By David Denby

I was about five when I first heard the word “Greenland.” And my interest grew from there. I cant say exactly why， but it was undoubtedly a combination of many images that the word conjured up： remoteness， ice， polar bears， and Vikings.2

Finally， after decades， I decided to go.

There is no easy way to get to Greenland from North America—only a seasonal flight from the far-flung3 Canadian province of Nunavut. But then， how does one get to Nunavut？

And so I flew first to Iceland， and from there took a prop plane from the heart of Reykjavík， flying three hours west to a place that， at first glance， was clearly misnamed： The east coast of Greenland was a forbidding landscape of black pinnacles poking through an expanse of ice and snow， with no sign of human habitation.4 I hugged my down parka close.5

But then the plane angled toward the southern tip of the massive island， and everything changed. Much of the ice disappeared， replaced by broad fields of green. We landed， and when I stepped off the plane it was 73 degrees F6. I regarded my parka dolefully.7

One of my objectives in going to Greenland was to make contact with， and get to know， some native Greenlanders. I didnt know how I would achieve this， but success came in an unexpected way.

There being few roads in Greenland， travel is mostly by boat. This is how I made my way to the tiny settlement of Qassiarsuk （pop. 89），8 site of some of the best-preserved Viking ruins in Greenland. When I got off the boat， I needed to hike the kilometer to the Illunnguujuk Hostel， where I had reserved a bed.

I arrived at a small， neat， white house not far from the edge of the fjord9. A young couple and their toddler were out front， enjoying the sun and unusual warmth. This was my first native contact. Greenlanders speak their own Inuit language and learn Danish in school.10 Many also speak varying levels of English. The young woman was one of these. But her English proficiency turned out to be anticlimactic.11

When I identified myself， her eyes widened， and she said， “Oh.” There was a problem. Another wayfarer12 had arrived earlier and， mistaking him for me， they had given him my bed. There was no more space in the hostel. “But dont worry，” she said， clearly concerned for my welfare.

My response： “I never worry.” And then I added， “Ill take a walk to the Viking ruins. When I come back Im sure youll be able to help me.”

When I did return， the familys matriarch， a gracious grandmother of great presence，13 had come home. She was so embarrassed by the oversight14 that she had thrown herself into cleaning a tiny house the family owned on the banks of the fjord. “This is for you，” she said. And as if that werent enough， she invited me to eat supper with her family that evening—three generations under one roof. I had hit pay dirt15.

That evening I sat down to a dinner of fresh， fjord-caught trout with an intact，16 loving， happy native family. The conversation proceeded in three languages. The themes ranged from the unusual warmth in Greenland， to the previous brutal winter， to the concern they felt for the changes in their homeland as the massive ice sheet thinned and outside interests cast envious eyes upon the newly revealed mineral wealth.17

I ventured to remark that it must be very difficult to live in （the six months of darkness being one of the challenges）， which they conceded.18 But they also wanted me to know that they could not conceive of19 living any place else. Home， after all， is home.

When I first set foot in Greenland I found myself all but overwhelmed by the emptiness， the vastness， and the silence. I had decided that I would make the most of Greenland during my visit， but that I would probably never return. And then I was taken into this Greenlandic home. I can now say that I have friends in Greenland， and that even a cold， empty， and silent landscape is worth visiting， so long as one has a warm and welcoming place to go.

All because of a misunderstanding.

1. Greenland： 格陵蘭（島），位于北美洲東北，介于北冰洋和大西洋之間，屬丹麥，是世界第一大島。

2. conjure up： 使浮現(xiàn)于腦海，使想起；Viking：（8—11世紀(jì)時(shí)乘船劫掠歐洲西北海岸的）北歐海盜。

3. far-flung： 遙遠(yuǎn)的。

4. 所以我先飛到了冰島，然后在雷克雅未克中部乘坐螺旋槳飛機(jī)，往西飛了三個(gè)小時(shí)，到了一個(gè)第一眼看上去就像是起錯(cuò)了名字的地方：格陵蘭的東海岸地勢(shì)險(xiǎn)峻，茫茫冰雪之上聳立著黑色的山峰，呈現(xiàn)出一片荒無人煙的景象。prop： 螺旋槳；forbidding：險(xiǎn)峻的，令人生畏的；pinnacle：山頂，山峰；poke through：從……露出（或伸出、探出）。

5. 我裹緊了自己的羽絨大衣。down： n. 羽絨；parka： （帶風(fēng)帽的）風(fēng)雪大衣，派克大衣。

6. degrees F： 華氏度（degrees fahrenheit）。73華氏度約等于23攝氏度。

7. regard： 注視，凝視；dolefully：悲傷地，憂郁地。

8. settlement： 村落，定居點(diǎn)；pop.：即population，人口。

9. fjord： 峽灣。

10. Inuit language： 伊努伊特語；Danish： 丹麥語。

11. proficiency： 熟練，精通；anticlimactic：令人失望的，令人掃興的。

12. wayfarer： 徒步旅行者。

13. matriarch： 女族長(zhǎng)；presence：（令人難忘的）風(fēng)度，風(fēng)范。

14. oversight： 疏忽。

15. hit pay dirt： 發(fā)現(xiàn)寶藏，發(fā)財(cái)。

16. trout： 鱒魚；intact： 完好的，未受損的。

17. 我們從格陵蘭異常的溫暖聊到以往冬天的嚴(yán)寒，然后又聊到他們因大片冰原變薄而對(duì)自己家鄉(xiāng)的擔(dān)憂，以及外界利益集團(tuán)對(duì)這里新發(fā)現(xiàn)礦物資源投來的嫉妒目光。brutal： 嚴(yán)酷的，（天氣）令人難受的。

18. venture： 敢說，大膽表示；concede：（不情愿地）承認(rèn)。

19. conceive of： 想象，想出。