Pre-reading

Where was Robinson when he speak to the prisoners?

Intensive Reading

When we were very close to the prisoners, I spoke quietly to them. We were still hidden behind the trees and they couldn’t see us. When they heard my voice, they couldn’t believe that somebody spoke English to them from the dark forest.

当我们离囚犯们很近的时候，我悄悄地对他们说话。我们仍然藏在树后，他们看不见我们。当他们听到我的声音时，他们不敢相信有人从黑暗的森林里对他们说英语。

“What was that?” asked one of the men.

“那是什么?”其中一个问道。

“I heard something. I heard a tree speak,” answered the other. “But it’s impossible. A tree can’t speak English.”

“我听到了一些声音。我听见树说话了。”另一个回答说。“但这是不可能的。树不会说英语。”

“Yes, you heard something but it’s not a tree,” I said quietly. “My name is Robinson Crusoe. I’m an Englishman. I live on this island. I will help you if you tell me who you are.”

“是的，你听到了什么，但那不是树。”我平静地说。“我叫鲁滨孙·克鲁索。我是一个英国人。我住在这个岛上。如果你告诉我你是谁，我就帮你。”

After the first shocking moment, one man answered my question. He was the captain of the ship, but some of the sailors criticized him and they started a rebellion. He, his assistant and one passenger became prisoners. The other sailors wanted to leave them here to die.

在最开始的震惊时刻过去之后，一个男人回答了我的问题。他是这艘船的船长，但一些水手批评他，他们开始造反。他、他的助手和一名乘客成了囚犯。其他水手想把他们丢在这里等死。

The captain said, “The truth is that there are only two dangerous sailors who control the others in the group. Eighty percent of them are still loyal to me. If the leaders are caught, the rest will return under my control.”

船长说:“事实上，只有两个危险的水手控制着团队中的其他人。百分之八十的人仍然忠于我。如果首领被抓了，其他的人还会回来听命于我。”

Notes:

1. impossible：adj. 不可能的，possible的反义词，im-也是否定前缀，常见于impatient（不耐烦的），impolite（不礼貌的）等。

2. criticize：v. 批评，“因某事批评某人”表述为criticize sb. for sth.。

3. rebellion：n. / 叛乱，反叛，其动词形式为rebel，“对某事/某人的反叛”用rebellion/rebel against sth./sb.。

4. loyal：adj. 忠诚的，忠实的，“对某人/某事的忠诚”用be loyal to sb./sth.。

Exercise:

Why did the captain become a prisoner?