Winning Lottery Ticket saved from the Rubbish

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A woman in Italy has had an incredible stroke of luck after rubbish collectors helped her recover a winning lottery ticket worth €1 million (about NZ$2 million).

The woman checked her ticket at a local shop, but the machine showed it as “non-payable”. Thinking it had not won anything, she threw the ticket into a rubbish bin and went home.

Later, she discovered the ticket had actually won the huge jackpot. The machine had only shown the message because the prize was too large to be paid out at the shop.

She rushed back, but the rubbish had already been collected. Desperate to find the ticket, she contacted the local waste management company.

Workers traced which rubbish truck had picked up the bin, and a specialist team searched through the truck’s contents. After a full day of looking, they found the winning ticket.

Even more amazingly, the ticket was still in one piece and could be claimed.

How did this story make you feel?

SMART Prep | Quick Question 210657

The city library has installed a new robot display in its children’s area. The robot can move along a marked path and answer simple questions on a screen. In a newsletter, a librarian said the display was “the most exciting addition” to the library this year. She also noted that the robot is designed to encourage younger students to read and explore information books. The display will be open during library hours, and staff will supervise every session. Some visitors think the robot makes the library more modern, while others prefer the quiet reading spaces.

Which statement is a fact from the passage?

  

Did You Know?

What did the woman in Italy do with her winning lottery ticket?
She accidentally threw it in the rubbish after thinking it was a loser!

Vocabulary

Click on the words in the article. See if you can find them all.
  • lottery A game where people buy tickets for a chance to win money. Winning the lottery can change someone's life!
  • rubbish Trash or garbage that people throw away. We should recycle instead of throwing rubbish in the bin.
  • specialist A person who knows a lot about a specific subject. A doctor is a specialist in keeping people healthy.
  • Thinking Question

    How would you feel if you lost something valuable by mistake?

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