Vocabulary: idioms (taking risks)

EX.14 Complete the conversation with words or phrases from the box.

scratchcards jackpot raise money charities a lot at stake against the odds win the lottery

Alf: This is serious. The club now owes the bank £250,000. There's (1)………here. No money means no football club!
Brian: £250,000! How on earth can we (2)………of that sort?
Charlie: Easy! Rob a bank or (3)………
Alf: Our chances of winning the lottery are one in three million - totally (4)………
Charlie: How about (5)………? I Like them because you know straight away if you've won or not.
Brian: I've got an idea .......... maybe there are some(6)……….that help sports clubs.
Alf: We're hardly a priority, are we? But maybe we could find a local business to sponsor.
Brian: Wait a second! Jason ... Jason Sewell.
Alf &
Charlie: From school?
Brian: Yeah. He won a lottery (7)……….worth £7 million ten years ago. He's a billionaire now and a big football fan.
Charlie: Terrific! He's our man.


EX.15 Web research task
Surf the Net and find stories of people who won a lottery somewhere in the world. Make notes about four or five people`s lives after winning – did their lives change?


GRAMMAR


Past tenses


Past Simple
We use the past simple:
• for an action which happened at a definite time in the past. The time is stated, already known or implied.
Sheila arrived in Tokyo last week.
• for actions which happened immediately one after the other in the past.
He got out of bed, went to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine.
• for past habits or states which are now finished. In such cases we can also use the expression used to.
I lived/used to live in France five years ago.