王子岛上的浪漫中年大叔：15年，4871封瓶中信

译者 江烈农

Harold Hackett Sends 4,800 Messages In Bottles, Gets Thousands Of Responses

哈罗德·哈克特寄出近五千封瓶中信，回信者数以千计

The Huffington Post   Dean Praetorius   First Posted: 9/28/11 01:11 PM ET Updated: 9/29/11 05:07 PM ET

《赫芬顿邮报》世界版（World | Huff Post）2011年9月28日讯

作者：迪恩·普雷托瑞斯（Dean Praetorius）

译者：江烈农

Harold Hackett is the original social networker.

　　哈大叔全名哈罗德·哈克特，他玩的是最原始的社交网络。

Since 1996 he's thrown 4,871 messages in bottles into the Atlantic, and garnered over 3,100 responses, according to Yahoo! News. The 58-year-old Prince Edward Island resident has received letters from across the globe, including France, Germany, the Bahamas and even Africa.

　　据雅虎新闻报道，自1996年以来，哈大叔往大西洋里扔了4871封瓶中信，收到了超过3100份回音。这位58岁的爱德华王子岛居民，目前已收到的信件来自世界各地，包括法国、德国、巴哈马，甚至非洲。

According to the Prince Edward Island Guardian, the hobby began with a glass Pepsi bottle that Hackett threw overboard while fishing. That first bottle simply included a name and address and requested a response.

　　据爱德华王子岛《卫报》报道，哈大叔这项爱好，始于多年前一个百事可乐玻璃瓶。当时他正在海上钓鱼，随手从船上扔出了他的第一封瓶中信，信上其实只写了自己的姓名、地址，然后注明：希望拾得者予以回复。

After receiving his first letter in reply, his hobby was off and running.

　　收到第一封回信后，哈大叔这项业余爱好就一发不可收拾了。

But written responses aren't the only thing that Hackett receives in return. In many cases, he strikes up friendships with the people he hears back from. According to his interview with the BBC, Hackett typically receives 150 Christmas cards from the people he's contacted by bottle each year.

　　但哈大叔收到的不仅仅是书面回音。大多数情况下，他都能与回信者交上朋友，建立起友谊。他接受了英国广播公司（BBC）采访，在采访中说，每年他收到的圣诞卡中，大约有150封都是瓶中信好友从世界各地发来的祝福。

You can watch the BBC's touching interview with Hackett here, from the BBC.

　　点击这里，观看BBC访问视频。

Some of the letters he's sent out have potentially been at sea for decades. In his interview with the BBC, he displays letters from the places like Ireland and Norway that took 10 or 11 years to reach him.

　　他发出的信，有好多在海上漂流了十多年。在接受BBC的采访时，他展示了历经10或11年才从爱尔兰、挪威等地寄来的回信。

Over the years, his hobby has garnered him a fair amount of attention, according to the P.E.I. Guardian:

　　据爱德华王子岛《卫报》介绍，多年来，哈大叔的业余爱好已使他小有名气。

"Harold the bottle man" has become somewhat of a legend. He even has a display at Ripley's in Cavendish. That happened after the Ripley's owner found one of Hackett's bottles at his cottage in Florida. Some of the letters and souvenirs he received are included in the display.

　　“瓶中信哈大叔”已经成为了一个传奇，王子岛卡文迪许市的“信不信由你博物馆”里甚至都有他瓶中信的展出。这说来很巧，因为博物馆的老板有一回去美国佛罗里达度假，住在海边的小木屋里，结果竟然捡到了一封哈大叔的瓶中信。于是，博物馆就展出了哈大叔收到的部分回信与纪念品。

加拿大，爱德华王子岛省，卡文迪许市，“信不信由你博物馆” | 图片来源：菲林客（flickr）

Hackett has no plans of stopping, either; he plans to continue sending out letters and building his social network until he is no longer able to do it. "I'm gonna go as long as I can," he told the BBC.

　　哈大叔还不打算“收手”，他计划要继续通过这种方式建立自己的社交网络，直到他老得动不了了为止。他告诉BBC记者：“只要还能动，我就会继续。”

　　（译注：本文所有图片，未经标注者，均来自BBC官网及视频截图。）