The Kindness of Strangers 留钱不留名的捐赠者

By Roland Buerk, BBC News

Thousands of people were left homeless by March's tsunami and earthquake.

媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 一位神秘的捐赠者在日本一地方政府大楼的公共厕所内留下了超过13万美金的捐款。在信中注明这笔钱是用来帮助那些在今年3月地震和海啸中受难的人们。

The money was found in a plastic shopping bag, in a public toilet of the City Hall in Sakado, part of the commuter sprawl that surrounds Tokyo.

There was 10 million yen, wrapped up in neat bundles of notes, the equivalent of more than US$130,000 (RMB 830,570).

A handwritten message had been left with the cash and read: "I am all alone. Please let the people of Tohoku use it."

Tohoku is the northern region of Japan hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March.

City officials said the anonymous donor has slipped in and out unnoticed. If the money is not reclaimed within three months, they're planning to give it to the Japanese Red Cross.

Japan's great disaster brought out striking generosity and honesty in its people.

The equivalent of US$50 million (RMB 319,162,500) in cash picked up in the disaster zone has been turned in to the police. Another US$30 million dollars (RMB 191,497,500) was recovered from safes found amid the rubble.