[ti:Money, Part 1] [ar:Faith Lapidus] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more... [00:10.50]Now, the VOA [00:12.70]Special English program [00:15.09]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:17.67]I think people everywhere [00:20.16]dream about having lots of money. [00:23.40]I know I do. [00:24.89]I would give anything [00:27.23]to make money hand over fist. [00:30.12]I would like to earn [00:32.01]large amounts of money. [00:34.25]You could win a large amount [00:37.08]of money in the United States [00:38.92]through lotteries. [00:41.31]People pay money for tickets [00:44.01]with numbers. [00:45.40]If your combination [00:47.79]of numbers is chosen, [00:49.75]you win a huge amount of money [00:53.19]¨C often in the millions. [00:55.53]Winning the lottery is a windfall. [00:59.41]A few years ago, [01:02.49]my friend Al won the lottery. [01:05.48]It changed his life. [01:07.87]He did not have a rich family. [01:11.05]He was not born [01:12.64]with a silver spoon [01:14.64]in his mouth. [01:15.88]Instead, my friend was [01:18.42]always hard up for cash. [01:20.41]He did not have much money. [01:23.05]And the money he did earn [01:25.63]was chicken feed ¨C very little. [01:28.92]Sometimes Al even had [01:31.51]to accept hand-outs, gifts [01:34.34]from his family and friends. [01:36.48]But do not get me wrong. [01:38.67]My friend was not a deadbeat. [01:41.66]He was not the kind of person [01:44.00]who never paid the money he owed. [01:46.98]He simply pinched pennies. [01:50.22]He was always very careful [01:52.86]with the money he spent. [01:54.50]In fact, he was often [01:56.94]a cheapskate. [01:58.33]He did not like to spend money. [02:01.32]The worst times were [02:04.30]when he was flat broke [02:06.29]and had no money at all. [02:08.88]One day, Al scraped together [02:13.56]a few dollars for a lottery ticket. [02:16.54]He thought he would never [02:18.68]strike it rich or gain lots [02:21.92]of money unexpectedly. [02:23.86]But his combination of numbers [02:27.54]was chosen and he won the lottery. [02:31.42]He hit the jackpot. [02:33.86]He won a great deal of money. [02:37.00]Al was so excited. [02:40.39]The first thing he did [02:42.78]was buy a costly new car. [02:46.21]He splurged on the one thing [02:49.60]that he normally would not buy. [02:52.48]Then he started spending money [02:56.57]on unnecessary things. [02:59.10]He started to waste it. [03:01.95]It was like he had money to burn. [03:05.38]He had more money than he needed [03:08.97]and it was burning a hole [03:11.70]in his pocket so he spent it quickly. [03:15.44]When we got together for a meal [03:19.23]at a restaurant, Al paid every time. [03:23.51]He would always foot the bill, [03:26.05]and pick up the tab. [03:27.89]He told me the money made him [03:31.47]feel like a million dollars. [03:33.91]He was very happy. [03:36.50]But, Al spent too much money. [03:40.28]Soon my friend was down and out again. [03:44.36]He had no money left. [03:46.75]He was back to being [03:49.24]strapped for cash. [03:50.78]He had spent his bottom dollar, [03:53.52]his very last amount. [03:56.35]He did not even build up a nest egg. [04:00.48]He had not saved any of the money. [04:03.87]I admit I do feel sorry [04:07.56]for my friend. [04:08.81]He had enough money to live like a king. [04:12.69]Instead, he is back to living [04:16.02]on a shoestring -- a very low budget. [04:19.60]Some might say he is penny wise [04:23.39]and pound foolish. [04:25.28]He was wise about small things, [04:28.01]but not about important things. [04:31.00](MUSIC) [04:41.50]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, [04:44.14]in VOA Special English, [04:46.88]was written by Jill Moss. [04:49.02]I'm Faith Lapidus.