It turns out the streets of New York really are paved with gold - as long as you don't mind searching for it on your hands and knees.
An Unemployed man Raffi Stepanian, 43,often crawls around the New York "Diamond District" ，plucking jewels and fragments of precious metals from between the slabs.
Armed with a pair of tweezers, Mr. Stepanian, claims to have collected $1,010(£623) worth in the past fortnight.
"I'm surviving on it," he said. "I may be about to trigger a new gold rush on the streets of New York, The soil in the sidewalks of 47th street are saturated with the stuff "
Mr. Stepanian's haul has included chips of diamonds and rubies, bits of platinum and gold fragments from watches, earrings and necklaces.
He has sold most of his discoveries to metal refiners or diamond sellers, while keeping some melt down for future use.
"It is a rich area and people often drop things. Their jeweler falls on the street, and it gets stuck in the mud or the gum. It's like a mine, but more concentrated." Mr. Stepanian said.


据英国《每日邮报》21日报道,事实证明，纽约街头的确遍地是黄金，只要你肯俯下身来用双手去寻找。

43岁的失业男子拉菲•斯捷潘尼扬就经常匍匐于纽约"钻石区"，在石板的缝隙间夹出珠宝和部分贵重金属。

手拿着镊子的斯捷潘尼扬称，自己在两个星期内已经捡到了价值1010美元（623英镑）的物品。

"我就是靠这个生活的，"他说，"我正打算在纽约街头掀起一股新的淘金热。47大道的人行道泥土中到处都是财富。"


斯捷潘尼扬的淘到的宝贝包括钻石和红宝石碎片，小片的铂金及手表、耳环和项链上的黄金材料。

他已经将收集的绝大部分材料卖给了炼金者和珠宝商，只保留了少许黄金准备将来熔炼后再用。

"这里是富人区，人们经常掉东西，他们的珠宝会掉在大街上，被泥土或口香糖粘住。这里就像一座宝藏更集中的矿山。" 斯捷潘尼扬说。

• unemployed [,ʌnim´plɔid] a.闲着的，失业的 (英语四级单词)
• trigger [´trigə] n.扳机 vt.触发，启动 (英语六级单词)
• platinum [´plætinəm] n.白金 (英语六级单词)
• jeweler [´dʒu:ələ] n.珠宝商；宝石工人 (英语六级单词)