美國三人贏得創紀錄彩票頭獎

The rush to buy tickets for what U.S. officials say is the world's largest lottery jackpot is about to pay off. Mega Millions lottery officials say there were three winning tickets for the record $640 million jackpot sold in three states.

美國兆彩樂透產生的世界最大數額的彩票頭獎6億4千萬美元，花落三張中獎彩票的持有人手中。唯一的問題是，贏家當中還沒有任何一人出面領獎。樂透活動組織者說，他們只知道贏家來自馬里蘭、堪薩斯和伊利諾伊州。

In the hours leading up to the Mega Millions drawing, there was a rush on tickets like lottery officials have never seen.

在兆彩彩票開獎前的幾個小時裏，人們爭先恐後地去購買彩票，連彩票官員都從來沒有見過這種火熱的場景。

"Last night, between the hours of, oh, 5 to 10 o'clock, around the country, we were selling Mega Millions tickets at the rate of about $1 million a minute. Never before have we seen that kind of frenzy," noted Mega Millions lead director Gary Grief.

兆彩抽獎負責人蓋瑞•格里夫說：“我們在全國各地以每分鐘差不多1百萬美元的速度在銷售兆彩彩票。我們以前從來沒有見過這麼狂熱的場面。”

And then the fateful moment arrived. Lottery officials say three tickets - each worth about $213 million before taxes - have the winning numbers. One of the winning tickets was sold at a store in Baltimore County, Maryland, 60 kilometers north of Washington.

幾個小時之後，決定命運的時刻到了。樂透官員表示，三張帶有正確中獎號碼的彩票每張稅前價值2億1千3百萬美元。其中一張中獎彩票是華盛頓以北60公里的馬里蘭州巴爾的摩郡的這家商店售出的。Most of those buying tickets to the Mega Millions lottery Friday knew their chances of winning were slim.

星期五購買了一張或多張面值1美元彩票的絕大多數人都知道，自己中獎的機率非常小。

"It's the idea of a dream," said Lottery ticket buyer Andy Morenstern. "I think it's just another way of living the American dream. To have a lottery available here like this is pretty amazing. And everybody thinks that, 'One day if I win the lottery, what will I do with it all?'"

還有一個人說：“買彩票是一種夢想的形式，我覺得這就是另外一種實現美國夢的途徑。有現在這樣一種高額的彩票實在是令人驚歎。每個人都會想，‘如果有一天我彩票中獎，我會怎麼花這些錢？’”

For some lucky Americans, the time to answer that question for real is here.

對於一些幸運的美國人來說，回答這個問題的時間真的已經到來了。