《中英對照讀新聞》Remorseful American pays German parking fine, 12 years late 晚了12年，懊悔的美國人支付德國違規停車罰款

◎張沛元

A remorseful American has surprised German police by mailing them US$100 to cover a 12-year-old parking fine.

一名懊悔的美國人令德國警察深感意外，她寄來了100美元，以支付12年前的違規停車罰款。

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Police in Cologne said that the woman, whom they identified only as Julie H., sent them a handwritten confession to her failure to pay the 60-mark (US$47.60 at current rates) fine, incurred during a visit to the city in August 1996.

科隆警察表示，這名警方只願意透露叫做茱莉．H的婦女，寄給他們一份手寫的自白書，坦承她在1996年8月造訪該市時，未能支付一筆60馬克（以目前匯率約為47.60美元）的罰款。

In the letter to "dear Cologne police," mailed from Draper, Utah, Julie H. wrote in German that she had not understood local parking rules and had been annoyed by the fine - but "now I want to pay the parking ticket." She enclosed a US$100 (euro64) travelers check payable to the city of Cologne.

在這封「致親愛的科隆警察」、發自猶他州德卓伯爾的信中，茱莉．H以德文寫道，她當時不了解當地的停車規則，並對罰款感到很火大─但「我現在要支付停車罰單」。她隨信附上一張抬頭為科隆市的100美元旅行支票。

Police said in a statement that they sent a response thanking Julie H. for the letter - and returned the check.

警方發表聲明表示，他們已回函感謝茱莉．H的來信，並且退還支票。

They added, the statute of limitations on the offense expired 11 years ago.

警方補充表示，該犯行的時效早在11年前就終止了。

新聞辭典

enclose：動詞，圈起，隨同一個信封或包裹一併附上。

statute of limitations：追溯期間，時效。statute，名詞，法令，規章。另有幾個字與statute拼法近似，但意義完全不同，如statue，名詞，雕像，The Statue of Liberty，自由女神雕像；stature，名詞，身高，高度。

expire：動詞，期滿；吐氣；死亡。名詞為expiration。例句：There’s no expiration date on parents’ love for their children.（父母對子女的愛無止期。）