Woman Who Lost Wedding Ring Shortly After Getting Married Rediscovers It Days Before 40th Anniversary1 结婚后不久弄丢了结婚戒指的妇女在结婚40周年纪念日前几天重新找到了戒指

笪景行

An English woman who lost her wedding ring in the garden almost four decades ago has just found it buried in the soil2—just days before her 40th anniversary.

65-year-old Paula Walter lost the precious3 wedding band back in 1983 when she was playing catch with her son outside their home in Plymouth， Devon.

The ring flew off her finger as they were playing in the garden， and though with a lengthy search of the grounds with a metal detector4， it was never found.

Paula， who tied the knot with5 her now 73-year-old husband Joe on August 28th， 1980， was heartbroken by the disappearance of her cherished 18 carat6 gold band.

“My house backs onto woodland and I thought possibly that the ring flew in there. I thought it was gone forever，” recalled Paula. “Over the years—whenever weve been in the garden or out there—Ive always said ‘have a look for the ring， but we never found it.”

To her delight， however， the missing ring was finally rediscovered last month.

Paulas lucky break came when she hired7 local landscaping8 company to clean up her garden a few days before her wedding anniversary.

“We had a gardening company come in and landscape our garden and I told them about the ring and the whole story，” says Paula.

Although the yard had been dug up many times in the past， the gardeners struck gold.

“They called me out into the garden a while later saying they had a surprise for me and then handed me my wedding ring，” she exclaimed9. “It was in the garden where I had been playing ball with my son all those years ago. I was so shocked， but incredibly10 grateful. Its wonderful to have it back.”

一位英国妇女约40年前在花园里弄丢了结婚戒指，就在她结婚40周年纪念日前几天，她在土里找到了戒指。

现年65岁的保拉·沃尔特是在1983年和儿子在德文郡普利茅斯的家门口玩投接球游戏时丢失了这枚珍贵的结婚戒指。

当他们在花园里嬉戏时，戒指从她的手指上掉了下来，尽管用金属探测器对地面进行了长时间的搜索，但他们始终没有找到戒指。

保拉与她现在73岁的丈夫乔是在1980年8月28日喜结良缘的。她珍爱的18K金戒指的失踪让她心碎。

“我的房子背对着林地，我想戒指可能飞到那里去了。我以为永远找不到它了。”保拉回忆道，“这些年来，无论我们在花园里还是在外面，我总是说‘去找一下戒指，但我们一直没找到。”

不过，令她高兴的是，丢失的戒指终于在上个月被重新找到了。

在结婚纪念日前几天，保拉雇用了当地一家园林美化公司来清理花园，那是她幸运的一天。

“我们让一家园林美化公司来为我们的花园做景观美化，我把戒指的整个故事告诉了他们。”保拉说。

尽管这个院子过去曾被挖过多次，但园丁们还是挖到了金子。

“过了一会儿，他们把我叫到花园里，说他们有个惊喜给我，然后把我的结婚戒指递给了我。”她惊叹道，“戒指就在很多年前起我一直和儿子一起玩球的地方。我很震惊，但却无比感激。能找回它真是太好了。”

（英语原文选自：goodnewsnetwork.org）

【Notes】

1. anniversary   n. 周年纪念日

2. soil   n. 土地;土壤

3. precious   adj. 宝贵的

4. detector   n. 探测器

5. tie the knot with 与……结婚

6. carat   n. 开;黄金纯度

7. hire   v. 聘用;雇用

8. landscape   v. 美化;對……做景观美化

9. exclaim   v. 呼喊，惊叫

10. incredibly   adv. 难以置信地;非常地