229 Gambling I

Patricia去找同事Kelly。

Patricia: Hey, Kelly...the boss just called me into his office. You and I have to go to Macau for a meeting with our international marketing department. The meeting is on a Friday afternoon so I was thinking we could spend the weekend down there!

Kelly: Macau, eh? So I guess you're thinking about doing some gambling, right?

P: Well, it is legal in Macau. We might as well take advantage of this golden opportunity! Oh, there's John.John and I used to win some serious money in Las Vegas.

Patricia告诉Kelly，老板让他们两人星期五去澳门出差，跟公司的国际营销部同事开会，问Kelly愿不愿意索性在澳门待一个周末，去赌场试试手气。这时候，另外一位同事John走过来，Patricia说，John和他以前就曾在美国的赌城拉斯维加斯赢过不少钱，他说的some serious money意思是可观的数额。John说，

John: Yep, Pete and I used to go to Las Vegas at least twice a year. Gambling can be a lot of fun.

K: I've never really seen the appeal of gambling. I know it's possible to win big, but I've never won. I really hate losing money.

P: I hear you....but if you ever hit a jackpot you'll be addicted for life!

J: Winning is a pretty good feeling, but a lot of people can take it too far. Patricia, did you hear about Joe?

P: You mean Joe Klein? How's he doing?

J: Not so good. He lost his house and his wife left him. We didn't know it at the time, but he actually had a serious gambling problem.

John和Patricia以前每年至少一起去两次拉斯维加斯。Kelly说自己逢赌必输，所以赌钱对她没有appeal吸引力。Patricia说，虽然win big赢大钱的机会不多，但是if you ever hit a jackpot, you'll be addicted for life. 一旦中了头奖，就会一辈子上瘾。John说，赢钱感觉是不错，但千万不能take it too far玩过头，他们有个朋友Joe Klein had a serious gambling problem. 就是赌钱上瘾，结果输了房子不说，老婆也不要他了。

P: Really? That's too bad.

J: He was over $75,000 in debt...so eventually the bank took his house. As you can imagine, his wife wasn't too happy about that.

K: See? These are exactly the kind of stories I'm talking about! I think gambling can be as addictive as illegal drugs!

J: And I would have to agree. I don't have an addictive personality by nature so I'm generally able to control myself. But...I have lost more money than I can afford on more than one occasion.

Kelly 觉得，gambling can be as addictive as illegal drugs. 赌博跟毒品差不多，让人上瘾。John 表示赞同，他说自己虽然自控能力比较强，and don't have an addictive personality by nature 也不是那种做事喜欢上瘾的人，但是赌钱的时候，还是不止一次输得超出了自己的承受能力，这里说的 more than one occasion 意思是不止一次。