患流感臥牀 西班牙女子遲領1億歐元大獎

A 25-year-old Spanish woman who won a record 126 million euros (172 million dollars) in the Euro Millions lottery only learned of her good luck days later after spending the weekend bed-ridden with the flu, officials said Tuesday.

The unnamed woman from the island of Majorca discovered that she had won the jackpot awarded Friday when lottery officials finally tracked her down on Monday, online lottery seller Serviapuestas said in a statement.

"I was still sick on Monday so I decided to go to work out of fear of losing my job given the economic crisis we are going through," she was quoted as saying in the statement.

The woman was the only one to tick the five correct numbers (4, 23, 24, 29, 31) and two stars (8, 9) and win the huge jackpot drawn in Paris on Friday in a ticket which she bought through Serviapuestas.

"When she learned the news she was frightened and at the same time very, very moved. Logically she asked us many questions," the company said in the statement.

She also told Serviapuestas that when they first contacted her "I thought they were pulling my leg.... I thought it was some publicity."

The woman said she now plans to buy a country house in Majorca and raise horses.

"I have always liked animals, nature, sensitive things..," she said.

The jackpot of 126,231,764 euros is enough to buy two Airbus A-320 jets.

The previous record in the lottery, run by nine European countries, had been held since July 2005 by Dolores McNamara of Gallyowen near Limerick in southwest Ireland who took home 115,436,126 euros.

Friday's winner beat odds of 76 million to one to win the equivalent of four years' salary by David Beckham, the world's best paid footballer.

Euro Millions, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, brings together France, Britain, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria. The jackpot begins at 15 million euros each week but is rolled over if there is no winner.

The world record for a game of chance is 390 million dollars (286 million euros) split by two winners of the super jackpot in the American Mega Millions lottery in March 2007.

有關官員於本週二稱，一名25歲的西班牙女子中得“歐洲百萬大樂透”1.26億歐元（合1.72億美元）的破紀錄大獎，但她上週末因患流感臥病在家，因此在中獎數天後才得知這一喜訊。

在線彩票經銷商Serviapuestas在一份聲明中稱，直到本週一博彩業官員找上門時，來自馬略卡島的這名未透露姓名的女子才知道自己上週五中了大獎。

聲明援引她的話說：“這週一我的病還沒好，但考慮到眼下的經濟危機，我決定去上班，以免丟掉飯碗。”

這名女子是唯一一位選對五個號碼(4, 23, 24, 29, 31)和兩個“幸運星”號碼（8, 9）的彩民，她通過Serviapuestas公司購買了這期彩票，上週五在巴黎開獎時中得頭彩。

公司在聲明中稱：“她得知這一消息時被嚇到了，同時也非常非常感動。爲證明其真實性，她問了我們很多問題。”

她還告訴Serviapuestas公司，在他們最初聯繫到她時，“我以爲他們是在騙我……我以爲是在搞宣傳。”

這名女子說現在她計劃在馬略卡島買一棟鄉間別墅，再養幾隻馬。

她說：“我一直都喜歡動物、自然，以及感性的東西。”

這名幸運兒中得的獎金金額高達126231764歐元，足夠買兩架空客A-320客機。

“歐洲百萬大樂透”彩票由歐洲九個國家聯合發行，此前的頭獎紀錄誕生於2005年7月，由來自愛爾蘭西南部利默里克附近加里歐文地區的一個名叫多羅瑞斯•馬克納馬拉的人中得，當時他獲得的獎金爲115436126歐元。

上週五大獎的中獎機率爲7600萬分之一，獎金相當於世界薪酬最高的球星大衛•貝克漢姆四年的年薪。

“歐洲百萬大樂透”彩票設立剛滿五年，由法國、英國、愛爾蘭、西班牙、葡萄牙、比利時、瑞士、盧森堡和奧地利聯合發行。每週的頭獎金額爲1500萬歐元，如果沒有中獎者，獎金將累積入下一輪。

目前，博彩業世界最高獎金紀錄爲3.9億美元（合2.86億歐元），該大獎於2007年3月由“美國超級百萬”彩票的兩名獲獎者共同中得。

Vocabulary:

bed-ridden:臥牀不起

jackpot: a top prize or reward（ 首獎，頭彩）

pull one's leg:愚弄某人