《中英對照讀新聞》Woman finds 100,000 euros in cash, savings in laundry basket 女子在洗衣籃內發現十萬歐元的現金與存款

◎ 陳宜君

An old laundry basket bought at a flea market turned out to be more than a bargain for a woman in southern Germany, when she found two savings accounts books and cash totalling around 200,000 Deutschmarks.

在跳蚤市場買到的一只舊洗衣籃對德國南部的一名婦女來說，變成不僅是一個便宜東西而已，她發現裡面有兩本儲蓄帳戶的存摺與現金，共計約二十萬德國馬克。

The woman turned the money over to police with the remark “I want to be able to sleep with a clear conscience”. The money now is worth 102,250 euros.

這名婦女將錢交給警方，還發表評論說「我希望能夠問心無愧的睡覺」。這些錢現在價值十萬兩千兩百五十歐元。

Police determined that the owner of savings accounts was a woman who had died two years ago. At the time, her heirs came away empty-handed but now stand to inherit the money, plus accrued interest. The honest woman who turned the money over will also get a percentage of the money as a reward.

警方判定，儲蓄帳戶存摺的主人是一位兩年前就去世的女子。她的繼承人當時空手離開，不過現在準備繼承這筆錢，以及累積的利息。交出錢的誠實婦女也將可得到一％的錢作為報酬。

新聞辭典

flea market：flea是跳蚤，flea market就是指專賣二手貨的跳蚤市場。

bargain：名詞，廉價物品。此字亦有協議、成交條件之意。例句：Be careful if you are doing business with him; he drives a hard bargain. （你和他打交道要小心；他會極力迫使你接受苛刻的條件。）

a clear conscience：問心無愧。例句：I have not done anything wrong - I have got a clear conscience. （我沒作錯任何事–所以問心無愧。）

stand：動詞，此處為處於…的狀態。例句：If the new law is passed, we stand to lose our tax advantage. （新法律如果通過，我們就會喪失繳稅的有利條件。）

accrue：動詞，此處為增加之意。亦可作產生、形成解釋，例句：Many benefits accrue to society from free medical services. （免費醫療服務帶給社會許多好處。）