2010全国二卷 英语 完形填空

2010全国二卷 英语 完形填空 完型里有这么一句话“it might never occured to my brother to write to me if he had not been in a place where there were no phones.”请帮忙连贯的翻译这句话的意思,明白了，看下一句：we had been close as children but had grown apart.