Thousands of people began pouring into Pennsylvania from other states. They wanted to buy lottery tickets. The tickets cost only $0.9 each. But that small spending could bring them a reward of $90 million. That was the second largest lottery jackpot(积累奖金)in history.
More than 87 million tickets were bought for the Pennsylvania lottery drawing. Those who bought tickets had to choose seven numbers from 1 to 80. The chance of winning was one in 9.6 million. But that little chance certainly didn’t affect ticket sales. In the last few days before the drawing, tickets were selling at the unbelievable rate of 500 per second.
Experts say many people buy lottery tickets because they just want to have a piece of the action. Others say the lottery is a stock market for poor people. It allows them to dream about wealth they’ll probably never have.
But many people believe lotteries are no better than legalized (合法化的)gambling. Some critics note that most people who play are poor and may not be able to afford the tickets. There are also many addicts who take the game seriously. They may pour their life savings into lottery tickets. Some clubs have been formed to help them kick the habit.
Politicians like lotteries because they provide money that would otherwise have to come from new taxes. The profits from lotteries are usually used to pay for education or programs for senior citizens. But critics say this arrangement just allows states to legalize vice(恶习), under the name of social progress.
No matter whether you regard state lotteries right or not, you cannot refuse to accept their extreme popularity with many Americans.
小题1:The main idea of the passage is that __________.
A．lotteries are of great benefit to everyone who buys them
B．playing a lottery is just like investing in the stock market
C．a lot of people buy lottery tickets, but lotteries cause disagreement
D．lotteries are just legalized vice小题2:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Politicians like lotteries because they don’t have to pay extra tax.
B．The popularity of lotteries in America actually is social progress.
C．Some critics don’t like lotteries because many poor people waste their money on them.
D．People love the lottery because it is a stock market.小题3:In just one hour in the last few days, the Pennsylvania lottery sold tickets totaling_______.
A．$1.62 million
B．$90 million
C．$9.6 million
D．$87 million小题4:People who are addicted to playing lotteries should _________.
A．join a club
B．kick the habit
C．win the Pennsylvania
D．save every cent
