Pre-reading

Question: Would the captain like to pay for the boat of Robinson and the boy?

Intensive Reading

They spoke Portuguese, Spanish and French. But I didn’t understand them. Fortunately, there was a Scottish sailor on the ship. He came to me. I told him our story. Then the sailors started to be very nice to us. They agreed to take me and the boy on the ship. We were both very happy. We offered our things to the captain. But he didn’t want to take our things. He said, “I would like to pay for them.”

他们说葡萄牙语、西班牙语和法语。但是我听不懂他们说的话。幸运的是，船上有一名苏格兰水手。他来找我。我给他讲了我们的故事。之后水手们开始对我们非常好。他们同意让我和那个男孩乘坐他们的船。我们俩都很开心。我们把我们的东西交给了船长。但他不想拿我们的东西。他说：“我愿意付钱。”

It was very nice of him. I told him that he could buy our boat. I gave him a good price. It was a half of usual price. He could take the rest for free. The captain agreed.

他真是太好了。我告诉他他可以买我们的船。我给了他一个好价钱。它是平时价格的一半。他可以免费拿走剩下的。船长同意了。

The captain also wanted to train the boy as a sailor. I didn’t like this idea. I thought that he was too young for this job. I thought that the boy also needed freedom. He didn’t need to start another service.

船长还想把那个男孩训练成一名水手。我不喜欢这个主意。我认为他太年轻了，不适合做这份工作。我认为那个男孩也需要自由。他不需要再开始服务于他人。

Notes:

1.agree to do sth.: 同意做某事，“同意某人的观点”可以用agree with sb.。

2.pay for: 付款买某物，“取得成功”可以用pay off。

3.for free: 免费，“免费”还可以用free of charge。

Exercise:

Why didn’t Robinson want the boy to be a sailor?