少年派的奇幻漂流 Chapter 61

Chapter 61,The next morning I was not too wet and I was feeling strong. I thought this was remarkable ¹ considering the strain I was under and how little I had eaten in the last several days.,It was a fine day. I decided ³ to try my hand at fishing, for the first time in my life. After a breakfast of three biscuits and one can of water, I read what the survival manual had to say on the subject. The first problem arose: bait. I thought about it. There were the dead animals, but stealing food from under a tiger's nose was a proposition I was not up to. He would not realize that it was an investment that would bring him an excellent return. I decided to use my leather shoe. I had only one left. The other I had lost when the ship sank.,I crept up to the lifeboat and I gathered from the locker ⁴ one of the fishing kits ⁵, the knife and a bucket for my catch. Richard Parker was lying on his side. His tail jumped to life when I was at the bow but his head did not lift. I let the raft out.,I attached a hook to a wire leader, which I tied to a line. I added some lead weights. I picked three that had an intriguing ⁷ torpedo ⁸ shape. I removed my shoe and cut it into pieces. It was hard work; the leather was tough. I carefully worked the hook into a flat piece of hide, not through it but into it, so that the point of the hook was hidden. I let the line down deep. There had been so many fish the previous evening that I expected easy success.,I had none. The whole shoe disappeared bit by bit, slight tug ¹⁰ on the line by slight tug on the line, happy freeloading fish by happy freeloading fish, bare hook by bare hook, until I was left with only the rubber sole and the shoelace. When the shoelace proved an unconvincing earthworm, out of sheer exasperation ¹¹ I tried the sole, all of it. It was not a good idea. I felt a slight, promising ¹² tug and then the line was unexpectedly light. All I pulled in was line. I had lost the whole tackle.,Still, a part of my mind - the one that says what we don't want to hear- rebuked ¹³ me. "Stupidity has a price. You should show more care and wisdom next time.",Later that morning a second turtle appeared. It came right up to the raft. It could have reached up and bit my bottom if it had wanted to. When it turned I reached for its hind ¹⁴ flipper ¹⁵, but as soon as I touched it I recoiled ¹⁶ in horror. The turtle swam away.,The same part of my mind that had rebuked me over my fishing fiasco scolded me again. "What exactly do you intend to feed that tiger of yours? How much longer do you think he'll last on three dead animals? Do I need to remind you that tigers are not carrion ¹⁷ eaters? Granted, when he's on his last legs he probably won't lift his nose at much. But don't you think that before he submits to eating puffy, putrefied zebra he'll try the fresh, juicy Indian boy just a short dip away? And how are we doing with the water situation? You know how tigers get impatient with thirst. Have you smelled his breath recently? It's pretty awful. That's a bad sign. Perhaps you're hoping that he'll lap up the Pacific and in quenching ¹⁸ his thirst allow you to walk to America? Quite amazing, this limited capacity to excrete salt that Sundarbans tigers have developed. Comes from living in a tidal mangrove ¹⁹ forest, I suppose. But it is a limited capacity. Don't they say that drinking too much saline water makes a man-eater of a tiger? Oh, look. Speak of the devil. There he is. He's yawning. My, my, what an enormous pink cave. Look at those long yellow stalactites and stalagmites. Maybe today you'll get a chance to visit.",Richard Parker's tongue, the size and colour of a rubber hot-water bottle, retreated and his mouth closed. He swallowed.,I spent the rest of the day worrying myself sick. I stayed away from the lifeboat. Despite my own dire ²⁰ predictions, Richard Parker passed the time calmly enough. He still had water from the rainfall and he didn't seem too concerned with hunger. But he did make various tiger noises - growls ²¹ and moans and the like - that did nothing to put me at ease. The riddle ²² seemed irresolvable: to fish I needed bait, but I would have bait only once I had fish. What was I supposed to do? Use one of my toes? Cut off one of my ears?,These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响
。,They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。