Lesson 12

Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island.
我们大多数人对荒岛生活都有一种不切实际的想象。
We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines.
我们有时把荒岛想象成是一个阳光永远灿烂的世外桃源。
Life there is simple and good.
那里的生活简单而美好。
Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work.
成熟的水果从树上落下，你永远不需要劳作。
The other side of the picture is quite the opposite.
情况的另一面则完全相反。
Life on a desert island is wretched.
荒岛上的生活是痛苦的。
You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes.
你要么饿死，要么像鲁滨逊·克鲁索一样生活，等待着一艘永远不会到来的船。
Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunity to find out.
也许这两种描述都有道理，但我们中很少有人曾有机会去查明。
Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer.
最近有两个在珊瑚岛上度过了五天的男人，希望能在那里待得更久一些。
They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired.
他们正带着一艘严重受损的船从维尔京群岛去迈阿密进行修理。
During the journey, their boat began to sink.
在旅程中，他们的船开始下沉。
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.
他们迅速地在小型橡胶救生艇上装载了食物、火柴和啤酒，并在加勒比海上划行了几英里，直到到达一个极小的珊瑚岛。
There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem.
岛上几乎没有任何树木，而且没有水，但这并未证明是一个问题。
The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy.
这些男人用橡胶救生艇收集雨水。
As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty to eat.
由于他们随身带了一把鱼枪，他们有足够的食物。
They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of them put it 'ate like kings'.
他们每天捕获龙虾和鱼，并且，正如他们中的一位所说，“吃得像国王一样”。
When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.
当五天后一艘经过的油轮营救他们时，两个男人真的很遗憾他们不得不离开。