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英語聞き流し10分間名作リスニング。英語テキストと mp3ダウンロード、その他の物語はホームページよりご利用いただけます。
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Jackpot. That casino was old and forlorn. Inside,it had the outdated concert hall where goodyreviews and magic shows used to be abundant.
Since the casino lost its popularity andcustomers, the hall had been used as a makeshiftbreak area.
Those who used up money for gambling and no longerhad anything to do sat there sparsely with vacanteyes, producing a wretched atmosphere thatperfectly matched the whole casino.
My partner, my mother, and I was resting thereafter we lost most money.
As it was too gloomy to be sitting in the breakarea, my partner suggested that we should use upthe scarce rest of our money and leave the casino.
Each of us sat in front of our favorite slotmachine.
On the screen of my slot, I came close to win withtwo matched pictures, but the third one didn'tcome up in every turn.
My mother and I quickly ran out of money.
Further down the floor, I saw my partner stillplaying.
I left him there and went back to our hotel withmy mother.
It was the last day of our stay, and I startedpacking for checkout.
The hotel looked out on the waterway thatconnected the hotel and the casino.
For a brief break from packing, I went out on thebalcony of our room and watched the waterway.
Then I noticed something gigantic floating far upthe waterway.
It was slowly flowing toward the hotel.
The closer it got, the more monstrous it became.
It approached near enough to tell what it was.
A tall, triangular-shaped white condominium wascarried on a massive barge.
Tied behind it was a white, enormous sailing ship.
They were carried carefully from the directionwhere the casino was located.
03:03
Considering where they came from and how unusualthey were to be carried along the waterway,
I assumed that they were some prizes of thecasino.
I called my mother to the balcony and we wonderedwhat kind of person had extremely good fortunelike this.
The barge and the ship stopped in front of thehotel, right under our balcony.
There was the third boat tied behind the ship.
A man was sitting in it, almost buried in numerousboxes and bags.
It meant he was the winner.
I gazed at the man with the biggest possibleamount of envy, and I gasped.
The man who won all of those was no other than mypartner.
I couldn't shout, couldn't scream, but was justspeechless.
I saw my partner getting off the boat and beingwelcomed by the hotel staff.
He gave them some instructions and they hurriedlymoved around.
Soon, there was a knock on the door of our room.
The bellboys brought countless boxes of shoes andbags of brand clothes into our room.
Finally, my partner came in.
He said calmly, it's time for check out.
I told him that I hadn't finished packing and hesaid, it's all taken care of.
I hired people to do the rest, we can just leave.
We stepped out of the hotel.
In front of my eyes, the white condominium gleamedunder the bright sunshine.
The white sailing ship gently swayed with its sails furled.
I asked myself repeatedly, can anything like thisactually happen?
My mother said, I've always wanted a condominiumlike this and got on board the barge.
My partner returned onto the boat.
I was excited enough to jump in the water and floated by a swim ring that was connected to theboat.
The fleet began to move again and we were headinghome.
While we were slowly moving down the waterway, Isaw some parade floats in the water ahead of us.
The area was a popular resort destination and thewaterway threaded through many hotels.
The parade seemed one of the events held in thearea.
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Seeing the floats far ahead and the big condominium and the sailing ship before me, I asked mypartner, this is a dream, isn't it?
He had been expressionless up until this point,but smiled for the first time since he won.
Why? Are you that happy? He asked me back.
I usually dream a lot. Sometimes I dream a verygood one and feel ecstatic in it.
But in those cases, waking up is excruciatinglypainful.
Dreadful disappointment crushes me.
I've had those experiences more than too much andwant no more.
I would do anything to avoid it.
If this is also a dream, I have to wake up nowbefore euphoria gets inside me.
Otherwise, I couldn't bear disappointment of thismagnitude.
I was sad that everything I had gotten woulddisappear when I woke up.
This was undoubtedly the best and the most vividdream I've ever had.
But I had to know whether this was reality or notat this point in order to minimize disappointment.
I looked at the clear blue surface of the waterwayon which I was floating.
It was sparkling in the sunlight.
I hit the surface and made it splash.
Sprays of water showered on my face.
It was cold and refreshing.
I slapped my wet cheeks with my both hands.
It hurt.
Still, everything stayed as it was.
I slapped my face over and over,
hearing the sound of slapping and splashing waterand my partner's laughter.
The condominium and the sailboat were still there.
I felt a gentle breeze and drips of waterstreaming down my face.
I looked up the bright blue sky and got the dazzling sunshine over my face.
I didn't wake up.
This was all real.
Now that I was convinced this wasn't a dream, Iwas able to take it in.
Indescribable happiness seized me.
It almost choked me and I panted for breath.
I felt my lungs were pressed with happiness andheated like coals.
I've never been this happy in my entire life.
I became a billionaire.
My life got redeemed.
I was finally getting out of a prison and livingin a place where I should be.
09:05
I was filled with a sense of relief, peace, andfreedom.
I felt a lump in my throat.
It was as if the heated coals in my chest reachedthe boiling point and were about to explode.
Tears appeared in the bottom of my eyes.
They began to liquefy my sight.
I blinked to shed tears.
I felt tears rolling down my cheeks.
I opened my eyes again.
Then, much to my horrible surprise, the sightremained black.
I blinked again and fixed my eyes on the darkness.
It was the ceiling above the bed of my room.
It was completely beyond belief.
Although I made sure so many times, all whathappened was a dream.
I was simply lying on my bed with tears streamingdown my face.
The sensation I had felt was so real that I evensuspected this awakening was a dream.
I sat up on the bed, bewildering.
Everything was gone along with happiness.
I was dazed for a while without moving.
I uttered several times,
Can't be a dream because it was too real to be adream.
I made a mistake again that I've tried to avoidall the time.
This time, the mistake was huge.
The dream was too good, too vivid, and too happy.
Accordingly, disappointment was really grave.
I felt the massive disappointment was trying tosquash me.
I couldn't get up.
I kept sitting on the bed and started weeping.
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