Baltic Sea letter in a bottle found 24 years later 波羅的海瓶中信24年後被發現

Baltic Sea letter in a bottle found 24 years later 
波羅的海瓶中信24年後被發現
2011-05-20◎張沛元

Nearly a quarter-century after a German boy tossed a message in a bottle off a ship in the Baltic Sea, he’s received an answer.
一名德國男孩在從一艘航行於波羅的海的船上丟出一封瓶中信之後將近25年，他收到了回音。

A 13-year-old Russian, Daniil Korotkikh, was walking with his parents on a beach when he saw something glittering lying in the sand.
13歲的俄羅斯少年丹尼爾．柯洛特奇克是在與雙親漫步於一處沙灘時，看到沙裡面躺著個亮晶晶的東西。

His father, who knows schoolboy German, translated the letter, carefully wrapped in cellophane and sealed by a medical bandage.
略通德文的柯洛特奇克之父，翻譯出這封小心翼翼地包在玻璃紙、並以繃帶封起來的瓶中信的內容。

It said： "My name is Frank, and I’m five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you."
信上寫道：「我叫法蘭克，今年5歲。我爸跟我正搭船去丹麥。若你發現這封信，請回信給我，我會回信給你。」

The letter, dated 1987, included an address in the town of Coesfeld.
該信日期為1987年，信上還有一個德國城鎮寇斯菲爾德的地址。

The boy in the letter, Frank Uesbeck, is now 29. His parents still live at the letter’s address.
信中的男孩法蘭克．烏斯貝克如今已29歲，他的雙親仍住在信上地址之地。

"At first I didn’t believe it," Uesbeck said about getting the response from Korotkikh. In fact, he barely remembered the trip at all; his father actually wrote the letter.
「我起初簡直不敢相信，」烏斯貝克如此描述收到柯洛特奇克回信的感受。事實上，烏斯貝克幾乎完全不記得那趟旅程；那封瓶中信是他爸代筆寫的。

新聞辭典

quarter：名詞，四分之一。

schoolboy：名詞，學童。schoolboy + 語言名稱，意指對該語言只有初級程度了解。類似用法，schoolboy humor，粗魯但無傷大雅的愚蠢玩笑。例句：Isn’t he a bit old for this type of schoolboy humour?（他這把年紀還開這種無聊的小孩子玩笑會不會太老了啊？）

barely：副詞，幾乎沒有。例句：You’ve changed so much that I can barely recognize you.（你變好多我幾乎認不出你來了。）