I was about five when I first heard the word “Greenland.” And my interest grew from there. I can’t say exactly why， but it was undoubtedly a combination of many images that the word conjured up： remoteness， ice， polar bears， and Vikings.2
　　Finally， after decades， I decided to go.
　　There is no easy way to get to Greenland from North America—only a seasonal flight from the far-flung3 Canadian province of Nunavut. But then， how does one get to Nunavut？
　　And so I flew first to Iceland， and from there took a prop plane from the heart of Reykjavík， flying three hours west to a place that， at first glance， was clearly misnamed： The east coast of Greenland was a forbidding landscape of black pinnacles poking through an expanse of ice and snow， with no sign of human habitation.4 I hugged my down parka close.5
　　But then the plane angled toward the southern tip of the massive island， and everything changed. Much of the ice disappeared， replaced by broad fields of green. We landed， and when I stepped off the plane it was 73 degrees F6. I regarded my parka dolefully.7
　　One of my objectives in going to Greenland was to make contact with， and get to know， some native Greenlanders. I didn’t know how I would achieve this， but success came in an unexpected way.
　　There being few roads in Greenland， travel is mostly by boat. This is how I made my way to the tiny settlement of Qassiarsuk （pop. 89），8 site of some of the best-preserved Viking ruins in Greenland. When I got off the boat， I needed to hike the kilometer to the Illunnguujuk Hostel， where I had reserved a bed.
　　I arrived at a small， neat， white house not far from the edge of the fjord9. A young couple and their toddler were out front， enjoying the sun and unusual warmth. This was my first native contact. Greenlanders speak their own Inuit language and learn Danish in school.10 Many also speak varying levels of English. The young woman was one of these. But her English proficiency turned out to be anticlimactic.11
　　When I identified myself， her eyes widened， and she said， “Oh.” There was a problem. Another wayfarer12 had arrived earlier and， mistaking him for me， they had given him my bed. There was no more space in the hostel. “But don’t worry，” she said， clearly concerned for my welfare.
　　My response： “I never worry.” And then I added， “I’ll take a walk to the Viking ruins. When I come back I’m sure you’ll be able to help me.”

　　When I did return， the family’s matriarch， a gracious grandmother of great presence，13 had come home. She was so embarrassed by the oversight14 that she had thrown herself into cleaning a tiny house the family owned on the banks of the fjord. “This is for you，” she said. And as if that weren’t enough， she invited me to eat supper with her family that evening—three generations under one roof. I had hit pay dirt15.
　　That evening I sat down to a dinner of fresh， fjord-caught trout with an intact，16 loving， happy native family. The conversation proceeded in three languages. The themes ranged from the unusual warmth in Greenland， to the previous brutal winter， to the concern they felt for the changes in their homeland as the massive ice sheet thinned and outside interests cast envious eyes upon the newly revealed mineral wealth.17
　　I ventured to remark that it must be very difficult to live in （the six months of darkness being one of the challenges）， which they conceded.18 But they also wanted me to know that they could not conceive of19 living any place else. Home， after all， is home.
　　When I first set foot in Greenland I found myself all but overwhelmed by the emptiness， the vastness， and the silence. I had decided that I would make the most of Greenland during my visit， but that I would probably never return. And then I was taken into this Greenlandic home. I can now say that I have friends in Greenland， and that even a cold， empty， and silent landscape is worth visiting， so long as one has a warm and welcoming place to go.
　　All because of a misunderstanding.
　　1. Greenland： 格陵蘭（岛），位于北美洲东北，介于北冰洋和大西洋之间，属丹麦，是世界第一大岛。
　　2. conjure up： 使浮现于脑海，使想起；Viking：（8—11世纪时乘船劫掠欧洲西北海岸的）北欧海盗。
　　3. far-flung： 遥远的。
　　4. 所以我先飞到了冰岛，然后在雷克雅未克中部乘坐螺旋桨飞机，往西飞了三个小时，到了一个第一眼看上去就像是起错了名字的地方：格陵兰的东海岸地势险峻，茫茫冰雪之上耸立着黑色的山峰，呈现出一片荒无人烟的景象。prop： 螺旋桨；forbidding：险峻的，令人生畏的；pinnacle：山顶，山峰；poke through：从……露出（或伸出、探出）。
　　5. 我裹紧了自己的羽绒大衣。down： n. 羽绒；parka： （带风帽的）风雪大衣，派克大衣。
　　6. degrees F： 华氏度（degrees fahrenheit）。73华氏度约等于23摄氏度。
　　7. regard： 注视，凝视；dolefully：悲伤地，忧郁地。
　　8. settlement： 村落，定居点；pop.：即population，人口。
　　9. fjord： 峡湾。
　　10. Inuit language： 伊努伊特语；Danish： 丹麦语。
　　11. proficiency： 熟练，精通；anticlimactic：令人失望的，令人扫兴的。
　　12. wayfarer： 徒步旅行者。
　　13. matriarch： 女族长；presence：（令人难忘的）风度，风范。
　　14. oversight： 疏忽。
　　15. hit pay dirt： 发现宝藏，发财。
　　16. trout： 鳟鱼；intact： 完好的，未受损的。
　　17. 我们从格陵兰异常的温暖聊到以往冬天的严寒，然后又聊到他们因大片冰原变薄而对自己家乡的担忧，以及外界利益集团对这里新发现矿物资源投来的嫉妒目光。brutal： 严酷的，（天气）令人难受的。
　　18. venture： 敢说，大胆表示；concede：（不情愿地）承认。
　　19. conceive of： 想象，想出。