船靠岸了

早班船停靠在斯特罗姆内斯。镇上的房子背对着海水。波莉踏上湿的石板，明白了这里的风。那不是一阵风。那是一种常态。码头尽头坐着一只柯利牧羊犬。波莉走了过去。“你能给我指路吗？”

The morning boat tied up at Stromness. The houses stand with their backs to the water. Polly stepped onto wet flagstones and understood the wind. It was not a gust. It was a condition. A collie sat at the end of the pier. Polly went over to him. "Can you show me the way?"

他问她想去哪里。她还不知道。这里有将近七十个岛，大约二十个岛上住着人。没有森林，方圆几里没有高的东西。“请问我在哪里可以坐上公交车？”她问。他朝坡上的候车亭偏了偏头。

He asked where she wanted to go. She did not know yet. There are close to seventy islands, and about twenty have people on them. There is no forest and nothing tall for miles. "Could you tell me where I can catch a bus?" she asked. He tipped his head toward a shelter up the slope.

然后她问了一个城里人的问题。“走到市中心要多久？”柯利犬望向那条贯穿全镇的唯一一条街。十一分钟，他说，如果你在橱窗前停下来的话。

Then she asked a city question. "How long does it take to walk to the city center?" The collie looked along the one street that runs the length of the town. Eleven minutes, he said, if you stop at the windows.

“你能告诉我今天有什么有意思的活动吗？”渡轮时刻表就是本地新闻，他说。有一班船去海豹礁。有一座战俘建造的小教堂。还有一座村庄，在沙子下面埋了四千年。

"Can you tell me if there are any interesting events today?" The ferry timetable is the local news, he said. There was a boat to the seal rocks. There was a chapel built by prisoners. There was a village that lay under sand for four thousand years.