[ti:Money, Part 2] [ar:Faith Lapidus] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more... [00:11.21]Now, the VOA [00:13.73]Special English program [00:15.37]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:17.71]Many people believe that [00:20.30]money makes the world go around. [00:23.24]Others believe that [00:25.03]money buys happiness. [00:27.22]I do not agree with either idea. [00:30.70]But I do admit that money [00:33.54]can make people do strange things. [00:36.52]Let me tell you about a person [00:39.56]I once knew who liked [00:41.70]to play card games for money. [00:44.25]He liked to gamble. [00:46.05]My friend Bob had a problem [00:49.38]because he liked to gamble [00:51.82]at all costs. [00:53.67]He would play at any time [00:56.26]and at any price. [00:58.55]To take part in a card game [01:01.49]such as poker, my friend [01:03.68]would have to ante up. [01:05.97]He would have to pay [01:07.86]a small amount of money [01:09.80]at the beginning of the game. [01:11.84]Bob always played with cold, [01:16.08]hard cash -- onlycoins [01:18.86]and dollar bills. [01:20.06]Sometimes my friend would clean up. [01:23.69]He would win a lot of money [01:26.49]on one card game. [01:28.53]He liked to tell me that one day [01:32.16]he would break the bank. [01:34.50]What a feeling it must be [01:36.84]to win all of the money [01:39.68]at a gambling table! [01:41.32]Other times my friend [01:44.11]would simply break even. [01:46.20]He neither won nor lost money. [01:49.08]But sometimes Bob [01:52.32]would lose his shirt. [01:54.01]He would lose all the money he had. [01:57.74]He took a beating [02:00.28]at the gambling table. [02:01.92]When this happened, my friend [02:05.16]would have to go in the hole. [02:07.80]He would go into debt [02:10.39]and owe people money. [02:12.38]Recently, Bob turned to crime [02:16.91]after losing all his money. [02:19.26]In his job, he kept the books [02:22.40]for a small business. [02:24.29]He supervised the records [02:26.63]of money earned and spent [02:28.96]by the company. [02:30.01]Although my friend [02:32.15]was usually honest, [02:33.99]he decided to cook the books. [02:37.28]He illegally changed [02:39.86]the financial records of the company. [02:42.35]This permitted him [02:45.19]to make a fast buck. [02:47.03]My friend made some quick, [02:49.72]easy money dishonestly. [02:52.21]I never thought Bob [02:55.29]would have sticky fingers. [02:57.03]He did not seem like a thief [03:00.37]who would steal money. [03:02.21]But, some people will do [03:05.19]anything for love of money. [03:07.23]Bob used the money he stole [03:11.66]from his company to gamble again. [03:14.45]This time, he cashed in. [03:17.27]He made a lot of money. [03:20.15]Quickly he was back on his feet. [03:23.44]He had returned [03:25.23]to good financial health. [03:27.62]His company, however, [03:30.36]ended up in the red. [03:32.69]It lost more money than it earned. [03:36.58]The company was no longer profitable. [03:40.06]It did not take long [03:42.85]before my friend's dishonesty [03:45.19]was discovered. [03:46.93]The company investigated [03:49.22]and charged him with stealing. [03:51.61]Bob tried to pass the buck. [03:55.50]He tried to blame someone else [03:58.58]for the deficit. [04:00.32]His lie did not work, however. [04:03.51]He ended up in jail. [04:06.00]Today, I would bet my bottom dollar [04:10.54]that my friend will [04:12.58]never gamble again. [04:14.32]I would bet all I have that [04:17.70]he learned his lesson about gambling. [04:20.44](MUSIC) [04:32.03]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, [04:33.93]in VOA Special English, [04:36.91]was written by Jill Moss. [04:39.25]I'm Faith Lapidus.