13. Sailing Home

划船回家

This novel was about an unbelievable but genuine adventure. Its author was a black businessman who was brought up in America. In 1956, he visited Africa, his birthplace. One day, when he was wandering on the pavement near the bay enjoying the sea scenes, he lost his money and passport that he kept in an envelope. So he went to the embassy to seek help, but the ambassador with rude manners didn’t permit his staff to help though he bowed to him. Staring at his impatient face, he understood that it was the fault of his skin colour that accounted for their   refection. So he decided to take a chance to sail on a small boat home.

He met a large amount of difficulty but was never stopped. On the contrary, difficulty pushed him to go ahead harder. Three months later, he was spotted by a ship by accident. He was in rags indeed. A maid even screamed when bringing him a steak and pineapple dessert. Aboard, he earned his passage by working as a barber and got home finally. As for the name of his novel, he couldn’t think of a better one than the phrase “Go Ahead”.

这部小说写的是一次令人难以置信而又真实的历险。其作者是一位在美国被抚养长大的黑人商人。1956年，他回到他的出生地非洲。有一天，当他在海湾边的人行道上漫步欣赏海景时，他丢失了一个装着钱和护照的信封，于是向当地的大使馆寻求帮助。但是大使态度非常粗鲁，即使向他鞠躬，也不允许他的职员帮忙。盯着他那不耐烦的脸，他知道是他皮肤颜色的错才导致了他们的拒绝。于是，他决定冒险驾驶一只小船回家。

他遇到了许多困难，但是从未停止，相反，困难推动他更努力地前进。三个月后，当他被一艘船偶然发现时，真的是衣衫褴褛。给他端来牛排和菠萝甜品的女仆甚至被吓得尖叫起来。在船上，他当一名理发师来挣取船费，最后终于回到了家。至于这部小说的名字，他再也不能想到一个比“前进”更好的短语了。

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