路边“淘宝”

杨宇宸

如果你看到別人扔在路边的旧家具、旧物件，而这些正是你需要的，你会把它们捡回家吗？大多数人的回答一定是不会。既然是人家不要的，那就是废品，谁也不想当个捡破烂的。然而在我居住的小镇，人们有着不同的看法……

刚来美国的那年初夏，我和妈妈出门散步，看见有些人正从家里搬出旧物件堆放在路边，有沙发、桌椅、电视机，也有锅碗瓢盆、积木和洋娃娃。

我们看到了羽毛球拍，妈妈前几天还说要买一副呢。这球拍挺新的，他们是丢弃不用了吗？我们正猜测着，一个小男孩搬着一堆东西从房里出来，“你们要吗？免费。”男孩说。球拍他们没用过几次，现在家里没人玩羽毛球了，“你们若是用得上就拿走吧。”男孩还翻出两盒未开封的羽毛球，“这些新的羽毛球你们也拿去吧。”

这真是意外的收获！原来堆放在路边的那些东西，只要你用得上，都可以免费随便拿回家。只是这个被我们称为“捡东西日”的日子一年只有一次，大概在每年的六月初。

这期间，经常会看到有人开车沿路边转，赶在回收公司清运之前挑拣需要的东西。

现在，我们家里有许多东西都是路边淘来的：摇椅、桌子、柜子，甚至还有一幅画。捡东西——这真是个有趣的“传统”呀！天气变暖时，我们和小镇其他人一样，还会继续沿街“淘宝”。

英文版

If you find old furniture or old utensils that you need on the streets， would you take them home？ Most people would respond "no". If they are disposed， then they must be trash. Bringing them home would make you look bad. However， in the town I live in， people have a different view…

The early summer when we first came to US， my mom and I went out for a walk， we noticed some people were moving old utensils from their houses and piling them along the street. There were various types of furniture like sofas， desks， chairs and televisions， kitchen utensils. Legos， dolls were in the piles as well.

We found a pair of badminton rackets on the streets， Mom planned to buy a pair just several days ago. They looked pretty new， were they disposed？ While we were wondering， a boy walked out of the house， carrying a pile of stuff.

"Do you want them？ Theyre for free." He said they only used this pair of rackets a couple of times， no one in his house plays badminton anymore. "If you need them， just take them. Also， I have two boxes new shuttlecocks here， please take these as well."

What a nice surprise！ Turns out， its quite normal in our town to take the old items that are piled on the street， if you need them. This "Treasure Hunting Day"（as we named it） happens annually in the beginning of June.

On this day， you can see many people driving around in cars， picking out what they need before the recycling companies clear everything out.

Now， many items in our house were"taken" from the streets： a rocking chair， desks， closets， and even a picture！ Exchanging unneeded furniture and equipment — what an interesting "tradition"！ Every year when the weather gets warm， we， like many others in our town， go for a "treasure hunting" along the streets.