Lottery
In the last decades, the development of market oriented economy has brought a large number of newly emerging things into our daily life. Yet when it comes to one of these new things lottery, welfare lottery in particular, some people believe that it creates a good social atmosphere while others argue that the opposite is true. There is probably a little bit of truth in both statements. But in recent years, lottery has done a lot to support the view that it does more good than harm.
On one hand, welfare lottery encourages people to do small kindness for the welfare of others as well as for the profit of oneself. When we read the daily newspapers, we are frequently appraised of the "Big Kindness" performed by well-to-do philanthropists who donate large sums of money for the establishment of schools, libraries, free hospitals for the poor, orphanages,and the like. These, of course, are laudable acts of charity that deserve wide public acclaim. But in my estimation, not all the people have the financial ability to support these "Big Kindness",and those many minor acts of kindness performed daily in different situations by public minded citizens who receive no recognition or praise from the mass media are equally commendable.Similarly, welfare lottery provide the majority of people a chance to perform this kind of small kindness.
On the other hand, in a large city like Shanghai, where the general tendency of the people is "to look out only for one's own", the atmosphere is cold and miserable for those unable to keep up with the rapid pace of competitions. By launching a personal campaign such as welfare lottery, we can try to remedy the present situation and to make our society a much better place to live in.
However, every coin has two sides. Lottery, inevitably,has some side effects. As to the general criticism that it encourages some people's opportunistic attitudes and makes them unwilling to make a living by finding a job, I believe that the tax system in our society will keep the necessary balance between the poor and the rich, thus maintains the stability and unity of our country.
Recognition of a problem is the first step toward its solution. Since we are now generally aware of the advantages and disadvantages of lottery, it seems necessary that we improve this scheme to meet the public needs. If we are to succeed as a society in 21st century, a better society atmosphere should be created.
簡 評
彩票作為最近十幾年來出現的新鮮事物，其是是非非引起人們爭議。作者開篇明義，指出彩票雖利弊各半，但近年來其用明顯超過其弊端。作者認為，福利彩票鼓勵人們為他人和自己而做善事。大慈善家有足夠的財富做大善事(big kindness)，建學校、圖書館、醫院、孤兒院，贏得廣泛贊譽。但作者認為那些默默地做好事的普通人同樣值得贊揚，福利彩票正是提供了這樣一種做好事的機會。此外，作者還舉上海為例，認為在上海這樣競爭激烈、各顧自己的社會，福利彩票之類活動是對這種狀況的矯正。當然，作者也承認事物的兩面性，如彩票助長投機心理，使人不願踏實工作，但認為稅收體系可以解決此問題。作者最後引用一句名言佳句“認識到問題是解決問題的第一步”(Recognition of a problem is the first step toward its solution)，認為當務之急是完善彩票體系，創造一個良好的社會氛圍，提出解決問題的途徑，結束全文。