Lesson 12 Life on a desert island
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.What was exceptional about the two men's stay on the desert island?Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines. Life there is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work. The other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, Waiting for a boat which never comes. Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few us have had the opportunity to find out.
Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink. 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. There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem. The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day，and, as one of them put it 'ate like kings'. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.New words and expressions生词和短语
wretched [ˈretʃɪd] adj. 可怜的，艰苦的wretch [retʃ] n.卑鄙小人;坏蛋;可怜的人;不幸的人;恶棍;无赖;无耻之徒Virgin Islands[ˈvɜːrdʒɪn ˈaɪləndz] 维尔京群岛lobster [ˈlɑːbstər] n. 龙虾genuinely [ˈdʒenjuɪnli] adv. 由衷地genuine [ˈdʒenjuɪn] adj.真正的;真诚的;真的;名副其实的;诚实的;可信赖的genu 产生 + ine 形容词后缀 → 产生的〔来源正宗〕→ 真正的Is the painting a genuine Picasso?这幅画是毕加索的真迹吗？
Robinson Crusoe [ˈrɑːbɪnsn ˈkrusoʊ] 鲁滨孙.克鲁索（小说《鲁滨孙漂流记》主人公）参考译文
我们许多人对于荒岛生活有一种不切实际的想法。我们有时想象荒岛是阳光终日普照的天堂。在那里，生活简单又美好。成熟的水果从树上掉下来，人们根本无需劳动。另一种想法恰恰相反，认为荒岛生活很可怕，要么饿死，要么像鲁滨孙那样，天天盼船来，却总没见船影。也许，这两种都像都有可信之处。但很少有人能有机会去弄个究竟。
最近有两个人在一座珊瑚岛上呆了5天，他们真希望在那儿再多呆一些日子。他们驾着一条严重损坏的小船从维尔京群岛阿密修理。途中，船开始下沉，他们迅速把食物、火柴、罐装啤酒往一只救生筏上装。然后在加勒比海上划行了几英里，到了一座珊瑚岛上。岛上几乎没有一颗树，也没有淡水，但这不算什么问题。他们用像皮艇蓄积雨水。由于他们随身带了一支捕鱼枪，因此，吃饭不愁。他们天天捕捉龙虾和鱼，正如其中一位所说，吃得“像国王一样好”。5天后，一条油轮从那儿路过，搭救了他们。这二位不得不离开那个荒岛时，还真的感到遗憾呢！
Journey to the West（西游记）全108集
往期回顾
《新概念英语》第二册全集
Lesson 4 The double life of Alfred Bloggs
Lesson 5 The facts
Lesson 6 Smash-and-grab
Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies
Lesson 8 A famous monastery
Lesson 9 Flying cats
Lesson 10 The loss of the Titanic