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My story begins in Newfoundland where my brother and I were born during the Second World War.
我的故事开始于纽芬兰，我和我的兄弟在第二次世界大战期间出生。
The island of Newfoundland, which was originally a British colony, became the newest province of Canada in 1949, the same year that the People's Republic of China was born.
纽芬兰岛原本是英国的殖民地，1949年成为加拿大最新的一个省，也就是中华人民共和国诞生的同一年。
Our mother was born and raised in Newfoundland. During the War (World War II), she worked in St. John's, the capital city, where she met a young Canadian sailor from Ontario.
我们的母亲在纽芬兰出生和长大。二战期间，她在首都圣约翰工作，在那里她遇到了一位来自安大略省的加拿大年轻水手。
He was a member of the crew of a Royal Canadian Navy ship that was part of one of the convoys that escorted supply ships across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe during the war.
他是一艘加拿大皇家海军舰艇的船员，该舰艇是战时护送补给船穿越大西洋前往欧洲的护航队之一。
They fell in love and subsequently, got married. The rest is history, so to speak.
他们坠入爱河，随后结婚了。剩下的，可以说是历史。
Our family moved to Ontario in late 1945, just after the war ended.
我们一家1945年底，战争刚结束就搬到了安大略省。
In 1999, acting on impulse, my brother and I decided to take our mother to Newfoundland for a visit.
1999年，我和弟弟一时冲动，决定带母亲去纽芬兰旅游。
It had been almost fifty years since we had last visited our mother's outport (remote or very rural island village) where she grew up.
我们上次去母亲长大的外埠（偏远或非常乡村的岛村）已经快50年了。
It was also the 50th anniversary of Newfoundland's becoming part of Canada.
这也是纽芬兰成为加拿大一部分50周年。
In 1950, I was six and my brother was five when we last visited our mother's childhood home.
1950年，我六岁，我哥哥五岁，那时我们最后一次去母亲童年的家。
At that time, Ireland's Eye was a vibrant, quaint fishing village hugging the rocky shore of a small, enclosed harbour.
当时，爱尔兰之眼是一个充满活力、古色古香的渔村，环绕着一个封闭的小港口的岩石海岸。
There was no electricity. There were no roads, no automobiles, and few signs of automation of any type.
当时没有电。没有道路，没有汽车，也没有任何自动化的迹象。
There were oil lamps and wood stoves in the homes and mere soot paths between the aggregate of small communities on the hilly island, also named Ireland's Eye.
家里有油灯和木炉，在这个山丘岛屿上的小社区之间只有烟灰路，也被称为爱尔兰之眼。
We can still see and hear the inboard motorboats, putt putting (sound of engines) into the harbour, hauling their day's catch of fish.
我们仍然可以看到和听到船内的摩托艇，把（发动机的声音）推进港口，拖着他们一天捕获的鱼。
The image of hardy fishermen with pitchforks hoisting and tossing the codfish up to the stilted platforms from the bowels of the boats is still quite vivid.
用叉子把鳕鱼从船舱里吊起来扔到高跷平台上的顽强渔民的形象仍然十分生动。
The aroma of salted, drying codfish, lingers still.
腌制的干鳕鱼的香味，依然萦绕不去。
What I remember best, of almost half a century ago, was going out with my Uncle Fred in his boat to fish.
近半个世纪前，我记得最清楚的是和我叔叔弗雷德一起坐船去钓鱼。
That particular day, we were huddled together and lashed to other boats, just outside of the harbour.
那一天，我们挤在一起，在港口外被其他的船撞了。
I can still hear the lively gossip between my uncle and the other fishermen, above the rippling and splashing of the waves against the hulls of the boats.
我仍然能听到舅舅和其他渔夫之间生动的闲聊，在海浪拍打船壳的涟漪和飞溅声之上。
I remember the boats heaving periodically, on the huge gently rolling waves.
我记得船在波浪中周期性地起伏。
My Uncle Fred had only one arm, but amazingly, he could do everything as if he had two hands. He could even roll a cigarette and light it.
我的弗雷德叔叔只有一只胳膊，但令人惊讶的是，他什么都能做，就像他有两只手一样。他甚至可以卷一支烟点着。
These are my memories of the quaint Newfoundland glory days gone by.
这些是我对纽芬兰辉煌岁月的回忆。
It was a very hard life in those out ports, but a life romantically cherished by most of those who lived it.
在那些外埠生活很艰苦，但大多数人都热爱这种生活。
Our mother was not feeling up to the trip at the time we were ready to leave, but insisted that my brother and I go on this odyssey.
在我们准备离开的时候，我们的母亲不太适应这次旅行，但坚持要我和我哥哥去旅行。
We would later provide her with pictures, a written account, and videotape of the trip.
后来我们会给她提供旅行的照片、书面记录和录像带。
Although we toured other parts of Newfoundland, including an overnight stay on the French Islands of St. Pierre and Miquilon, just off the south coast of Newfoundland, our main objective was to visit Ireland's Eye.
虽然我们游览了纽芬兰的其他地方，包括在法国圣皮埃尔和米基隆群岛过夜，就在纽芬兰的南部海岸，我们的主要目的是参观爱尔兰的眼睛。
This necessitated finding water transportation. We managed to arrange for a boat to take us on the half hour trip to the island.
这就需要找到水上交通工具。我们设法安排了一艘船带我们去岛上旅行半小时。
As it turned out, the married couple who ferried us over to the island was actually a couple of our distant cousins, whom we had never met.
事实证明，把我们送到岛上的那对已婚夫妇实际上是我们的一对远亲，我们从未见过他们。
We had intended to have our cousins drop us off on the island and pick us up a few hours later.
我们本打算让我们的堂兄弟把我们送到岛上，几个小时后再接我们。
However, either because we were newly found cousins, or they were typically hospitable Newfoundlanders, or they thought that my brother and I would get lost, they wanted to stay with us.
然而，要么是因为我们是新发现的表亲，要么是因为他们是典型的热情好客的纽芬兰人，要么是因为他们认为我和弟弟会迷路，他们想和我们住在一起。
Probably all three factors influenced their decision. They were absolutely fabulous.
可能这三个因素都影响了他们的决定。他们真是太棒了。
They got caught up in what my brother and I were trying to do. They were very knowledgeable about the island and the people who had once lived there.
他们陷入了我和我哥哥想做的事中。他们对这个岛和曾经居住在那里的人非常了解。
Clutching a narrative of the island, written by another of our cousins, the forgotten history of that special place became more coherent to the four of us.
紧扣着我们另一个堂兄弟写的关于这个岛的叙述，我们四个人对这个特殊地方被遗忘的历史变得更加清晰易懂。
As we entered Ireland's Eye's small harbour, which was guarded, by a family of hawks in a nest high on a rocky point, a weird sensation came over us.
当我们进入爱尔兰之眼的小港口时，一只鹰的家人在一个高高的岩石点上的巢穴里守护着它，一种奇怪的感觉出现在我们身上。
There, in front of us, was the place we visited fifty years before, and about which we had heard and read so much throughout our adult lives. We thought, what an aesthetically breathtaking sight!
在我们面前，是我们五十年前参观过的地方，在我们成年后的生活中，我们听到和读到了很多。我们想，多美的惊险景象啊！
The glittering sun, on that day, gave everything a picture postcard image. This was indeed a slice of paradise.
那一天，灿烂的太阳给了一切一张明信片。这的确是天堂的一部分。
The ruins of a few remaining buildings that dotted the hillsides and shoreline and the once dominant St. Georges Church on the hill at the end of the harbour, aroused in us an exciting sense of history and of our heritage.
零星分布在山坡和海岸线上的几座残存建筑的废墟，以及海港尽头山丘上曾经占主导地位的圣乔治教堂，在我们心中唤起了一种令人兴奋的历史感和遗产感。
Looking out over the harbour from the hill by the church at the extinct community, revived memories of fifty years before.
从教堂旁边的山上眺望海港，这座已经灭绝的社区，唤起了50年前的回忆。
