读者文摘:科技让他们重聚(1)（在线收听）

Walter Macfarlane, 76, and Alan Robinson, 74, have been friends for more than 60 years.

76岁的沃尔特·麦克法兰和74岁的艾伦·罗宾逊是超过60年的朋友。

They grew up a few miles away from each other in Honolulu and met in sixth grade. They played high school football together.

他们在火奴噜噜长大，彼此相距只有几英里。他们相识于六年级，在高中一块打橄榄球。

They are so close, they're Uncle Walter and Uncle Alan to each other's kids.

他们很亲近，他们是彼此孩子的沃尔特叔叔和艾伦叔叔。

So imagine their surprise when they discovered they were in fact biological brothers.

所以，你可以想象，他们发现彼此是有血缘关系的兄弟时有多惊讶。

"I did feel natural," Walter says of the revelation. "We knew each other so well." It came about, as so often happens, by accident.

沃尔特对这次发现表示，“我感觉很自然。”“我们太了解彼此了。”就像经常发生的事那样，它是偶然发生的。

Walter, a retired math and physical education teacher, knew that he had a complicated family tree.

沃尔特是一名退休的数学和物理老师，他知道自己的家谱很复杂。

His mother had been young and unmarried when she gave birth to him during World War II, and because she couldn't raise him on her own,

他母亲在二战期间生下他时还年轻未婚，因为她没能力自己抚养沃尔特，

the family pretended that his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his sister.

家人就把他的祖母当做是他的母亲，把他母亲当做她的姐姐。

Walter didn't learn the truth until he graduated from high school.

沃尔特在高中毕业后才知道真相。

Even then, his mother never told him (or anyone else) who his father was.

即使那时，她母亲也没有告诉他（或任何人）他的父亲是谁。

So in 2016, when commercial DNA-testing kits were starting to take off, Walter's daughter, Cindy Macfarlane-Flores, suggested he try a couple.

2016年，当商业DNA测试开始流行时，沃尔特的女儿辛迪·麦克法兰·弗洛里斯建议他试试。

When Cindy logged on to ancestry.com to check the results, she saw that a user named Robby737 and her dad shared enough DNA to be half siblings.

当辛迪登录ancestry.com来查看结果时，她发现一个名为Robby737的用户和她的父亲有足够的成为半个兄弟的同样的DNA。

When Cindy asked her parents whether they knew anyone who could have that username, her mother immediately thought of Walter's friend, Uncle Alan.

当辛迪问她的父母是否知道谁可能用那个用户名时，她的母亲立即想到了沃尔特的朋友艾伦叔叔。

His nickname was Robby, and he used to fly 737s for Aloha Airlines. Could that really be possible? Walter wondered.

他的绰号是罗比，他曾在阿罗哈航空驾驶737飞机。沃尔特疑惑道，这真的可能吗？

He spent ten minutes trying to get his friend on the phone. When Alan finally answered, he confirmed to Walter that his username was Robby737.

他用了十分钟打通了艾伦的电话。艾伦确认了自己的用户名是Robby737。

"I'm trying to act cool," Walter says. "But I'm so excited inside, I'm gonna burst out.

沃尔特说，“我想表现地镇定一点。但是我内心太激动了，我快要爆发了。”

I think I said, 'Oh, I think we're brothers,' in just a casual manner.

我记得我说，“奥，我认为我们是兄弟”。就是以一个随意的语气。

Then he said, 'Yeah, sure. OK, Walter.'" "I was in denial," Alan says.

然后他说，“是的，好吧沃尔特。”艾伦说，“我否认了。”

"We've known each other for so long, I thought he was just joking around."

“我们彼此认识太久了，我以为他在开玩笑。”

But Alan knew it was possible. He had been adopted as a baby by Norma and Lawrence Robinson.

但是艾伦知道这是可能的。他还是婴儿时就被诺玛和劳伦斯·罗宾逊收养了。

Several years before, Alan had taken the same DNA tests that Walter did to learn more about his ethnicity and medical background. But he'd never talked to Walter about it.

几年前，艾伦做了和沃尔特一样的DNA测试，以了解他的种族和医学背景。但他从没跟沃尔特说过。