[originaltext]M: Hello, Linda.W: Hello, Bob.M: Now Linda, I have a question f

M: Hello, Linda.
W: Hello, Bob.
M: Now Linda, I have a question for you. Do you think you are a winner?
W: You mean someone who has a lot of success in everything?
M: Well, not exactly. I’m just talking about competitions. Do you have a lot of success or luck in winning them?
W: Competitions? No, not at all. I don’t think I’ve ever won a competition.
M: Ah, bad luck. And Linda, can you guess the biggest cash prize in the USA?
W: I don’t know. Maybe 100 million.
M: No, that’s 590 million!
W: 590 million! Who’s so lucky?
M: An 84-year-old lady in Florida.
W: She’s so lucky! I think I once, about 10 years ago, I won ￡10 on the British National Lottery.
M: Wow, that’s also a big win! But Linda, have you heard about "compers"?
W: "Compers"? No. What does it mean?
M: That’s an informal name for someone who takes part in competitions on an almost professional basis. They spend a lot of time trying to win something.
W: You mean winning prizes or free gifts?
M: Yes. Some people put a lot of effort into winning something, even if it’s just a box of chocolates or a coffee mug. It’s just the excitement of winning.
W: Just a box of chocolates?
M: But sometimes there are big prizes to win—a new car, a speedboat or a holiday of a lifetime. The only problem is that these prizes are either not easy to win or there are millions of people trying to win them.
W: I’ve certainly never won anything as fantastic as that.
M: But one man called Martin Dove has. He is a retired lecturer and an expert "comper".
W: What has he won?
M: He’s won a yacht, a racehorse and lots of smaller prizes too. Some people have called him the King of Comping. He’s even written books on the subject and offered advice to other compers.
W: But comping has changed, Bob. There are lots of competitions to enter on the Internet now. Every webpage you look at seems to tempt us with a fantastic prize to be won.
M: That’s true. But Martin Dove doesn’t think that is necessarily a good thing. Competitions online are easier to enter—you just have to click. Martin said he could enter about 40 competitions in just 20 minutes! But because it’s so easy, more people enter and so the chances of winning are less. Sometimes, a one in a million chance of winning.
W: No wonder I’ve never won any prize.
This is the end of Conversation One. Questions 1 to 5 are based on Conversation One.
1. What is the biggest cash prize in the USA?
2. What prize has Linda won?
3. What does a comper mean?
4. What has Martin Dove won?
5. According to Martin Dove, is it easy to win prizes now?