More than two decades ago, a 10-year-old schoolgirl threw a bottle into the sea off the coast of Hull as she embarked on a family holiday, hoping to get a response from a stranger in a faraway land.
20多年前的一个家庭假日里，一个10岁的女生在赫尔海湾抛下了一个漂流瓶，希望能得到远方陌生人的回信。
Inside the bottle was a scrawled letter from Zoe Lemon, a youngster with a love of "ballet, playing the flute and the piano", who had just boarded a ferry bound for a holiday in Germany.
漂流瓶里的那张字迹潦草的信是Zoe Lemon写的，她是一个喜爱“芭蕾、演奏竖笛和钢琴”的女生，她当时刚刚上轮船要去德国度假。
She told her prospective recipients of her pet hamster and fish, both called Sparkle, and her parents who were both teachers.
她告诉了收信人她的宠物是一只仓鼠和一条鱼，它们的名字都是Sparkle，还有她的父母都是教师。
Miss Lemon, of Salford, Greater Manchester, soon forgot about her act of whimsy, eventually marrying and having a child herself.
大曼彻斯特郡索尔福德市的Lemon小姐，很快就忘了她的一时兴起之举，后来她嫁为人妇，也有了自己的孩子。
But this Christmas she was staggered to receive a reply after 23 years.
但是在今年圣诞，她惊讶地收到了23年后迟来的回信。
It turned out to be a reply to her letter from Piet and Jacqueline Lateur from near Rotterdam. Mr Lateur was walking his dog in the Oosterschelde dykes, near where he and his wife live in Serooskerke, when he found the bottle with Zoe’s letter inside.
原来这是鹿特丹市附近的Piet和Jacqueline Lateur夫妇寄来的回信。这对夫妇住在萨鲁斯科克，Lateur先生捡到Zoe的信时，他正在家附近的东斯尔德堤坝边遛狗。
Mrs Averianov, 33, who works in a jewellery shop, said: 'It’s been a bit crazy really. My parents came to visit on Christmas day and they had this letter from Europe addressed to my maiden name, Lemon.
在珠宝店工作的33岁的Averianov女士说：“这真是太神奇了。我父母在圣诞那天来做客，他们带来了这封从欧洲寄来的信，收信人的名字用的是我的娘家姓Lemon。”
Since receiving the letter, Mrs Averianov has been in contact with Mr Lateur via email and asked to see photographs of where the bottle was found.
收到回信后，Averianov女士就开始与Lateur先生用电子邮件联系，并询问是否能让她看看发现漂流瓶的地方的照片。
He told her: 'I am keeping your little letter on my piano. I know you are no longer a little girl but you asked me to write you so I have.'
他告诉她：“我把你的这封短信放在了我的钢琴上。我知道你已经不是一个小女孩了，但是你要求我给你回信，所以我就回了。”
Mrs Averianov’s father, John Lemon, 68, had encouraged his daughter to throw the message into the sea on a family holiday and now she is considering doing the same for her five-year-old son Maksim.
Averianov女士的父亲，68岁的John Lemon，在那次家庭假日里鼓励女儿向海里扔下漂流瓶，现在她也想为她5岁的儿子Maksim做同样的事。
She said: 'I’ll probably wait until he’s a bit older and can understand and write a letter, but maybe we’ll do it by attaching it to a balloon.'
她说：“我可能要等到他再长大一点，直到他懂得怎么写一封信，但是我们也许会把信件绑在一个气球上。”