玩轉(zhuǎn)愛丁堡

By+Christine+Mc+Cafferty

Shannon and Christine were in Edinburgh—alone， well together， but without help and contacts—but at least they were safe， after their ordeal2 the night before when their hopes of getting a job in an Italian restaurant had been disappointed. The job search was still foremost in their minds. But for today they were free to relax and go sightseeing. Edinburgh， as the ancient capital of Scotland， is a wonderful place to do that.

Shannon and I decided to head up to an area called the Royal Mile3. But first we found lockers4 at the train station where we could lock up our heavy backpacks. Ever trying to save money， we squashed5 both into one locker.

The Royal Mile refers to a street about a mile long， crisscrossed6 by other important streets， where most of Edinburghs most beautiful buildings are situated. We started at the lower end at the Palace of HolyRoodHouse which is the official residence of the Queen when she is in Scotland.7 Then we headed uphill towards the end of the road， to Edinburgh Castle.8 Along the way were lovely old buildings， really ancient-looking but quite black in places， probably from centuries of pollution and smoke. We passed by and looked in St Margarets Chapel9， one of the oldest chapels in Scotland.

There were two museums that we found very interesting. They were the Museum of Childhood and the Peoples Story. Rather than being about important people and great historical events， they were about the lives of everyday people through history. The Childrens Museum with all its toys is described as the noisiest museum in the world. The Peoples Story is about the lives lived by people in various jobs in Scotland， from fishwife to servant， and bookbinder to town crier.10 It also tells of the struggles people went through to fight for political rights and freedoms and so there are many old political banners and leaflets in the museum.11 The fact that entry to these museums was free showed us that the people must have won some rights as it was good to know that history and stories like these， through the museum， could be enjoyed by even the poor.12 And we certainly regarded ourselves as poor！

We finally reached Edinburgh Castle right at the top of the hill. This imposing fortress can be seen for miles around and holds the Scottish crown jewels in the Crown Room.13 You can also see the coats of armour14 （symbolic pictures） of various leaders and families. I was thrilled to see that of the Elliott family as my mothers family name was Elliott， and so we must have originated from Scotland before going to England at least a few hundred years before， and then to the new world. I decided paying the money to enter had been worth it！

From there we walked up another viewpoint named Carlton Hill. It was a lovely green and dramatic place with intriguing small ornamental buildings called follies.15 Follies are built in parks， purely to delight and fascinate people. There were also some monuments， the City Observatory and a graveyard.16 The graveyard was the most fascinating of all， walking among graves hundreds of years older than our country！

Up Carlton Hill we met a group of people who were handing out leaflets calling for a referendum for a Scottish parliament.17 They did not want Scotland to be “ruled” by England anymore， they told us. They wanted a parliament to be elected by a fair voting system to represent all Scots18. In 1998 their goals were achieved.

Suddenly it was getting dark and we needed to consider where we should stay—being on a zero budget didnt leave us many options！ How lucky we were because， as we sat there， pondering19 our fate， two young guys stopped by us and asked us what we were doing. They introduced themselves as Paul and James. They were brothers. You might think that we would be put off20 meeting strangers by our previous nights experience， but these guys seemed innocent—and good fun too. They told us that they had lived in Edinburgh their entire lives， in a suburb just to the west called Newbridge.21 They invited us to come home to their place as it was getting colder and their mother was cooking pasta for supper！ We needed no encouragement at all and were in the car in a minute to fetch our backpacks.

Their home was a standard suburban terraced house （built in a row） but cozy，22 and their mother friendly and kind. She was indeed cooking supper and insisted that we stay to eat and sleep the night too. Their house seemed quite a centre for young people in the suburb and there were a number of older teens coming and going， laughing and talking loudly. I could not get used to the Edinburgh accent. Sometimes it was so difficult to understand， it seemed that they werent even speaking English！

Paul and James told us that we would be having a party later. Shannon and I were thrilled. Well we would still come to realise that their idea of a party was a little different from ours. But we piled into23 the car with way too many others， and they drove up to the top of Carlton Hill， where they had met us， in the centre of Edinburgh， again. There they did a fast spin24 in the car， shouted out to someone in a nearby car， then headed back down the hill. There they got some petrol. And repeated the performance. Up the hill again， spin， shout at someone in another car， go down again and buy some food or a drink. Again and again. We did this for hours. I was bored out of my mind and nearly fell asleep in the car.

Despite this， Paul and James were really sweet and helpful， and they， their mother and their friends restored our trust in humanity—and we had a much-needed peaceful night of sleep！

Shannon and I woke up the next morning in a warm bedroom， each in our own comfortable bed. Youd think we would want to stay but， as we sat up， we both agreed that we should head to Glasgow25. It was only an hour to the west. This fact had been mentioned by Paul， the driver， the previous night as hed pointed out to us the highway near his home. We knew that Edinburgh was the historical capital of Scotland， and Glasgow was the commercial capital， so we figured that we were far more likely to find work in Glasgow.

Over breakfast we announced to them that we would be heading off26. Paul and James agreed to drop us at the train station. We hugged their mother goodbye and waved as we drove off. After we had driven off （in case his mother had disagreed）， I announced to them a change of plan， “We dont have money to take a train. We just need you to drop us off along the highway to Glasgow and we will catch a ride there.”

Paul replied， “Well you two are brave young lasses27. Are you sure you want to do that？”

We assured them that we did. We took their telephone number and promised to call if we got into trouble. And so next thing， we were standing alongside a busy highway in a foreign country， cold wind blowing， and planning to“hitchhike28” as it is called！ Our new friends were gone and we were alone. Shannon and I looked at each other. We truly were on a crazy adventure. Seriously I do not want to encourage anyone else to do this， but at that point we felt we had no other way to get to the next place to get a job. So we both faced the oncoming traffic， smiled broadly at everyone passing by and put our thumbs up.

It was not long before a woman stopped to pick us up. She wanted to talk about politics the whole way and went on about the Scottish wanting their own parliament. We assured her that we wholeheartedly agreed， even if just to calm her down！

She talked so much that she actually took us right around Glasgow to the west of the city， and there she dropped us near the airport. She told us she was flying to London to meet other protesters29 working for a “free Scotland” there. So once again we were on the side of the road. But this time we were less sure of where we needed to go. We had a map so we knew that we needed to head back east again to get into Glasgow. So we walked. Then， can you believe our luck， but a car pulled up30. Three guys stopped， leaned out the window， and all said at once that there was place for us and did we want to go along as they were headed to the centre of Glasgow to check up on their business.31

“Business？” Shannon asked， “What business？”

“We have people selling posters all over the city—and Scotland in fact，”one answered. Shannon and I looked at each other with a huge smile.

“Fancy that32，” I said. “That is EXACTLY the job that we are looking for！”

Next month Shannon and Christine hit the heart of Glasgow with their three new Scottish friends： Ed， Alan and Terry. They both were thrilled about the prospect of work that could see them travelling around Scotland. The girls agreed that it was the best thing that had ever happened to them.

1. Edinburgh： 愛丁堡，英國(guó)著名的文化古城，蘇格蘭首府；highlight： 最精彩（或最有趣、最突出）的部分。

2. ordeal： 煎熬。

3. Royal Mile： 皇家英里大道，是愛丁堡老城的中心大道，始于愛丁堡城堡，終于圣十字架宮，兩旁小巷交錯(cuò)，構(gòu)成了舊城的骨架。

4. locker： 鎖柜。

5. squash： 硬塞，塞進(jìn)。

6. criss-cross： 交叉。

7. Palace of HolyRoodHouse： 荷里路德宮，英女王來(lái)到蘇格蘭時(shí)的皇室住所，由詹姆斯五世于1498年所建；residence： 住處。

8. uphill： 朝上坡方向；Edinburgh Castle： 愛丁堡城堡，愛丁堡的重要象征，是重要的皇家住所和國(guó)家行政中心，位于死火山頂?shù)幕◢弾r上，從那里可以俯瞰整個(gè)城市。

9. St Margarets Chapel： 圣瑪格麗特禮拜堂，位于愛丁堡城堡內(nèi)，建于12世紀(jì)，是愛丁堡現(xiàn)存最古老的建筑。

10. bookbinder： 書籍裝訂工；town crier：（過(guò)去的）街頭公告員。

11. banner： 橫幅；leaflet： 傳單。

12. 這些博物館讓人免費(fèi)參觀的事實(shí)正說(shuō)明人民一定是已經(jīng)贏得了某些權(quán)利；我們也高興地知道，即便是窮人也可以通過(guò)博物館去了解這些歷史和掌故。

13. imposing： 壯觀的；fortress： 城堡；crown jewels： 鑲嵌珠寶代表王權(quán)的王冠、權(quán)杖或其他珍貴的物品。

14. armour： 盔甲。

15. intriguing： 有趣的；ornamental： 裝飾性的；folly：（沒(méi)有實(shí)際用途而）只能作為裝飾的建筑。

16. monument： 紀(jì)念碑；observatory： 天文臺(tái)；graveyard： 墓地。

17. referendum： 公民投票；Scottish parliament： 蘇格蘭議會(huì)，是1997年以權(quán)力下放方式成立的單院制蘇格蘭地方議會(huì)。

18. Scots： 蘇格蘭人。

19. ponder： 思考。

20. put sb. off： 使失去興趣（或熱情）。

21. suburb： 郊區(qū)；Newbridge： 紐布里奇，英國(guó)地名。

22. terraced house： 排屋中的一棟房屋；cozy： 溫暖舒適的。

23. pile into： 擠進(jìn)。

24. spin： 旋轉(zhuǎn)，此處指車掉頭。

25. Glasgow： 格拉斯哥，蘇格蘭最大城市，英國(guó)第三大城市。

26. head off： 到另一個(gè)地方去。

27. lass： 小姑娘。

28. hitchhike： 搭便車。

29. protester： 抗議者。

30. pull up： 停下，停住。

31. lean out： 把（上身或頭）探出；check up： 調(diào)查，檢查。

32. fancy that： 真想不到。