VOA新闻杂志2024--Special Kind of Fisherman Finds Lost Money

Special Kind of Fisherman Finds Lost Money

James Kane of New York City is a fisherman. But he does not eat what he catches.

Instead of catching¹ fish, he uses powerful magnets attached to long ropes to “fish” for junk in the city’s lakes, rivers and ponds.

Sometimes he pulls out trash, like old car parts.

But recently, Kane said he found a heavy metal box called a safe. People use safes to store valuable items such as money, gold coins, jewelry² or important documents. A safe has a door that swings open and can be locked.

Last Friday, Kane and his girlfriend, Barbi Agostini, were magnet fishing in a lake in the Queens area of New York City. They pulled out the safe, opened it and found soaking wet bags of $100 bills.

They recorded their catch on video.

“Oh, that’s money,” Kane said in the video of the discovery. “Oh, it is! Stacks of bills, dude!”

“Oh, my God!” Agostini says.

The pair said they found almost $100,000 in hundred-dollar bills. However, many of the bills had decomposed³ and some were stuck together. It is not clear how many of the bills can be recovered and used again.

Many of the bills showed recent markings - Kane said he plans to bring the found money to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving⁴ in Washington, D.C. to redeem⁵ it.

When Kane and Agostini found the money, they called the police to investigate. According to a police statement, the money was not connected to a crime, so the couple is permitted to keep it. But the police warned the money was in very bad condition.

“I guess you call it a finders keepers thing,” Kane said.

Kane and Agostini record their fishing outings and put the results on social media services such as YouTube.

They have found bicycles, guns, jewelry and even a war weapon known as a grenade. They often find themselves calling police. Some videos show police taking possession of the dangerous objects. One showed them giving police a safe filled with credit cards.

Magnet fishers work all over the country. They find things many others do not because they use very powerful magnets and ropes. These things let them reach parts of water far away from land. One magnet fisher found a human skull⁶ attached to an exercise weight in New Orleans, Louisiana. Another, in Georgia, found a gun and the belongings⁷ of two people who were killed nine years ago.

Many people see the popularity⁸ of the magnet fishers on YouTube and wonder if the videos are real. In comments, they wonder if the finds are staged, or placed in the water ahead of time to make for a good video.

Kane said he may just be lucky.

“I have seen and worked with other magnet fishers that can hit a spot for three months, and I’ll come along and throw the same magnet and get and find something that they’ve been trying to get the entire time,” he said. “I personally can’t explain that.”

Kane and Agostini have ideas for how to spend their $100,000. They plan to buy a new vehicle and more equipment so they can make better videos of their magnet fishing adventures.

Words in This Story

junk –n. unwanted items, trash

bill –n. paper money

dude –n. (informal) an expression of surprise, or, literally⁹, a man

decomposed –adj. something that has rotted or fallen apart due to age or exposure to elements

stuck –adj. two items touching¹⁰ each other that cannot be separated

redeem –v. to turn something in, in order to get something back

finders keepers –adj. (saying) used in a situation where something is found a person who then becomes its owner

grenade –n. a small explosive shell that can be thrown by a soldier

1 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

2 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

3 decomposed   

已分解的，已腐烂的

参考例句：

• A liquid is decomposed when an electric current passes through it. 当电流通过时，液体就分解。
• Water can be resolved [decomposed] into hydrogen and oxygen. 水可分解为氢和氧。

4 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句

5 redeem   

v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等）

参考例句：

• He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
• The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。

6 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

7 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

8 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。