喷泉里的许愿币最后都去了哪里？

又到了许愿的季节。提到许愿，人们往往会想到那些喷泉许愿池。很多人都喜欢往喷泉里扔硬币许愿，那么多的硬币最后都去了哪里？你好奇过吗？

It's a balmy afternoon and you've decided to take a leisurely stroll in the park. You soon come across a favorite feature: a large fountain with a statue at its center, gracefully spouting water in all directions to the shallow pool underneath. Feeling lucky, and perhaps a bit wistful, you fish a coin from your pocket, make a wish and toss it into the fountain. Then you notice all the other coins littering the bottom of the fountain. What happens, you wonder, to all that money?

那是个阳光温和的下午，你决定到公园里走一走，散散步。很快，你就走到了最受大家欢迎的标志物那里：那是一眼大大的喷泉，喷泉中间竖着一座雕像，清澈的泉水优雅地往各个方向喷出，最终落入雕塑下方浅浅的水池里。怀着对过去的感恩，和对未来美好生活的渴望，你从口袋里掏出了一枚硬币，对喷泉许愿后，将硬币丢到了水里。水底下都是别人留下的硬币。你不仅有点好奇，这些钱最终都去了哪里。

Let's head to Las Vegas, a city that operates on a palpable current of luck. Pair this with a high per-capita rate of fountains, and coin-filled pools are inevitable. Some of the coins in Vegas are grabbed by people willing to wade into the water. Others are sucked into filtration systems and end up in the trash. Most, however, are collected and donated to charities. The Bellagio, for instance, donates about $12,000 a year in fountain coins to charity. And that's just one hotel along the Vegas strip -- add all the other hotels, and the haul from fountain coins is likely to reach six digits a year [source: Padgett].

拉斯维加斯是一座由纯粹运气所主宰的城市。这座城市里的喷泉数不胜数，装满硬币的水池也到处可见。那些硬币有的被涉水走过去的人取走了，有的则被水流吸入滤水系统，最终去到了垃圾场。不过，大多数喷泉里的硬币都是被收集了起来，捐给慈善事业。碧堤半岛酒店每年捐给慈善事业的喷泉硬币金额就有12000美元（合78900元人民币）。而它还只是赌城里的一座酒店而已。将其它酒店一起算进去，每年可以得到的喷泉硬币数目可以达到6位数。（数据 But not all fountain owners donate their coins -- some use the money to defray the expense of maintenance. Take the Park Fountain in New York City's Bryant Park: Every three months, park workers gather the fountain's coins and turn the findings over to the Bryant Park Corp., a nonprofit that runs the green space. Although the tally is sometimes more than $3,000, it barely covers the cost of cleaning the fountain [source: Runyeon].

但不是所有喷泉拥有者都会将硬币捐掉，有的就会用这些钱支付喷泉维护费用。拿纽约市布莱恩公园的喷泉做例子：每隔三个月，公园员工就会将喷泉水池中的硬币收集起来，然后交给布莱恩公园公司，这是一家专门负责公园绿化的非营利性组织。虽然硬币总金额有时候会超过3000美元，但还是几乎无法覆盖喷泉清理的总费用。（数据 The practice of tossing coins into fountains likely began in ancient times, when people thought spirits lived inside them. If a person passed by a fountain, well or other water source without tossing in a coin, he or she would surely be followed by a bad luck. The tradition evolved into a more personalized act, and people began making wishes as they tossed coins into fountains and wells. Some coins are thrown into fountains in the hope the coin-bearer will be able to return to the fountain in the future. Whatever the reason, throwing a coin into a fountain is a practice seen all over the world.

将硬币抛进喷泉的习俗可能从古代就开始了，那时候，人们认为喷泉里面住着神灵。假如有人经过喷泉、水井或者其它什么水源的时候不往里面扔枚硬币，就会有噩运缠身。随着时间流逝，这项习俗变得越来越个性化了，往喷泉和水井里面扔硬币的时候，人们还会顺便许个愿。有的人在扔硬币的时候，还会希望自己未来能够回来还愿。不管原因是什么，往喷泉里扔硬币都已经成了全世界人民都在做的事情。