前段时间断断续续地读完了这本书。主人公Harold Fry拿着不多的退休工资，跟每天朝夕相处的妻子形同陌路，过着平静乏味的生活。突然有一天，他收到多年未联系的老友Queenie的信件，对方在信中称自己得了癌症，命不久矣。Harold本来只是想回一封信给她，结果他出门寄信，走过了一个又一个邮筒，都没有把信投递出去，最终徒步600英里去看望Queenie。他坚信只要自己一直在路上，Queenie就不会死。
所以，虽然书名中pilgrimage原意是“朝圣”，中译名也是《一个人的朝圣》，但这本书的内容却完全与宗教无关，我想这里的取义应该是：A pilgrimage is a trip that someone makes to a place that is very important to them. (去重要地方的) 出行
Queenie的疗养院对他来说是很重要了。
这本书有很多埋藏的点让你迫不及待地读下去，比如为什么Harold迟迟不能把信寄出去，而是选择徒步600英里去看望她，他跟Queenie之间有着什么样的过往？Harold跟妻子Maureen像是住在同一屋檐下的陌生人，他们之间发生了什么？还有他从来不打电话的儿子David，发生了什么？所有这些，都是Harold在徒步之前不敢去想，拒绝去想的事情。在徒步的过程中，他得以与妻子和解，与过去的人和事和解，与自己和解。
看看外媒是如何对本书进行概述的：
This novel begins with the arrival of an unexpected letter and an impulsive act. When Harold Fry, a timid man in his later years, discovers that a former friend and colleague is seriously ill, he sets out with the intention of posting her a letter but instead embarks on 600-mile walk from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. He believes that in some way his journey will help his friend to live. Without maps or waterproofs and only yachting shoes on his feet, he walks and walks, while his wife Maureen waits at home; at first she is angered by what she perceives as abandonment but eventually his distance allows her emotions to resurface. She remembers her husband as he once was and everything he once meant to her.
这一段话简短地描述了Harold收到信之后，临时决定走路去看望Queenie，并简述了他的这次北上对妻子Maureen的影响。
抓关键词：
in one's later years: 晚年；
embark on....:to start something, especially something new, difficult, or exciting开始，着手〔尤指新的、困难的或令人激动的事〕;
resurface: V-I If something such as an idea or problem resurfaces, it becomes important or noticeable again. (思想或问题)再次变得重要; 重新引人注意;
再来看一篇简介，内容稍多一点：
As the novel begins, we are introduced to Harold and Maureen Fry. They live a simple life in a small English village. Harold is newly retired from the brewery, where he held the same job for 45 years.Life for them is quiet. Almost too quiet, except for the difficult relationship the two of them share. It almost seems as if they are done with each other, especially when the communication between them is fraught with silence and irritation. One morning, Harold receives a letter in a pink envelope. It's from an old work friend, Queenie Hennessey. They haven't spoken in 20 years, and now she writes to tell him she is about to die. The letter affects Harold in a curious way and seems to stir the apathy into which he has settled.
Worried that Maureen will comment or judge (Maureen appears to be a bit of a sourpuss), he pens a reply and sets off to the mailbox. Except, he doesn't mail the letter. He decides to keep walking to the next postbox and then the next, until he ends up at a gas station, where a young cashier changes his life forever. Clad in a windbreaker and 'yachting shoes', Harold continues to walk further away from home (and closer to Queenie), setting off on a journey—a pilgrimage—that neither he, nor any reader, will ever forget.
这段大意与上一段差不多，描述了Harold与妻子Maureen之间的关系，也大致交代了是什么促使Harold决定徒步600英里。
抓关键词：
be fraught with:full of problems etc充满问题/困难/危险等，比如：
Their marriage has been fraught with difficulties. 他们的婚姻困难重重。
apathy:the feeling of not being interested in something, and not willing to make any effort to change or improve things 漠然，冷淡，比如：
The campaign failed because of public apathy.由于公众反应冷淡，这次运动失败了。
sourpuss：someone who complains a lot and is never happy or satisfied性情乖戾的人，满腹牢骚的人；
pen用作动词：to write something such as a letter, a book etc, especially using a pen〔尤指用钢笔〕写；
Clad: ADJ If you are clad in particular clothes, you are wearing them. 身着…服装的，比如：
Johnson was clad casually in slacks and a light blue golf shirt.约翰逊随意地穿着一条休闲裤和一件淡蓝色的高尔夫衬衫。
我们学英语的看原版书，一定不是单单为了故事情节。好词佳句必须get起来，这里列举一二：
From inside the house the phone began toring, and her heart leaped to her mouth.
这句话讲的是Maureen在Harold寄信一去不复返后，焦急等待Harold来电的心情。
关键表达：one's heart leaps to one's mouth , 也可写作heart in one's mouth（心提到嗓子眼儿）。可以用这个词组来形容坐飞机的紧张心情：
When the plane was about to take off, my heart was in my mouth飞机准备起飞时，我紧张的要命。
Her face was knotted with concentration.
Harold在途中遇到了各式各样的人。这位叫做Martina，是一个移民到英国，后又被丈夫遗弃的女子，她原本是个医生，但是在英国却只能当个护士。Harold本不是专业的徒步者，徒步600英里也是在去寄信的路上遇到加油站小姑娘之后才决定的，所以也没有任何专业的装备，脚上起了泡。Martina细心地帮他护理。
关键表达：knot [I,T] if a muscle or other part of your body knots, or is knotted, it feels tight and uncomfortable(使)〔肌肉〕暴突，(使)〔身体某部位〕紧揪
胃痛时就可以用上这个单词：
Fear and anxiety knotted her stomach. 恐惧和焦虑使她感到腹部痉挛。
有好几次，Harold感觉自己再也继续不下去了，每走一步都要用尽全身力气，作者是这样描述的：
It took every scrap of himself to keep moving when he knew in his heart he could not make it.
scrap的意思是“一小块，小片”，所以这句话用中文来表达就可以是：
他每走一步都要动用到全身的每一块肌肉，他清楚自己走不完这600英里。
整本书中不乏这600英里的美景描述，贴几个感受一下：
The moon drew into focus,full and high, like a silver coin emerging through water.
Everyday the sky shone a peerless blue, untouched by cloud.
The sky was so clear and black, it throbbed with stars, and the moonwas losing its fullness once more.
A storm was coming. Clouds drew up like a hood over the earth, and threw an eerie luminous light over the Blackdown Hills.
To the east, the cloud tore open and a low belt of polished silver light broke through.
The air smelled green and full of beginnings.
At the window, the upper branches and leaves of the tree crushed themselves against the glass.
To the east the night hadcracked open, revealing a pale band of light that began to climb andfill the sky.
最后再引用外媒对本书的总结结束本次安利：
It's partly a push to not let your life just pass you by, but it's more than that. It's a critique of our society's ideals of fame and priorities, and a suggestion that our relationships are something to savour and to tend like a beautiful garden.
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