Translation problem

[petr.palous]

A line from an American film, a man asks a young homeless boy: "Were you a long way from Boston?"

[Anglika]

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What is your question? It might help to have more background to this - what is the plot of the film and in what context was this asked?

[Ouisch]

A line from an American film, a man asks a young homeless boy: "Were you a long way from Boston?"

He's asking the boy if he was a long distance away from Boston. It appears the boy was relating a particular incident, or maybe mentioned a town he used to live in, and the man was inquiring whether or not he was very far away from Boston at the time.

An example of similar usage:
"We were on our way to Disney World when our car broke down on the expressway."
"Were you a long way from Orlando when it happened?"
"Fortunately, we were only about 20 miles outside of the city, so we didn't have to wait long for a tow truck."