My friend, Emma Daniels, spent the summer of 1974 traveling in Israel. During her month-long stay in Jerusalem she often went to a café called Chocolate Soup. It was run by two men, one of whom—Alex—used to live in Montreal. One morning when Emma went in for coffee, while chatting with her new friend Alex, she mentioned that she had just finished the book she was reading and had nothing else to read. Alex said he had a wonderful book she might like, and that he’d be happy to lend it to her. As he lived just above the café, he quickly ran up to get it. The book he handed to Emma just minutes later was Markings, a book by a former Secretary— General of the United Nations (UN).
我的朋友艾玛·丹尼尔斯1974年夏天在以色列旅行。在耶路撒冷逗留一个月期间，她经常去一家叫做 Chocolate Soup的咖啡馆。它由两名男子经营，其中一位叫亚历克斯，曾住在蒙特利尔。一天早上，艾玛去喝咖啡，和她的新朋友亚历克斯聊天，她说她正在读的书刚刚读完了，没有可读的书了。亚历克斯说他有一本书，艾玛可能会喜欢，他很乐意借给她。因为他就住在咖啡馆的上面，所以他马上上去拿。几分钟后拿给了艾玛，这本书名叫《Markings》，由前联合国秘书长所著。

Emma had never read it, nor had she ever bought a copy. But, when she opened it up, she was floored to see her own name and address inside the cover in her own handwriting. It turned out that the summer before, at a concert back in Montreal, Emma had met a Californian who was in town visiting friends. They decided to exchange addresses, but neither of them had any paper. The man opened up a book he was carrying in his backpack and asked Emma to write her name and address inside. When he returned to California, he left the book behind in Montreal, and his friend Alex kept it. When Alex later moved to Jerusalem, he took the book along.
艾玛从未读过，也没有买过。但是，当她打开它，看到封面上她自己手写的姓名和地址时，吓了一跳。事实是，去年夏天，在蒙特利尔的一场音乐会上，艾玛遇到了一位在城里拜访朋友的加利福尼亚人。他们决定交换地址，但两人都没有纸。那人打开背包里的一本书，他让艾玛把她的名字和地址写在里面。当他返回加利福尼亚时，把书留在了蒙特利尔，他的朋友亚历克斯保存了它。亚历克斯后来搬到耶路撒冷时，他把书带走了。