作者和朋友搭車離開愛丁堡前往格拉斯哥，誰知接近目的地時又被丟在了遠郊的機場附近，兩人正茫然無措時好運降臨了——三位熱心人正要去市中心，還給她們提供了一份有趣的工作，雙方一拍即合！在格拉斯哥這座蘇格蘭最大的城市，兩位姑娘不僅跟著好心人參觀了市內的大型購物中心，見識了郊外的湖光山色，還享用了豐盛的晚餐，并住進了舒適溫馨的酒店。兩人心滿意足，暢想無限，不知這份新工作會不會真的如她們所愿呢？

By Christine Mc Cafferty

憶蕓 注

Christine and Shannon, our two young backpackers, had gotten a ride to the outskirts of Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland. They now needed to get into the city; it would be their first visit. They walked along the highway, trying to get a sense of exactly where they were. There was cold wind blowing. Things didn’t seem promising. Then a car pulled up alongside them. Three guys leaned out of the windows with a big smile…

We could scarcely believe our ears when they said that they were headed into the city to check on their business, and if we want to come with. Business meant jobs and jobs were what we were after!

“What kind of business?” I asked.

One of the men, who obviously was in charge, said it was a business selling posters all over Scotland.

We looked at each other in delight, looked back at them, and then both chorused at the same moment, “That’s EXACTLY the job that we are looking for!”

All warnings we’d ever received from our parents about not getting into cars with strange men were out the window. We piled in. Before long we were headed straight into the heart of Glasgow with our three new Scottish friends: Ed, Alan and Terry. Ed was the boss man. No doubt. Though he was in the passenger seat, he was the loudest and did almost all the talking. He was in his 40s or so—quite round, but seemingly both jovial, warm, organized and looked up to by his men. Alan was driving. “Straight to St Enoch’s,” Ed told him.

Ed explained that he had “his folk” selling posters on the streets and in markets all over Scotland. What a life! Right then we could not imagine anything better than travelling around and making money at the same time! Alan parked in a huge underground parking lot. He and Terry got two big boxes of posters out the boot of the car. They somehow managed to carry them. Our first impression was that Glasgow was very full; people were hustling and bustling all over. There seemed to be much more activity than what we’d experienced in Edinburgh.

We headed up by elevator and came up right near St. Enoch Square, a public square on the junction of two busy shopping streets. In the square, we met two more of Ed’s “folk”, as he called them. The two men were quite a bit older and seemed a little shy; one had a few teeth missing. They stood in front of boxes of various posters. Some were unwrapped and laid down so that shoppers passing by could see them. The posters were mostly of pop stars, cute animals and beautiful scenes. They reported a good week of poster selling to Ed. They counted out money, gave it to Ed and the two big boxes of posters were left with them.

We headed into St. Enoch Centre, a shopping mall right there. The building has a massive glass roof. In fact, it is the largest glass-covered enclosed area in Europe. It was like being in a giant greenhouse as it seemed to be entirely lit by natural light. Ed said, “That’s right. It’s known as the ‘Glasgow Greenhouse’. Almost all the heating in the building is natural; they hardly ever use central heating in here. It’s so huge that the roof's framework, see it’s all steel, was made by a Scottish shipbuilding company. You know Scotland was once the shipbuilder of the world…That was before the Japanese, and now the Chinese, took over.” All this, of course was said, in heavy Scottish English. Sometimes we struggled to understand.

By then we’d spotted the ice rink. We’d never seen an ice rink before. We’d never even seen ice in the sunny place we come from. And what an atmosphere! All around the outside of the rink were little market-style restaurants: a food court, it is called. Ed bought us all some good old junk food. Who doesn’t love a burger?

Ed announced that he had a special treat in mind for us seeing as we were new visitors to his country. As they had to travel north to check on poster selling there, he was going to take us on a tour of the hills and lochs. “Loch” means “l(fā)ake” in Scottish English, we were told. Back in the car, the five of us headed up through the beautiful Strathblane Hills, then through the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park and past Loch Achray where we saw some beautiful castles along the water. We got to Loch Katrine as it was turning dark, cold and windy.

It was wonderful heading through stormy darkness and then arriving at a cosy, friendly, warm hotel—the Rob Roy Hotel in the town of Aberfoyle. The hotel is named after the legendary local folk hero Rob Roy McGregor. Stories abound about this Scottish clansman’s battles and fights with English lords, local lords, the authorities, the royal army, cattle owners, other clans… and everyone else, it seemed. A clan is like a tribe or family group. Rob Roy had come to represent the Scottish rebellious spirit and their passion for independence.

“Girls… men… fellow poster sellers… members of my team… I am putting you all up for the night in this good hotel and taking you all out for tea (Scottish for dinner) at the Coach Inn next door.” We could hardly believe our ears.

In Europe, from the mid-1600s, for a period of about 200 years, a coaching inn was an important part of the inland transport system. Horses, pulling coaches or carriages, usually with passengers, needed to stop every 10 or so kilometres. Of course, now, people travel by car and so the old coach inns are just normal hotels or restaurants. But that is why the old Scottish word for hotel can be translated as “change-house” (change the horses). Many inns still have an entrance to the rear that horses and carriages can go through. The Coach Inn we were at was like this. Dinner was in a very old style restaurant, all wood and soft lighting, and had an open area near the bar with two pool tables. We played pool and laughed all night. Ed was the boss certainly—confident and, seemingly, in complete control. Alan and Terry obviously respected him a great deal. We had a wonderful time.

The room Shannon and I stayed in was warm and comfy. We were so tired at the end of such a busy day. The two of us got into twin beds in our own hotel room.

“Shan,” I said, “This is the best thing that has ever happened to us.”

“Chrissie it is,” she replied, “Everything is really working out. Soon we’ll be making money, and what better boss could we ask for than Ed.”

Vocabulary

“Yup,” I replied. “He cares for all his workers, even us. Seems we’re the only females though.

The others are all older men… Wow… How lucky we are.” With Ed on our side, nothing could go wrong.

1. Glasgow: 格拉斯哥，是蘇格蘭最大的城市。

2. outskirts: 市郊，遠郊區(qū)。

3. promising: 有前途的，有希望的。

4. chorus: 異口同聲。

5. pile in: 擠進（汽車等）。

6. passenger seat: 乘客座位（尤指駕駛員旁邊的座位）。

7. jovial: 友善的，快活的；look up to: 尊敬。

8. St Enoch’s: 圣伊諾克購物中心，位于格拉斯哥市中心，巨大的玻璃屋頂使其成為歐洲最大的玻璃頂室內空間，也被稱作“格拉斯哥溫室”。

9. boot:（汽車的）后備箱。

10. hustle and bustle: 忙碌，熙熙攘攘。

11. junction: （道路）交叉口，匯合點。

12. 他們向埃德匯報說，這一周海報銷售情況很好。

13. ice rink: 溜冰場。

14. food court: 美食廣場。

15. loch: 湖。

16. Strathblane Hills: 斯特拉斯布萊恩丘陵；Queen Elizabeth Forest Park: 伊麗莎白女王森林公園； Loch Achary: 阿赫雷湖。

17. Loch Katrine: 卡特琳湖。

18. Rob Roy McGregor: 羅布?羅伊?麥格雷戈（1671—1734），被譽為蘇格蘭高地的羅賓漢。

19. abound: 大量存在；clansman: 宗族的男性成員，clan 意為“（尤指蘇格蘭的）宗族，家族”。

20. coach: 這里指舊時的四輪大馬車。下文介紹了coach inn 的由來。

21. rear: 后面。

22. pool: 落袋臺球。

23. comfy: 舒適的。

24. twin bed: （成對的）一張單人床。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：董靜）