彩券怎麼了。為什麼? 我可以付你一鎊如果你…”莉安娜不明白喬伊絲為什麼會因為那張彩券而弄得這麼氣急。
“我不要你的錢，我只要那張彩券。快點，莉安娜，再仔細想，詹姆士把彩券放到哪兒去了?你一定知道的，”喬伊絲看起來生氣了。
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.”
詹姆士從他的晨跑回來。
“你把我的樂透彩券放在哪裡，詹姆士?”喬伊絲滿懷希望地問。
“什麼樂透彩券，喬伊絲? 喔!你給莉安娜的那一張嗎?我丟進了…”
“哪裡? 你丟進了哪裡，詹姆士?” 喬伊絲很焦急。
“怎麼了，喬伊絲? 只是一張彩券…”莉安娜有點迷惑。
“那是張二獎彩券耶! 喔，我是說我不知道我會挑對號碼，這是我第一次贏的從未有過的大獎。並不是金錢的問題，可是它可用來付去澳洲度個蠻不錯的假，而我的確挑選號碼，你也並不真的要它的，不是嗎， 莉安娜?我想…”
“喔…我知道了，你要討回那張彩券。” 莉安娜望著喬伊絲的臉，有點奇怪的感覺，“我去問詹姆士找找看。”
“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.”
“購物袋裡找找看!” 詹姆士正要去浴室。
莉安娜尋遍購物袋找到那張皺摺的彩券。
“喔，莉安娜，謝謝你，喬治知道我拿到這彩券一定會很高興的，他認為你 決不會還給我的。我知道你會的，” 喬伊絲從莉安娜的手裡把那彩券抓走， “我會記得從澳洲帶個紀念品回來給你的，現在得趕囉。再見!”
莉安娜靜靜地站在門口。她這才恍然覺悟到底發生了什麼事。
“二獎彩券! 那可夠付我的新爐子，新洗衣機和一台新腳踏車，或甚至一輛汽車。喔老天啊!她竟然要把它花在一個澳洲的假期!” 莉安娜的聲音裡含著一絲絲的生氣， “她說那是當請我客的!”
“別介意了。來得容易去也容易! 那就是樂透獎金的結局。”
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.”
一個月後，莉安娜去個村莊市集，她聽到有關喬伊絲和喬治的壞消息吃了一驚。當他們在澳洲度假時他們的家被偷了﹔因為他們的保險公司也有問題而使得他們損失了一大筆錢。
莉安娜將一大堆髒衣服放入那舊洗衣機打開開關，但洗衣機動都沒動。
“詹姆士，洗衣機要你踢一腳才肯開動。”
“好的，親愛的。”
“可憐的喬伊絲，她一定覺得很難過。” 莉安娜嘆著氣。
“我不是說了嗎? 來得容易去也容易啊!”
“什麼? 喔。"
