In the spring of 1990,
Christopher McCandless obtains his undergraduate degree from Emory. Watching him get his degree are his wealthy parents, Walt McCandless and Billie McCandless, and his teenaged sister, Carine McCandless. Before his parents and sister head home to Virginia following the convocation, Chris, refusing his parents’ gift of a new car to replace his old Datsun which he states works perfectly fine, tells them that he has thoughts of going into Harvard Law, he having received excellent grades in what were largely classes focusing on global social consciousness. Walt, Billie and Carine will learn by the end of the summer that Chris had no intention of going to Harvard as he has since moved from his apartment in Atlanta without a word to them, he arranging with the post office to hold his mail for a couple of months before being “returned to sender” to give him a head start in his escape from his family. Chris’ Datsun is eventually discovered abandoned in the Arizona desert, the authorities believing it being done on purpose as opposed to Chris being abducted. Walt and Billie intend to continue to search for Chris until they know conclusively what has happened to him. Carine, having had much the same upbringing as Chris, believes she understands what he is doing in making this escape. What he has done is either donated most of his money to Oxfam or burned it, and has destroyed all of his ID in an effort to start life anew as a child of the Earth, he rechristening himself Alexander Supertramp. This move is in rebellion to much of western society, and most specifically against the type of life his parents epitomize, they who he believes should never have gotten married and are hypocrites in portraying what they believe society expects of them, being generally unhappy with each other and life in the process. He ultimately wants to live off the land, carrying with him only what material possessions he will need, but wants to experience freedom by traveling the country by thumbing rides or riding the rails, working the odd job until he earns enough to purchase what he needs at any give time, and obtaining some skills he knows he will need to survive in the destination he has in mind when he is ready: the wilds of Alaska. Despite stating that he does not want or need attachments, he does make some human connections along the way, and not necessarily to/with like-minded people.
—Huggo
参考翻译：
1990年春天，Christopher McCandless在埃默里大学获得本科学位。看着他拿到学位的是他富有的父母沃尔特·麦坎迪斯和比利·麦坎迪斯，以及他十几岁的妹妹卡琳·麦坎迪斯。在他的父母和妹妹在集会后返回弗吉尼亚州的家之前，克里斯拒绝了父母送他的新车，以取代他说运行良好的旧Datsun。他告诉他们，他有进入哈佛法学院的想法，他在主要关注全球社会意识的课程中取得了优异的成绩。沃尔特、比利和卡琳将在夏天结束前得知，克里斯无意去哈佛，因为他后来从亚特兰大的公寓搬了出来，没有和他们说一句话。他与邮局安排了几个月的时间来保存邮件，然后被“退回给寄件人”，为他逃离家人提供了一个良好的开端。Chris的Datsun最终被发现被遗弃在亚利桑那沙漠，当局认为这是故意的，而不是Chris被绑架。沃尔特和比利打算继续寻找克里斯，直到他们确切知道他发生了什么。Carine和Chris的成长经历大致相同，她相信自己理解Chris在逃跑过程中所做的事情。他所做的不是把大部分钱捐给乐施会，就是把钱烧了，还销毁了所有的身份证，试图作为地球的孩子重新开始生活，他自称亚历山大·超级流浪汉。这一举动与西方社会的许多人背道而驰，尤其是与他的父母所代表的那种生活方式背道而驰。他认为，这些人永远不应该结婚，他们是伪君子，在描绘他们认为社会对他们的期望时，他们普遍对彼此和过程中的生活不满意。他最终想靠土地生活，只带着他需要的物质财富，但他想体验自由，通过骑自行车或坐铁轨环游全国，做零工，直到挣到足够的钱在任何时候购买他需要的东西，他知道，为了在他准备好的目的地——阿拉斯加的荒野——生存，他需要掌握一些技能。尽管他表示自己不想要或不需要依恋，但他确实在这一过程中建立了一些人际关系，不一定与志同道合的人建立关系。-雨果
重点词汇释义：
get his受罚；强行索取
teenaged十几岁的(指13至19岁的); 青少年的
convocation大型正式会议; 召集会议; 学位授予典礼，毕业典礼
learn by从…学到
end of结尾; 为某事物的结尾; 末尾
post office邮局; 邮政部门; 邮政系统
