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Now, the VOA |
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Special English program |
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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. |
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Many people believe that |
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money makes the world go around. |
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Others believe that |
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money buys happiness. |
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I do not agree with either idea. |
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But I do admit that money |
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can make people do strange things. |
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Let me tell you about a person |
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I once knew who liked |
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to play card games for money. |
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He liked to gamble. |
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My friend Bob had a problem |
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because he liked to gamble |
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at all costs. |
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He would play at any time |
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and at any price. |
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To take part in a card game |
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such as poker, my friend |
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would have to ante up. |
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He would have to pay |
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a small amount of money |
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at the beginning of the game. |
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Bob always played with cold, |
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hard cash -- onlycoins |
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and dollar bills. |
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Sometimes my friend would clean up. |
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He would win a lot of money |
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on one card game. |
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He liked to tell me that one day |
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he would break the bank. |
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What a feeling it must be |
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to win all of the money |
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at a gambling table! |
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Other times my friend |
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would simply break even. |
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He neither won nor lost money. |
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But sometimes Bob |
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would lose his shirt. |
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He would lose all the money he had. |
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He took a beating |
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at the gambling table. |
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When this happened, my friend |
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would have to go in the hole. |
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He would go into debt |
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and owe people money. |
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Recently, Bob turned to crime |
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after losing all his money. |
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In his job, he kept the books |
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for a small business. |
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He supervised the records |
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of money earned and spent |
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by the company. |
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Although my friend |
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was usually honest, |
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he decided to cook the books. |
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He illegally changed |
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the financial records of the company. |
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This permitted him |
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to make a fast buck. |
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My friend made some quick, |
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easy money dishonestly. |
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I never thought Bob |
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would have sticky fingers. |
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He did not seem like a thief |
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who would steal money. |
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But, some people will do |
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anything for love of money. |
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Bob used the money he stole |
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from his company to gamble again. |
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This time, he cashed in. |
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He made a lot of money. |
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Quickly he was back on his feet. |
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He had returned |
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to good financial health. |
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His company, however, |
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ended up in the red. |
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It lost more money than it earned. |
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The company was no longer profitable. |
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It did not take long |
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before my friend's dishonesty |
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was discovered. |
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The company investigated |
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and charged him with stealing. |
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Bob tried to pass the buck. |
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He tried to blame someone else |
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for the deficit. |
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His lie did not work, however. |
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He ended up in jail. |
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Today, I would bet my bottom dollar |
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that my friend will |
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never gamble again. |
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I would bet all I have that |
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he learned his lesson about gambling. |
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(MUSIC) |
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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, |
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in VOA Special English, |
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was written by Jill Moss. |
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I'm Faith Lapidus. |
