T’was a September day in Nanjing much like today. And like this year, it was also a year that had seen major flooding across much of China earlier that summer. But the day stood out for there being an unusual object flying in the skies over the city.
这是南京九月的一天，就像今天一样。和今年一样，今年夏天早些时候，中国大部分地区也发生了严重洪水。但这一天很引人注目，因为有一个不寻常的物体在城市上空飞行。
That object turned out to be a seaplane, which went on to land on Nanjing’s Xuanwu Lake. It was piloted by none other than the world-famous aviator and he to have first flown non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, Charles Lindbergh, accompanied by his wife, Anne.
原来那个物体是一架水上飞机，随后降落在南京玄武湖上。这架飞机的驾驶者不是别人，正是世界著名的飞行员查尔斯·林德伯格（Charles Lindbergh），他在妻子安妮的陪同下首次不间断地飞越大西洋。
It was the end of a trip that had begun 2 months earlier. At the end of July 1931, the Lindberghs had flown from the USA to Asia in a modified Lockheed Sirius aircraft.
两个月前开始的旅行就此结束。 1931 年 7 月底，林德伯格夫妇乘坐一架改装的洛克希德天狼星飞机从美国飞往亚洲。
Their mission had been to explore and investigate the fastest route from New York to the East. They took off from Long Island, crossed the uninhabited lands of northern Canada, the Bering Strait and onward over Siberia.
他们的任务是探索和调查从纽约到东部的最快路线。他们从长岛起飞，穿越加拿大北部的无人区、白令海峡，然后越过西伯利亚。
Finally, they arrived in japan, to depart Fukuoka and fly across the Yellow Sea and on to the capital of the Republic of China, Nanjing.
最后，他们抵达日本，从福冈出发，飞越黄海，飞往中华民国首都南京。
While the Lindbergh’s endured their hardships in the air, so too were things turning bad in China. In the late summer of 1931, catastrophic floods occurred along China’s major rivers; the Yangtze, Yellow, Pearl and Huaihe Rivers, affecting more than half of China. They were floods widely considered to be the deadliest natural disaster on record.
尽管林德伯格一家在空中经历了艰辛，但中国的情况也变得越来越糟糕。 1931年夏末，中国主要江河发生特大洪水。长江、黄河、珠江、淮河，影响大半个中国。这些洪水被广泛认为是有记录以来最致命的自然灾害。
The National Flood Relief Commission of 1933 found 140,000 people to have drowned and that up to two million had died thereafter from a lack of food.
1933 年国家洪水救援委员会发现有 14 万人溺水身亡，此后还有多达 200 万人因缺乏食物而死亡。
Lindbergh was keen to help. In the following days, he flew his Sirius, which had the longest range of any aircraft in China, around Nanjing and the Yangtze River Basin to take photos of floods and draw disaster maps. He also dropped food, medicine and other relief supplies.
林德伯格热衷于提供帮助。接下来的几天里，他驾驶着中国航程最远的天狼星飞机绕南京和长江流域飞行，拍摄洪水照片并绘制灾害图。他还空投了食品、药品和其他救援物资。
But Lindbergh was also soon be party to more tragedy, this time of a much more personal nature.
但林德伯格也很快就陷入了更多悲剧，这次的悲剧更加个人化。
The evening of 1 March the following year saw his 20-month old son, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., abducted while in his crib in the family home in East Amwell of New Jersey, USA.
次年 3 月 1 日晚，他 20 个月大的儿子小查尔斯·奥古斯都·林德伯格 (Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr.) 在美国新泽西州东阿姆韦尔的家中的婴儿床上被绑架。
The baby was held for a US$50,000 ransom, but it was not to be. The boys remains were soon discovered, with that and Lindbergh’s status prompting American media to call the kidnap and murder the “Crime of the Century”.
这名婴儿被勒索并支付了 5 万美元的赎金，但事实并非如此。男孩的遗骸很快就被发现，林德伯格的身份促使美国媒体将这起绑架和谋杀称为“世纪犯罪”。
That’s where Agatha Christie comes in, who drew partial inspiration for her book, “Murder on the Orient Express” from the case, while a fictionalised depiction of the kidnapping sets the scene for the beginnings of the movie.
这就是阿加莎·克里斯蒂的用武之地，她的书《东方快车谋杀案》的部分灵感来自于这个案件，而对绑架的虚构描述则为电影的开头设定了场景。
