梅根到蒙特塞拉特后受到欢迎，最初也平安无事。她要在岛上住六个月的那个家庭，让她觉得就像在自己家一样。岛上的生活节奏比在家里更轻松，她感到很高兴。她的新同学们接纳了她，把她当作他们当中的一员，她很快便适应了。能够在温暖的海水里畅游，在生长于温和气候带、摇曳的棕榈树下闲坐，与寒冷的北方冬天相比，这种改变令人心旷神怡。
One Saturday evening a gang of kids piled into a taxi, heading off for a barbecue on the beach. Some of the girls decided to walk along the beach. Megan joined them, lagging slightly behind. She knew she ought to hurry to catch up but the moist sand felt good under her feet. Water lapped at her toes; the tide was coming in. the violet light of dusk began to darken the sky.
一个星期六的晚上，一帮孩子们挤进一辆出租车，前往海滩吃烧烤野餐。几个女孩子决定沿海滩漫步。梅根也加入进来，跟在后面慢慢地走着。她知道她应该快一点赶上她们，但脚下湿润的沙子让她觉得很舒适。潮水涌来，海水拍打着她的脚趾。紫罗兰色的黄昏降临，天空开始暗下来。
In the growing darkness a van pulled alongside her,stopping with a squeal of brakes.Before she kewn what was happening two masked men leapt out of the car and began to chase her,grabbing her and finally throwing her to the ground.The gross attack that followed was brutal and unexplainable.Initially Megan tried to fight off her attackers by clawing at their faces with her nails.Using a coil of rope to bind her hands,the men were free to proceed.First a fist broke her upper jaw leaving her unconscions.Then the hoodlums used a metal rod to crush Megan's skull and finally a knife blade penetrated her neck piercing an artery.After the crude act was completed her body was bundled into the back of a cab and discarded in a ditch in an isolated district far from the beach.
在越来越暗的夜色里，一辆货车向她身边驶来，在尖锐的刹车声中突然停下。没等她明白过来是怎么回事，两个戴面罩的男人从车上跳出来追上她，抓住她，最后把她摔倒在地。接下来就是不分青红皂白的粗暴殴打。起初，梅根设法反抗袭击者，用指甲抓他们的脸。可他们用一卷绳子绑住她的双手后，他们开始为所欲为。他们先是一拳打破她的上颌，使她昏了过去。然后，这帮流氓用一根金属棒敲碎了梅根的颅骨，最后用刀片扎进她的脖子，刺穿了动脉。暴行结束后，他们把她的尸体捆起来，放到车子后面，再丢弃在远离沙滩的一个偏僻小区的沟里。
Realizing that Megan had disappeared, her friends dialed an emergency number, notifying the authorities of the situation. Once Megan’s body was discovered, a warrant was issued for the immediate arrest of the two wanted men. Megan’s parents were notified by the embassy. They in turn retained legal counsel and an intense inquiry began into the case. Those officials with an intimate knowledge of the island felt that the mugging was a case of mistaken identification and a complete misunderstanding, a misguided outlet for mounting frustrations on the island.
得知梅根失踪后，她的朋友们拨打了紧急电话，把情况报告给当局。梅根的尸体被发现后，马上发出了立即捉拿那两名凶犯的通缉令。大使馆通知了梅根的父母。他们聘请了法律顾问，并开始紧张地调查此案。非常熟悉这个岛屿的那些官员们认为，这次行凶是一起认错对象的事件，完全是一个误会，罪犯被带错路后错误地登上了这个岛。
Megan’s parents, Nancy and Don, cancelled all their immediate plans and flew to the island. Rather than wait for the small island ship to transport them to the island they were flown in by helicopter. After hiring a lawyer as an advocate for their cause, they began to work with the local police tracking down any angle of the case that would bring these creeps first to court and then to trial before a jury, who in turn would convict them to lengthy jail sentences. As the days slipped by without any answers, they experienced severe emotional fatigue and life became a living hell.
梅根的父母，南希和唐，取消了他们当时所有的计划，飞往该岛。他们来不及乘坐送他们到岛上去的岛内小船，改乘直升机飞过去。在请了一名律师作为该诉讼案的辩护律师后，他们开始与当地的警察一起工作，收集与此案有关的各种证据，要把那些家伙送上法庭，交陪审团进行审判，判定他们有罪并予以长期监禁。但时间一天天过去，没有任何结果。他们感到身心憔悴，仿佛生活在人间地狱。
The investigation seemed to lag at first, but they were reluctant to interfere. The initial reports from this mess were inconclusive; many of the details not being addressed. As paying clients they lodged a complaint with the Governor of the island. After several months passed, the authorities had a frank discussion with Megan’s parents stating that as each day passed they were less and less liable to solve the murder. They cited other examples of unsolved cases and encouraged Nancy and Don to return home. Feeling both annoyed and frustrated, they decided they had done all they could here for the moment.
调查工作一开始就有些拖沓，但他们不愿意去干预。在这种混乱状况下，最初的报告没有什么结论，很多细节都没有提到。作为付过费用的委托人，他们向该岛总督提出申述。几个月过去后，当局在与梅根父母的一次坦率谈话中明确表示，随着时间一天天过去，查明这宗凶案的希望越来越小。他们还举出其他没有解决的案例作为佐证，劝南希和唐回家。在气恼和失望之余，南希和唐明白目前在这里他们已经无能为力了。
Once at home again, Nancy withdrew from community life choosing to spend her time alone. These days, if you went looking, you could often find Don in a local pub having a pint or two of beer. He, too, is unable to come to terms with the sequence of events that tore his family apart this year. Just thinking about Megan brings a lump to his throat and makes his head spin.
回到家中后，南希不再参加社交活动，而是独自一人消磨时光。这些天，要是你出去走走，经常会看到唐正在当地的一个酒吧喝着一、两杯啤酒。一年下来，他也忍受不了使家庭支离破碎的这一系列不幸事件的折磨。只要一想起梅根，他就喉咙哽咽，天旋地转。
As time passed, it was becoming more and more evident that the stack of paperwork pertaining to his daughter’s case was not going to provide any answers immediately, if ever. Tips provided by the public proved to lead nowhere. The records will remain open until the case is solved, however for the moment the natural rhythm of life has been destroyed. Can a family withstand such a tragedy? Only time will tell.
随着时间的过去，越来越清楚地表明，有关她女儿案件的那堆文件不会马上给出什么答案，也许永远也不会了。公众提供的线索也得不出什么结果。诉状还会保留，直到破案为止。然而，现在正常的生活节奏被破坏了。一个家庭能够承受得了这样的悲剧吗？只有时间才能回答。
加拿大建国Canada Becomes a Nation
Before Canada became a nation in 1867, the area of North America that now composes Canada was a large expanse of widely scattered communities of British and French origins. It was an area with diverse landscapes that physically divided them from the north of the United States. There was little connection among communities politically or economically. These colonies of British North America traditionally traded with Britain and with the United States, very little among themselves. These colonies even had customs duties that, to some extent, restricted such trade. In the mid 1800s, important events and changes took place.
在1867年加拿大成为一个国家之前，组成现在的加拿大的北美地区，辽阔宽广，到处是分散的英国人和法国人的移民社区。这片土地景色多变，很自然观地将其与美国的北方分辨开来。这些社区之间很少有政治或经济上的联系。传统上，这些英属的北美殖民地与英国和美国进行贸易，而相互之间却少有往来。这些殖民地甚至还没有关税，在一定程度上限制贸易往来。19世纪中期发生的几件重大事件，使情况有了变化。
Britain repealed the Corn Laws and Navigations Acts, which had been economically beneficial to the colonies at the same rate it applied to all other trading countries, a situation to which the colonies had never been accustomed.
英国撕毁了给好几代殖民地人带来经济利益的谷物法和航行法案，并开始对殖民地课以与其他所有贸易国家同样高的税率，这是殖民地从未遇到过的情况。
From 1861to 1864, Americans were involved in a major civil war. Britain had traditional economic ties with the southern part of the United States that provided cotton to British markets. In the meantime, since the war was essentially between the North and the South, the North resented Britain’s connection with the South. In addition, during the last year (1864) of the American Civil War, the American Government of the dominant and ultimately victorious North, refused to renew a ten-year free trade agreement with United Canada, the large British colony in the central part of British North America. These arbitrary events brought concern and even fear to these colonies. With the loss of traditional trading arrangements and the end of the civil war, the North being victorious, the colonists feared that the Americans might turn on the British colonies in retaliation for Britain’s moral support for the South.
1861到1864年，美国陷入全面内战。过去是美国南方为英国市场提供棉花，英国与之有着紧密的传统经济联系。在此期间，由于这实际上是一场南北方之间的战争，北方当然不满英国与南方之间的这种传统关系。此外，在美国内战的最后一年(1864年)，占据优势并最终获胜的北方的美国政府，拒绝延续与联合加拿大——英属北美中部最大的英国殖民地——签订的十年自由贸易协议。这些独断专横的事件带给这些殖民地的是担忧甚至是恐惧。传统贸易协议的废除和以北方作为胜利者的内战的结束，使殖民者们害怕美国人可能会转而对付英属殖民地，以报复英国对南方的道义支持。
The need for new markets, and a solid defense system from potential invasion by the United States, brought an acute awareness to these diverse colonies that they should look to each other for resolutions to these problems. They felt uneasy trying to cope against these adversities on their own. Sir John A. Macdonald from United Canada, the dominant personality at this time, also saw the acceleration of American settlers moving north and spreading throughout the flat prairie lands to the west. This would potentially put a wall between the colonies in the East and the lonely western British colony in what is today part of British Columbia on the west coast of North America. Macdonald felt that the situation was urgent.
对新市场的需求，以及为了建立对付美国潜在入侵的可靠防御系统，使这些松散的殖民地清醒地认识到，它们应该共同寻求解决这些问题的办法。它们急于设法处理这些难题。联合加拿大的约翰?A?麦克唐纳先生，这个时期的关键人物，也看到美国人加快了向北方移民的速度，从大草原到西部到处都是。这很可能会将东部的殖民地与孤立的西部英属殖民地——北美西岸的现在的英属哥伦比亚的一部分——分隔开来。麦克唐纳感到情况紧急。
In the summer of 1864, the maritime colonies of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New found land scheduled a meeting to discuss the possibility of a customs union or free trade area to compensate for the latest setbacks in trade relations with Britain and the United States. Macdonald managed to get permission for some delegates from United Canada to attend as observers. For a number of years, United Canada was experiencing problems of political deadlock. Canada West was predominantly English-speaking Canada East was predominantly French-speaking. A central government, set up in 1841, required a majority from both Canada West and Canada East for all legislation to become law. It was very difficult to pass significant legislation when two opposing views were constantly being debated and legislative bills were constantly being defeated. The Canadians saw a new, wider union, a potential new national institution or central government, as a possible solution for breaking out of this constant political disorder.
1864年夏，新斯科舍的沿海殖民地，爱德华太子岛和纽芬兰计划召开会议讨论建立关税联盟或自由贸易区的可能性，以弥补最近在与英国和美国贸易关系上遭到的损失。麦克唐纳设法得到许可让联合加拿大的一些代表作为观察员出席。多年来，联合加拿大都面临着政治僵局的难题。加拿大西部以说英语为主，而东部则以说法语为主。1841年成立的中央政府，则要求一切法案成为法律之前，要得到加拿大西部和加拿大东部的多数同意。在两种对立观点争论不休，法律草案一再被否决的情况下，要通过重要的法案非常困难。加拿大人认识到一个更为广泛的新型的联盟，一种可能的新型国家制度或中央政府，可以作为避免这种时常发生的政治混乱的一个可行的解决办法。
The Canadian delegates sailed on board a cruise ship down the St. Lawrence River, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to Charlottetown on Prince Edward
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