It's a balmy afternoon and you've decided¹ to take a leisurely² stroll in the park. You soon come across a favorite feature: a large fountain with a statue at its center, gracefully³ spouting⁴ water in all directions to the shallow pool underneath⁵. 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 inevitable⁶. Some of the coins in Vegas are grabbed by people willing to wade⁷ 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 digits⁸ 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。（数据来源：Padgett）

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 tally⁹ 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。（数据来源：Runyeon）

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。