美國失物招領 阿肯色州尋寶行動
Each year in the United States, hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of unclaimed property - especially stock certificates, jewelry left in safe-deposit boxes, and seemingly forgotten money in checking accounts - are turned over to state governments by banks and companies that cannot locate the owners. The states, in turn, try to find these people.
在美國，每年都有價值數千萬美元的私人財產無人認領，其中包括股票證券、銀行保險箱裏的珠寶首飾，以及在銀行活期存款帳號上顯然已經被遺忘的錢。由於找不到主人，銀行或者公司不得不把這些東西和錢上交給州政府，由州政府負責去尋找主人。
The mid-South state of Arkansas even makes a game of it. It calls it "The Great Arkansas Treasure hunt."
美國中南部的阿肯色州甚至把這種“失物招領”變成一個遊戲，叫做“大阿肯色州尋寶行動”。
Each October, every newspaper in the state publishes a special section. There are no stories in it. No photographs. No advertisements. Nothing but page after boring page of names and people’s last known addresses. State auditor Charlie Daniels and his staff hope that people identified in that list will contact them and claim their cash and personal property.
每年10月，州里的每份報紙都會推出一個專版，上面沒有報導，沒有照片，沒有廣告，有的只是非常單調的人名名單以及這些人最後爲人所知的地址。阿肯色州審計員查利·丹尼爾斯和他的同事們希望相關人士看到那個名單後，能夠和他們聯繫，找回屬於自己的個人財產。
Last year, that unclaimed treasure trove of everything from cash to diamonds and guns was valued at $22 million.
去年，包括現金、鑽石和槍支在內的無人認領物品總價值達到2千200萬美元。
Charlie Daniels’ office puts the cash in the bank and the valuables in two big safes in the capital of Little Rock. It even holds onto some items that have only sentimental value, like World War Two medals, that are starting to turn up regularly, now that so many veterans of that war are dying. The state has even been known to hold onto false teeth and urns of cremated human remains.
審計員丹尼爾斯和同事們把無人認領的現金存在銀行，把其它貴重物品放在首府小石城的兩個大保險箱裏。他們保存了一些只有情感價值的東西，比如二戰勳章。這種無人認領的勳章現在慢慢多起來了，因爲越來越多二戰退伍軍人離開人世。阿肯色州政府甚至會保存假牙，以及骨灰盒。
The right of the owner - or that person’s lawful heir - to claim this property or money never expires. Each year in Arkansas alone, about 15,000 families who join in the treasure hunt discover that they have inherited valuables they never knew existed. No lottery ticket anywhere can match the Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt’s decent odds of paying off - sometimes quite handsomely.
不管是物品的主人還是法定繼承人，他們認領這些物品的時間沒有期限。每年，僅僅在阿肯色州一個州，大約就有1萬5千個參加尋寶行動的家庭會發現，他們居然能夠繼承到一些價值不菲而且他們以前從來不知曉其存在的物品。沒有哪個州的彩票可以和大阿肯色州尋寶行動相比，因爲尋寶行動常常會給人帶來有時是相當可觀的一筆財富呢。
