By Christine Mc Cafferty

Shannon and Christines time in Ireland was getting exhausting！ They had now had four nights of three hours of sleep each！ Dublin had been especially gruelling.2 It was crunch time in terms of achieving their goals： drinking Guinness beer—because no one can go to Dublin without drinking Guinness—and finding a job…3

W ell drinking beer would be a lot easier than finding a job. So， although it was just after 7 in the morning， we decided wed head for the brewery4 where Guinness is made. We got a free breakfast at the youth hostel， courtesy of the French tour group whose dorm room wed slept in the night before； put it this way， there were croissants and toast on the table... and they seemed unconcerned about us helping ourselves.5

We left with the group and went past the beautiful Trinity College which houses the Book of Kells， a book of the four gospels of the Bible calligraphed and illustrated， it is believed， in the 900s.6 It was written in Latin， the language of the ancient world of the Roman Empire， which was， in those times， the language of learning and books in Europe. The beautiful and detailed writing and pictures were done by Christian monks who lived in monasteries and had devoted their lives to building the church and spreading the gospel of Christ in what was then one of the remotest parts of the Europe.7 Virtually all books in those times were about the Christian religion.

Next we wandered past St. Stephens Green， a large park in the centre of Dublin. It had originally been a marsh8， used by the people of Dublin. In 1890， it was beautifully landscaped and donated to the people of Dublin by the owner of the Guinness brewery.

We parted ways with the French tour group， and went on to the famous Guinness Storehouse—the Home of Guinness. It is in the centre of the legendary St. Jamess Gate Brewery.9 Guinness beer has been produced there since 1759， when the founder， Arthur Guinness， signed a lease10 for 9，000 years—he must have believed in his product！ We could smell the hops11 that the beer is made of. How we longed to go into the seven-story building to learn about its 250-year history！ But we didnt. We couldnt. Even though entry came with a free Guinness beer， the fee was about 10 times the price of a beer in a pub. We didnt have the money； travelling on a shoestring12 isnt always fun！ We walked on and saw the ships on the River Liffley13 that take Guinness around the world.

The problem was that we could not afford a beer in a pub either. So， not to miss out， and to achieve at least one of our goals， we went into a liquor store and bought two bottles of Guinness. We sat down on a bench， beside the river， near the OConnell Monument14 to drink them. Oh how we must have looked！ But the truth is that neither Shannon nor I actually liked beer. But we had to try Guinness and， from the rich dark colour and creamy head we had seen， it was sure to taste just great. Wed heard it described as everything from mothers milk to chocolate… But one sip proved that wrong！ We looked at each other in horror， not sure where to spit. We dared each other to take a second sip…maybe it took some getting used to. Eeegh！ We found it bitter and horrible.

The OConnell Monument， where we sat， is in memory of Daniel OConnell， who died in 1847 and is often referred to as “The Liberator”. A lawyer and Irish political leader in the first half of the 1800s， he worked for the freedom of the Irish people from the oppressive English leadership， opposing the use of violence in the struggle for freedom. Dublin was a place of peace and， sitting there quietly along the banks of the river， you could actually feel it. The capital of Northern Ireland， Belfast15， on the other hand， was a place still in violent turmoil—and we wanted to go there.

We loved Dublin， but luck had not gone our way there. The previous two days job hunts had been a failure； wed had four nights with barely any sleep； and wasted precious money on two beers that we couldnt drink. There was only one thing to do and that was to hike off to the next place， which we had decided would be Belfast. Thoughts of safety were far from our minds. We went back to the hostel and got our backpacks， and started walking north on OConnell Road. We figured that it was the main road through Dublin， and Belfast was north of Dublin， so we had to be on the right road. We were right.

We had not gone far when we saw two young guys getting into a car. They had obviously stopped to get some food and cold drinks from a local corner shop. I felt sure that they were headed on a journey and， with their car facing the direction we wanted to go， I thought I should approach them. Frankie and Jamie were quite happy to take us with them to Belfast. Leaving Dublin， even though it was such a lovely city， seemed immediately to result in our luck turning！

It took just over two hours to drive to Belfast. Frankie and Jamie said it was a privilege to take us on our first visit to Belfast and agreed to take us past all the major conflict zones. First we went down Falls Road， a Catholic area where we saw large walls and sides of buildings painted with graffiti supporting the Irish Republican Army and “freedom” for Ireland from their rulers in London.16 Then we went to Shankill Road， which was a Protestant17 area. There， Frankie pointed out the pharmacy18 where a mother of three children had been killed in political violence. At that time， it was terrible. We were stopped by armed soldiers and police at least five times； probably because we were driving through some pretty dangerous areas. There were armoured19 cars everywhere. We were not allowed to photograph the soldiers， or anything else in these areas， but we did manage to get a few pictures. It was as bad as Id ever been told. It was very sad and scary， but exciting at the same time. I was frightened. I felt so for people who live in places of conflict. Jamie， who was driving， said it was time to go. We could raise suspicions and get into trouble. It seemed strange to us that our freedom of movement was curtailed20 in this way.

They took us back to their house in an area west of Belfast， called Bangor， to have a shower and leave our bags. Once again we were experiencing the spontaneous and warm hospitability of the Irish people.21 The local pub was full and we had a few drinks. They bought us each a Guinness beer， but with raspberry syrup in it.22 Like this， we could drink it！ It was amazing how the Irish remained happy and friendly， despite the political tension they lived in. Frankie and Jamie then took us out for a great Chinese meal. What a treat after eating bread in Dublin for days. Maybe Shannon ate too much because she was sick all night. But me， I slept like a baby！

Shannon and Christine decided they had less chance of work in Belfast than in Dublin， and should head back to England where at least Shannon might have a job again. Jamie and Frankie kindly dropped the girls at Larne（拉恩，北愛(ài)爾蘭安特里姆郡的一個(gè)鎮(zhèn)）to catch the ferry back to Scotland. Ian， Shannons late love， had agreed to collect them. There was only one problem—they were running late and might miss him...

1. turmoil： 騷亂，混亂。

2. Dublin： 都柏林，愛(ài)爾蘭共和國(guó)的首都和最大的城市，靠近愛(ài)爾蘭島東岸的中心點(diǎn)；gruelling： 艱苦的，折磨人的。

3. crunch time： 關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻；Guinness beer： 吉尼斯啤酒，愛(ài)爾蘭吉尼斯公司生產(chǎn)的一種黑啤酒，是聞名世界的啤酒產(chǎn)品。

4. brewery： 啤酒廠(chǎng)，釀酒廠(chǎng)。

5. 我們?cè)谇嗄曷蒙嵯碛昧嗽绮?，這是法國(guó)旅行團(tuán)出于好意為我們免費(fèi)提供的，我們前一天晚上還在他們的宿舍睡覺(jué)。這么說(shuō)吧，桌子上有牛角面包和吐司……我們大吃大喝他們也毫不在意。courtesy： 禮貌，好意；croissant： 牛角面包。

6. 我們離開(kāi)了旅行團(tuán)，路經(jīng)美麗的圣三一學(xué)院，學(xué)院里存放著《凱爾經(jīng)》，這本書(shū)是《圣經(jīng)》四部福音書(shū)的手抄本，據(jù)說(shuō)是在10世紀(jì)抄寫(xiě)并配圖的。Trinity College： 都柏林大學(xué)圣三一學(xué)院，愛(ài)爾蘭國(guó)內(nèi)排名第一和最古老的大學(xué)，擁有超過(guò)400年的歷史；Book of Kells：《凱爾經(jīng)》，附有華麗裝飾文字的《圣經(jīng)》福音書(shū)手抄本；gospel： 福音書(shū)，以記述耶穌生平與復(fù)活事跡為主的文件、書(shū)信與書(shū)籍。

7. 這些美麗且細(xì)致的文字和圖畫(huà)是由住在修道院的基督教僧侶所編撰和繪制的，他們傾其一生建造教堂，并在當(dāng)時(shí)歐洲最偏遠(yuǎn)的地區(qū)之一傳播基督福音。monastery： 修道院。

8. marsh： 沼澤，濕地。

9. legendary： 傳說(shuō)中的，傳奇的；St. Jamess Gate Brewery： 圣詹姆斯門(mén)啤酒廠(chǎng)，是吉尼斯最初的制造工廠(chǎng)，已成為都柏林標(biāo)志性的景點(diǎn)之一。

10. lease： 租賃，租約。

11. hop： 啤酒花。

12. shoestring： 小額資本，零星資金。

13. River Liffley： 利菲河，流經(jīng)都柏林市中心的一條河流，供給都柏林城市大部分生活用水，沿河道有大量休閑、娛樂(lè)的空間。

14. OConnell Monument： 奧康奈爾紀(jì)念碑，矗立于繁華的奧康奈爾大街的十字路口，為了紀(jì)念19世紀(jì)愛(ài)爾蘭民族領(lǐng)袖丹尼爾·奧康奈爾（Daniel O Connell）而建造。

15. Belfast： 貝爾法斯特，北愛(ài)爾蘭首府，位于愛(ài)爾蘭島東北沿海的拉干河口，是北愛(ài)爾蘭最大的海港及愛(ài)爾蘭島上最大的城市。

16. graffiti： 涂鴉；Irish Republican Army： 愛(ài)爾蘭共和軍，曾為愛(ài)爾蘭獨(dú)立，后為統(tǒng)一北愛(ài)爾蘭而戰(zhàn)斗的組織。

17. Protestant： 新教，源于16世紀(jì)神學(xué)家馬丁·路德等人所領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的宗教改革運(yùn)動(dòng)，與天主教、東正教并列為基督宗教三大分支。

18. pharmacy： 藥房。

19. armoured： 裝甲的，武裝的。

20. curtail： 減少，限制。

21. spontaneous： 自然而然的；hospitability： 熱情好客。

22. raspberry： 覆盆子；syrup：糖漿。