中国七夕爱情漂流瓶 漂洋过海到达英国

A romantic message-in-a-bottle discovered by a mother and daughter at a Socttish beach has sparked a mystery about whether it could have travelled 5,000 miles across the seas from China.

一对母女在苏格兰海滩捡到的漂流瓶引发了人们的猜疑：这只漂流瓶是如何穿越5000英里的大海，从中国漂到苏格兰的。

Nicola MacFarlane, 41, and daughter Lucy, four, from Portobello, near Edinburgh, were scouring Portobello Beach when they came across an old glass bottle sticking out of the sand containing a note inside written in Mandarin.

41岁的Nicola MacFarlan和4岁的女儿Lucy 来自爱丁堡附近波多贝罗，当时她们正在清洁波多贝罗海滩，突然发现这个藏在沙子里的玻璃瓶，瓶子里装有一封中文写的信。

Now the family are trying to work out if the letter has managed the extraordinary journey across the Philippine Sea, into the Indian Ocean and through both the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic Ocean's before washing up on the shores of Great Britain.

现在这家人正在试图搞清楚这封信的神奇之旅，它是如何穿越菲律宾海进入印度洋，再穿越南北大西洋海域飘到英国海滩的。

It is unclear when the letter was sent off, as it was written on Chinese Valentine's Day, or Qixi Festival as it is more traditionally known, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

这封信是什么时候被扔进海里的还不得而知，但是它写于中国的传统情人节七夕，也就是农历的七月初七。

While the letter bears the date in line with the lunar calendar - July 7, 2017 - it could have been sent off as recently as six days ago if it followed the modern calendar, which celebrated the occasion on August 23.

既然信是农历的七月初七写的，那么它有可能是在六天前，也就是阳历的8月23日寄出的。

Whether the message has travelled thousands of miles from China or whether it was penned by a love-struck pair much closer to home remains a mystery.

然而这信到底是从千里之外的中国漂洋而来，还是写于附近国家的痴情情侣依然不得而知。

But for Nicola it doesn't matter - she was still excited to read about the Chinese love story after having it translated.

但是Nicola却不介意，她对于能够读到翻译过后的中国爱情故事感到兴奋。

She said: 'I really do hope that it is from China but even it is from nearer to home, it's still a lovely gesture and an inspiring find. It's a love story regardless of where it came from.'

她说：“我确实非常希望这来自中国，但是即使来自于离我家不远的地方，这依然是一个爱情的象征，一个令人振奋的发现。这是一个无关乎距离的爱情故事。”

'We saw the bottle sticking out of the sand and just thought it was junk that someone had left behind.

“我们看到这个瓶子埋在沙子中的时候，还以为是谁遗留下的垃圾呢。”

'But after picking it up I noticed there was a piece of brown paper rolled up inside and there was some foreign writing on it.

“但当我捡起来的时候我注意到瓶子里有一张卷起来的棕色信纸，有些外国文字在上面。”

'We quite excitedly took it home and carefully uncorked the bottle and took out the sheet of paper using some tweezers.

“我们兴奋得把它带回家，并小心翼翼的打开瓶子，用镊子把纸拿了出来。”

'We knew it was Chinese, but we had no idea what it said.'

“我们知道这是中文，但是完全不知道写的是什么。”

Unable to read the Mandarin text, Nicola turned to the internet and her Australian friend, Julie Gould, whose daughter attended a Chinese school in Sydney.

因为看不懂中文，Nicola求助了网络和她的澳大利亚朋友Julie，Julie的女儿在悉尼的一所中文学校上学。

Several hours later Julie returned with the news that it was in fact a love letter.

几个小时后，Julie 回复她说这实际上是一封情书。

Nicola said: 'It sounds to me like the couple are in love but cannot be together so they have sent the message to tell the world of their love.

Nicola说：“听起来这像是一对相爱的情侣却不能在一起，所以他们通过漂流瓶信息来告诉全世界他们的爱。”

'I'm blown away by it to be honest - it's incredible that it has travelled all this way.'

“说实话当时我震惊了，要是真从中国漂流而来那就太不可思议了。”

In May 2008, a message in a bottle turned up on a Hebridean beach after completing a 4000-mile sea journey from the Bahamas.

在2008年的五月，在英国的赫布里底群岛海滩也发现过这样的瓶子，从4000英里外的巴哈马群岛漂来。