In Mr. Fahey’s case, he moved to the island full time in 1994, several years after he divorced. Not because he was 10)traumatized, he said, but because he liked the “feeling of freedom when you’re by yourself. You don’t have to answer to anybody.” Once a week, though, he goes to Anacortes, a town on the mainland, 10 miles away by boat, to visit his 99-year-old father in an assisted-living home and to see his girlfriend, Deborah Martin, whom he has been dating for 15 years. Ms. Martin, 56, explained: “We are both pretty independent, and I imagine that’s partly why it works. We don’t have the same expectations that other couples might, like, ‘I need you to be here every night.’”

　　而费伊先生的情况是,他于1994年搬到这个小岛定居,当时他已离婚了好几年。据他所说,他隐居并非因为心灵受到创伤,而是因为他喜欢“独自一人时那种自由自在的感觉,你不需要迎合任何人。”然而每周,他都会乘船去一次阿纳科特斯——距离该岛10英里的大陆上的一个市镇,去看望他那住在一所护理院里的99岁的父亲以及女友黛博拉·马丁。他俩谈恋爱已经谈了15年。56岁的马丁女士说:“我们都很独立,我想这大概是我们的恋爱关系能持续如此久的部分原因吧。我们没有其他夫妻对伴侣的那些诸如‘我需要你每晚都呆在这里陪我’的期望。”

　　For Roger Lextrait, 63, living in 11)seclusion seemed like an appealing change after a 12)harried life as a restaurateur in Portland, Oregon.

　　对于现年63岁,曾在俄勒冈州的波特兰开餐馆而忙得焦头烂额的罗格·莱科斯曲特而言,隐居对其人生来说是一种可喜的转变。
　　
　　Mr. Lextrait was the sole inhabitant of the remote tropical 13)atoll of Palmyra, in an island chain in the Northern Pacific Ocean, more than 1,000 miles south of Hawaii, from 1992 to 2000. He 14)wound up there in his mid-40s, after nearly a dozen years of sailing around the world on his yacht, following his divorce and the sale of two restaurants in the early 1980s. Exhausted by his years on the boat, he agreed to take a job as the island’s caretaker, warning ships off the reefs and 15)discouraging vandals. The post was supposed to last a few months, but Mr. Lextrait stayed for eight years.

　　从1992年到2000年这些年间,莱科斯曲特是偏远的巴尔米拉热带环礁上唯一的居民。巴尔米拉环礁是北太平洋岛链上的一个岛,位于夏威夷以南,与夏威夷相距1000多英里。上世纪80年代早期,莱科斯曲特在经历离婚以及变卖两个餐馆这些事情后,开着自己的游艇花了近12年的时间来环游世界。最后,在他四十来岁时,他来到了巴尔米拉环礁。多年的船上生活让他心生厌倦,他于是接受了看管巴尔米拉环礁的工作,负责警告船只避开暗礁以及驱逐环礁的破坏者。莱科斯曲特先生原本只打算干几个月就走,但结果一呆就是8年。