12_Life_on_a_Desert_Island
12 Life on a Desert Island¶
Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise (where the sun always shines). Life there is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work. The other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes. Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunity to find out.
Two men (who recently spent five days on a coral island) wished they had stayed there longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink. They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and cans of beer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island. There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem. The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and as one of them put it 'ate like kings'. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.
Words¶
- unrealistic /ənˌriˈlɪstɪk/ 不切实际的
- desert /ˈdɛzɚt/ island /ˈaɪlənd/ 荒岛
- paradise /ˈpɛrəˌdaɪs/ 天堂
- Ripe /raɪp/ 熟的
- wretched /ˈrɛtʃɪd/ 悲惨的
- starve /stɑrv/ 饥饿
- element /ˈɛləmənt/ 要素,元素
- coral /ˈkɔrəl/ 珊瑚
- rubber /ˈrʌbɚ/ 橡胶
- dinghy /ˈdɪŋi/ 小艇
- matches /ˈmætʃəz/ 火柴
- rowed /rod/ 划船
- a /ə/ spear /spɪr/ gun /ɡʌn/ 捕鱼枪
- lobster /ˈlɑbstɚ/ 龙虾
- tanker /ˈtæŋkɚ/ 油轮
- genuinely /ˈdʒɛnjəwənli/ 真诚地
Expressions¶
- have an opportunity to do sth. 有机会做某事
- an element of truth/danger 一丝真实/危险的因素
- starve to death 饿死
- Sb. be genuinely sorry that+句子 某人由衷地为……感到抱歉
- formed an unrealistic picture of a. 对……形成了不切实际的印象
- imagine sth. to be n./adj. 想象某物是……
- a sort of 一种；某种
- quite the opposite 恰恰相反
- wish that+句子 希望……
- load a. with b. 用b装载a。
- as sb. put it… 如某人所说