人们把1美元变成100万美元的最快方法是什么？：英语精读讲义

You've probably all heard of a get rich quick scheme and you've probably also heard the adage that there's no such thing as easy money. 講解

您可能都听说过快速致富的骗局，也可能听过“天下没有免费的午餐”这句俗语。

But what if you were one of the luckiest people alive? 語法

但是，如果您是世界上最幸运的人之一呢？

Maybe a gambler that started with little but made the bet of a lifetime. 短語搭配

也许是一个本金很少，却做了一生中最赚钱赌注的赌徒。

Or a savvy investor that somehow managed to start with a buck and make it a million. 短語搭配

或者是一个精明的投资者，不知怎么地用一美元起家，赚到了一百万。

Or perhaps you have an eye for expensive antiques 習語

或者也许您对昂贵的古董慧眼独具，

and bought something for barely anything and sold it for a fortune. 短語搭配

用极低的价格买到了某件东西，然后高价卖出。

Do these things even exist?

这些事真的存在吗？

Have people really started with a dollar and then got rich off of it? 短語搭配

真的有人用一美元起家，然后靠它发大财吗？

That's what we'll find out today. 表達脈絡

这就是我们今天要探讨的内容。

In this episode of the Infographics Show,

在本期《信息图表秀》（The Infographics Show）节目中，

fastest way people turned $1 into a million.

我们来看看人们用1美元赚到100万美元的最快方法。

Don't forget to subscribe and click the bell button so that you can be part of our notification squad.

别忘了订阅并点击小铃铛按钮，这样您就能加入我们的通知小分队。

As you know,

如您所知，

one way to turn a small amount of money into a fortune is to win the lottery. 語法

把少量资金变成巨额财富的一个方法就是中彩票。

Where should you play to get the best odds and the biggest prizes? 短語搭配

去哪里玩才能获得最好的赔率和最大的奖金呢？

According to most media, that is the USA.

根据大多数媒体的报道，那是在美国。

Spain actually also has huge prizes.

西班牙实际上也有巨额奖金。

The biggest ever single win in the US was when a Massachusetts woman

美国历史上最大的单注大奖得主是马萨诸塞州的一名女子，

won $758.7 million in 2017.

她在2017年赢得了7.587亿美元。

But because she decided to take the lump sum in one go, 講解

但因为她决定一次性领完所有奖金，

not over 29 payments, and because the win is taxed,

而不是分29期领取，而且这笔奖金还需要缴税，

she came out with a measly $336 million. 短語動詞

她最终只拿到了区区3.36亿美元。

The nursing clerk obviously decided to retire soon after.

显然，这位护理助理不久后就决定退休了。

Winning the lottery, however, isn't that easy.

然而，中彩票可没那么容易。

You are actually statistically more likely to die in a car crash 語法

统计数据显示，实际上你死于车祸

or get struck by lightning than win the lottery.

或者被雷劈的概率，都比中彩票要高。

The odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery is 1 in 259 million 短語搭配

赢得“超级百万”（Mega Millions）彩票的几率是2.59亿分之一，

and 1 in 292 million for Powerball.

而“强力球”（Powerball）的几率是2.92亿分之一。

Nevertheless, this is likely the best get super rich gambling bet out there.

尽管如此，这可能是让你超级暴富的最佳赌博方式了。

Sticking with gambling, 表達脈絡

同样是赌博，

in 2017 a woman in the UK walked into a betting shop with 1 buck 表達脈絡

2017年，英国有一名女子拿着1块钱走进了投注站，

or in this case 1 pound and walked out with $800,000.

确切地说是1英镑，然后拿着80万美元走了出来。

She bet on what's called an accumulator, 文化背景

她下注的是所谓的“过关投注”（accumulator），

meaning she chose 12 English football matches

意思是她选了12场英格兰足球比赛，

and bet which side would win in each game,

并赌每场比赛哪一方会赢，

stating home win or away win.

标明是主场赢还是客场赢。

She didn't like football, she told the press,

她告诉媒体，她并不喜欢足球，

and just chose the names she liked.

只是选了她喜欢的名字。

She got them all correct

结果她全猜对了，

and William Hill betting company said it was their biggest football payout ever.

威廉希尔（William Hill）博彩公司表示，这是他们有史以来最大的足球赔付。

The funny thing is, the woman's husband, 表達脈絡

有趣的是，该女子的丈夫，

apparently a football expert,

显然是个足球专家，

had been betting on teams every week all of his adult life. 語法

自打成年以来，他每周都会在球队上押注。

So there you go. 語氣意圖

就是这样。

You might try using the force when you bet. 文化背景

您在下注时也许可以试着凭借“原力”。

We now turn to probably the luckiest ever slot machine winner, 表達脈絡

现在我们来看看可能有史以来最幸运的老虎机中奖者，

who won big in Las Vegas not just once but twice. 語法

他在拉斯维加斯赢得了大奖，而且不止一次，是两次。

The man called Elmer Sherwin was 76

这位名叫埃尔默·舍温（Elmer Sherwin）的男子当时76岁，

when he won $4.6 million in the slot machine Megabucks.

他在Megabucks老虎机上赢得了460万美元。

According to one betting site we found,

根据我们找到的一家博彩网站的说法，

you can play each spin with 1, 2, or 3 dollars,

每次旋转你可以玩1、2或3美元，

but to get the jackpot you must play with 3 dollars.

但要获得头奖，你必须玩3美元。

What's amazing?

让人惊讶的是什么？

This old guy took a trip around the world after his win,

这个老头子在中奖后去环游了世界，

then went back to Vegas 14 years later at the ripe old age of 90, 習語

然后在14年后，也就是90岁高龄时回到了拉斯维加斯，

he then won $21 million playing the same game.

接着玩同样的游戏又赢了2100万美元。

Probably too old to spend the cash,

也许是因为年纪太大，花不完这些现金了，

he donated to charity.

他把钱捐给了慈善机构。

Odds experts seem to disagree over what the odds are of winning the Megabucks jackpot.

赔率专家对于赢得Megabucks头奖的几率似乎有分歧。

Some say as low as 1 in 17 million 短語搭配

有人说低至1700万分之一，

while another odds expert put it closer to 1 in 49 million.

而另一位赔率专家则认为接近4900万分之一。

You might also start with 1 cent,

您也可以从1分钱开始，

go to the casino,

去赌场，

play roulette,

玩轮盘赌，

and bet on black.

押在黑色上。

If you win,

如果赢了，

return the next day and bet on black or red.

第二天再来，押在黑色或红色上。

Keep doing that.

一直坚持下去。

If you win every day for 27 days,

如果你连续27天每天都赢，

you'll have about $671,000.

你大概会赚到67.1万美元。

The next day is the deal breaker. 習語

下一天才是成败的关键。

Win that and you will get $1.3 million.

赢了那局，你就会得到130万美元。

You could just stay there and bet on one color each time.

你大可以就待在那儿，每次都押同一种颜色。

According to casino records,

根据赌场记录，

in 1943 red came up 32 times in a row. 講解

1943年，红色曾连续出现了32次。

That is still a record now.

这项记录至今仍未被打破。

The chances of that happening are over 10 billion to 1.

这种情况发生的几率超过100亿分之一。

On second thought, 語氣意圖

仔细想想，

let's wait a day and come back.

我们还是等一天再回来吧。

You have a 47.4% chance of getting the color right each time.

每次你猜对颜色的几率是47.4%。

Let's move away from these insane odds and towards the Bitcoin phenomenon. 表達脈絡

让我们把视线从这些疯狂的赔率移开，看看比特币现象。

Now you likely have heard of the person that bought two pizzas

如今您可能已经听说过有人买了两个披萨

with 10,000 units of Bitcoin.

花了1万个比特币的故事。

This story was all over the media when Bitcoin was on the ascent 講解

当比特币开始上涨时，这个故事传遍了各大媒体，

and it was reported that the Bitcoin that person paid for those pizzas with

据报道，那个人买披萨支付的比特币

would then be worth about $100 million.

到那时大约价值1亿美元。

Fortune also wrote in 2017

《财富》（Fortune）杂志也在2017年写道，

that if you would have bought just $5 of Bitcoin in 2010, 語法

如果你能在2010年只花5美元买比特币，

which would have given you 2,000 Bitcoins,

你就能得到2000个比特币，

when the article was written

而在那篇文章撰写之时，

you could have sold your coins for $4.4 million.

你可以把这些币卖出440万美元。

So if you had bought a dollar's worth, 語法

所以，如果你当时买了价值1美元的比特币，

that would have been around a million.

那大概就是一百万了。

Bet you wish you would have done that, eh? 語氣意圖

我敢打赌，你肯定希望你当初也这么做了，对吧？

Well, if you want to get rich quick,

那么，如果您想快速致富，

perhaps you should be on the look out for the next big thing in digital or alternative currencies. 短語搭配

也许您应该留意数字货币或替代货币领域的下一个大热门。

You could, of course,

您当然也可以

just ask for $1 from 1 million people

直接向100万人每人要1美元，

and that won't cost you anything except maybe a little bit of time.

这除了可能会花一点时间之外，不需要任何成本。

Would people seriously do that?

人们真的会这么做吗？

Well, one young Englishman called Alex Tew did that in 2005

2005年，一个名叫亚历克斯·图（Alex Tew）的英国年轻人确实这么做了，

to generate income for his university education.

以此来赚取他上大学的学费。

He created the Million Dollar Homepage,

他创建了“百万美元主页”（The Million Dollar Homepage），

which had 1 million pixels on it.

上面有100万个像素点。

You could buy the pixel for 1 buck

你可以花1美元买下这个像素点，

and display an image on it.

并在上面展示一张图片。

He ended up making a little over a million dollars in gross income. 講解

最终他的总收入超过了一百万美元。

You might also just get lucky buying some old junk at a yard sale

也许您也只是运气好，在庭院旧货出售上买到一些旧东西，

and selling it.

然后把它卖掉。

CNN reported in 2013

CNN在2013年报道，

that someone did just that at a yard sale in New York state.

有人就在纽约州的一场庭院旧货出售上正是这样做的。

The person bought a Chinese bowl for $3

那个人花了3美元买了一个中国碗，

and it sold later at auction in London for $2,225,000. 短語搭配

后来在伦敦的拍卖会上卖出了222.5万美元。

And if you want to hear a literal rags to riches story, 習語

如果你想听一个名副其实的白手起家致富的故事，

we have one.

我们这里就有一个。

In 2017,

在2017年，

a man called Loren Krytzer

一个名叫劳伦·克里策（Loren Krytzer）的人，

sold what he had once thought was a worthless rag 語法

把他曾经认为是一块破布的东西，

for $1.5 million.

卖出了150万美元。

The man had been surviving on disability checks up until then 文化背景

这名男子在此之前一直靠残疾津贴维持生活，

after losing a leg in a car accident.

他曾在一场车祸中失去了一条腿。

One day he was watching the Antiques Roadshow 文化背景

有一天，他正在看《古董巡回秀》（Antiques Roadshow），

and realized that the dusty blanket he'd never bothered to use in the closet 短語搭配

突然意识到他扔在壁橱里从来懒得用的那条积满灰尘的毯子，

looked like the one on the TV,

看起来就像电视上的那条，

a Navajo blanket from around the 1800s.

那是一条大约来自19世纪的纳瓦霍族毯子。

He told the press what he thought while watching that show,

他在接受媒体采访时讲述了他在看那个节目时的想法，

"I paused it and I went and got the blanket

“我暂停了电视，去把那条毯子拿了过来，

and I'm sitting there holding it.

我坐在那里，手里拿着它。

I'm lining up the lines on the TV with the blanket, 短語動詞

我把毯子和电视上的线条对齐，

seeing if they match."

看看它们是否吻合。”

Indeed, they did

事实上，它们确实吻合，

and he became a millionaire.

于是他成了一名百万富翁。

So a word to the wise, 習語

所以，给各位一句忠告，

why not check out what old junk you have stored somewhere in the house? 短語動詞

为什么不去检查一下您家里某个地方存放的旧破烂呢？

You might just have a million bucks lying around. 短語動詞

说不定您家里就扔着一百万美金。

Odds are someone does. 短語搭配

这种事很可能会发生。

But even the toys you bought one day

甚至只要把某天买的玩具

could be worth a small fortune if you kept them in perfect condition. 短語搭配

保存得完好无损，也有可能价值不菲。

It's reported that the mother of

据报道，一位母亲，

a boy who once asked her for one of the Transformer figures

她的儿子曾经在美国的玩具反斗城（Toys R Us）里，

while in Toys R Us in the US,

向她索要一个变形金刚玩具，

ended up having the entire collection at one point.

结果她最终收集了全套。

Sadly, the boy died of AIDS later in life,

不幸的是，这个男孩后来死于艾滋病，

but in 2007 the mother sold the original boxed collection for $1 million.

但在2007年，这位母亲将原本装在盒子里的全套收藏卖了100万美元。

You could make thousands upon thousands 習語

你可能会赚到成千上万块钱，

if you have some of the old Star Wars figures still boxed.

如果你还有一些未拆封的旧《星球大战》公仔。

So next time you go to the toy store,

所以，下次您去玩具店的时候，

why not buy two of the toy you are buying? 語氣意圖

为什么不买两份您要买的玩具呢？

Who knows what it'll be worth in 30, 40, or 50 years' time? 語氣意圖

谁知道它在三、四十或五十年后会值多少钱？

This might not be the fastest way to make a million, 語法

这也许不是赚一百万最快的方法，

but it will be for your kids.

但这能为您孩子留下财富。

So,

那么，

can you think of any illegal get rich quick schemes?

您能想到任何非法的快速致富骗局吗？

Let us know in the comments.

请在评论区告诉我们。

Also,

另外，

be sure to check out our other video called

一定要去看看我们的另一部名为

How is life different from billionaires?

《生活与亿万富翁有什么不同？》的视频。

Thanks for watching

感谢您的观看，

and as always,

像往常一样，

don't forget to like, share, and subscribe.

别忘了点赞、分享和订阅。

See you next time.

我们下次再见。