少見的巧合

When Thomas Day was ten years old his father gave him a fifty-cent which had been minted(鑄造) in 1858， the year of his father' s birth. The boy kept it as a curio (古董) for many years and in 1924， Thomas Day in turn gave the coin to his own son as a keepsake(紀念品). Thomas Day had carved both a W and a G on the coin and both these markings (記號) were plainly visible when he gave the half dollar to his son， Sam Waller Day， in 1924.

Sam had the coin in 1949--carried it in his right trouser2 pocket in a little suede (仿麂皮) leather bag as a good luck piece. But the good luck ran out when Sam attended a grocer's picnic at Lincoln State Park， about thirty miles from his hometown in Evansville， Indiana. The half-dollar broke through3 the worn leather container and was spent at the picnic. All told， the coin had been in the family for more than eighty years.

Sam despaired of ever seeing it again， of course. After a few years he ceased (停止) to look for it in the change that came into his grocery store(雜貨店). Then， in December of 1961， he dipped into (從……中取出) the till (錢箱) for money to pay Ace Weber， who delivered bread to Sam's store. Weber glanced at a half-dollar， called Sam's attention to the fact that it was pretty old--1858. Sure enough， there were the initials4 G and W on the old coin...that had come back to Sam Day after twelve years of wandering.

注釋：

1．coincidence n. 巧合，巧事

2．trouser adj．褲子的，褲子上的

3．break through(從…)掙脫(或穿越)而出

4．initial n．[~s](姓名或組織名稱等的)首字母

托馬斯·戴10歲的時候，他父親給了他一枚50分硬幣，是1858年鑄造的，他父親出生于這一年。托馬斯·戴把這枚硬幣像古董一樣保存了多年。1924年，他轉而把硬幣作為紀念品給了自己的兒子。托馬斯·戴曾經在硬幣上刻了一個W和一個G，1924年他把這半美元送給了他兒子薩姆·沃勒·戴時，這兩個標記清晰可見。

1949年，薩姆仍保存著這枚硬幣，他把它作為幸運物放在一個仿麂皮小袋內，揣在右邊的褲子口袋里。但是薩姆在林肯國家公園參加雜貨商野餐會時，這個幸運物溜了出來，林肯國家公園離他在印第安納州埃文斯維爾市的家鄉大約30英里。那半個美元在野餐會上掉出了舊皮袋并被人花掉了。硬幣在這個家庭已經保存了總共80多年了。

當然，薩姆對再次看到這枚硬幣失去了信心。幾年之后，他停止了在他的雜貨店收到的零錢中尋找它的舉動。隨后，在1961年12月，他伸手從錢箱里拿錢給艾斯·韋伯，韋伯給薩姆的商店送面包。韋伯瞥了一眼一個半美元硬幣，告訴薩姆這枚硬幣相當老了——是1858年的。毋庸置疑，這枚舊錢幣上有名字開頭字母G和W……在流浪了12年之后，這枚硬幣又回到了薩姆·戴的手里。