少年派的奇幻漂流 Chapter 43

Chapter 43,The last trace I saw of the ship was a patch of oil glimmering ¹ on the surface of the water.,I was certain I wasn't alone. It was inconceivable that the Tsimtsum should sink without eliciting ² a peep of concern. Right now in Tokyo, in Panama City, in Madras, in Honolulu, why, even in Winnipeg, red lights were blinking on consoles, alarm bells were ringing, eyes were opening wide in horror, mouths were gasping ³, "My God! The Tsimtsum has sunk!" and hands were reaching for phones. More red lights were starting to blink and more alarm bells were starting to ring. Pilots were running to their planes with their shoelaces still untied ⁴, such was their hurry. Ship officers were spinning their wheels till they were feeling dizzy. Even submarines were swerving ⁵ underwater to join in the rescue effort. We would be rescued soon. A ship would appear on the horizon. A gun would be found to kill the hyena ⁶ and put the zebra out of its misery ⁷. Perhaps Orange Juice could be saved. I would climb aboard and be greeted by my family. They would have been picked up in another lifeboat. I only had to ensure my survival for the next few hours until this rescue ship came.,I reached from my perch ⁹ for the net. I rolled it up and tossed it midway on the tarpaulin ¹⁰ to act as a barrier, however small. Orange Juice had seemed practically cataleptic. My guess was she was dying of shock. It was the hyena that worried me. I could hear it whining ¹¹. I clung to the hope that a zebra, a familiar prey ¹², and an orang-utan, an unfamiliar ¹³ one, would distract it from thoughts of me.,I kept one eye on the horizon, one eye on the other end of the lifeboat. Other than the hyena's whining, I heard very little from the animals, no more than claws scuffing ¹⁴ against a hard surface and occasional groans ¹⁵ and arrested cries. No major fight seemed to be taking place.,Mid-morning the hyena appeared again. In the preceding minutes its whining had been rising in volume to a scream. It jumped over the zebra onto the stern, where the lifeboat's side benches came together to form a triangular ¹⁷ bench. It was a fairly exposed position, the distance between bench and gunnel being about twelve inches. The animal nervously ¹⁸ peered beyond the boat. Beholding ¹⁹ a vast expanse of shifting water seemed to be the last thing it wanted to see, for it instantly brought its head down and dropped to the bottom of the boat behind the zebra. That was a cramped ²⁰ space; between the broad back of the zebra and the sides of the buoyancy tanks that went all round the boat beneath the benches, there wasn't much room left for a hyena. It thrashed about for a moment before climbing to the stern again and jumping back over the zebra to the middle of the boat, disappearing beneath the tarpaulin. This burst of activity lasted less than ten seconds. The hyena came to within fifteen feet of me. My only reaction was to freeze with fear. The zebra, by comparison, swiftly reared its head and barked.,After a number of laps it stopped short at the stern bench and crouched ²³, directing its gaze downwards ²⁴, to the space below the tarpaulin. It lifted its eyes and rested them upon me. The look was nearly the typical look of a hyena-blank and frank, the curiosity apparent with nothing of the mental set revealed, jaw ²⁵ hanging open, big ears sticking up rigidly ²⁶, eyes bright and black-were it not for the strain that exuded ²⁷ from every cell of its body, an anxiety that made the animal glow, as if with a fever. I prepared for my end. For nothing. It started running in circles again.,When an animal decides to do something, it can do it for a very long time. All morning the hyena ran in circles going yip yip yip yip yip. Once in a while it briefly ²⁸ stopped at the stern bench, but otherwise every lap was identical to the previous one, with no variations in movement, in speed, in the pitch or the volume of the yipping, in the counter-clockwise direction of travel. Its yipping was shrill ²⁹ and annoying in the extreme. It became so tedious and draining to watch that I eventually turned my head to the side, trying to keep guard with the corner of my eyes. Even the zebra, which at first snorted each time the hyena raced by its head, fell into a stupor ³⁰.,Yet every time the hyena paused at the stern bench, my heart jumped. And as much as I wanted to direct my attention to the horizon, to where my salvation ³¹ lay, it kept straying back to this maniacal ³² beast.,I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted ³³ hyena is not well served by its appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption. Its thick neck and high shoulders that slope to the hindquarters look as if they've come from a discarded prototype for the giraffe, and its shaggy, coarse coat seems to have been patched together from the leftovers ³⁴ of creation. The colour is a bungled ³⁵ mix of tan, black, yellow, grey, with the spots having none of the classy ostentation ³⁶ of a leopard's rosettes; they look rather like the symptoms of a skin disease, a virulent ³⁷ form of mange. The head is broad and too massive, with a high forehead, like that of a bear, but suffering from a receding ¹⁶ hairline, and with ears that look ridiculously mouse-like, large and round, when they haven't been torn off in battle. The mouth is forever open and panting. The nostrils ³⁹ are too big. The tail is scraggly and unwagging. The gait is shambling. All the parts put together look doglike, but like no dog anyone would want as a pet.,But I had not forgotten Father's words. These were not cowardly carrion-eaters. If National Geographic ⁴⁰ portrayed ⁴¹ them as such, it was because National Geographic filmed during the day. It is when the moon rises that the hyena's day starts, and it proves to be a devastating ⁴² hunter. Hyenas ⁴³ attack in packs whatever animal can be run down, its flanks opened while still in full motion. They go for zebras, gnus and water buffaloes ⁴⁴, and not only the old or the infirm in a herd-full-grown members too. They are hardy ⁴⁵ attackers, rising up from buttings and kickings immediately, never giving up for simple lack of will. And they are clever; anything that can be distracted from its mother is good. The ten-minute-old gnu is a favourite dish, but hyenas also eat young lions and young rhinoceros ⁴⁶. They are diligent ⁴⁷ when their efforts are rewarded. In fifteen minutes flat, all that will be left of a zebra is the skull ⁴⁸, which may yet be dragged away and gnawed ⁴⁹ down at leisure by young ones in the lair ⁵⁰. Nothing goes to waste; even grass upon which blood has been spilt will be eaten. Hyenas' stomachs swell ⁵¹ visibly as they swallow huge chunks ⁵² of kill. If they are lucky, they become so full they have difficulty moving. Once they've digested their kill, they cough up dense ⁵³ hairballs, which they pick clean of edibles ⁵⁴ before rolling in them. Accidental cannibalism ⁵⁵ is a common occurrence during the excitement of a feeding; in reaching for a bite of zebra, a hyena will take in the ear or nostril ³⁸ of a clan ⁵⁶ member, no hard feelings intended. The hyena feels no disgust at this mistake. Its delights are too many to admit to disgust at anything.,Now that darkness was falling, only their silhouettes were outlined against the faintly glimmering sky. 这时节两山只剩余一抹深黑，赖天空微明为画出一个轮廓。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译,He succeeded in eliciting the information he needed from her. 他从她那里问出了他所需要的信息 。