Chapter 6

He's an excellent cook. His overheated house is alwayssmelling of something delicious. His spice rack looks like anapothecary's shop. When he opens his refrigerator or hiscupboards, there are many brand names I don't recognize;in fact, I can't even tell what language they're in. We arein India. But he handles Western dishes equally well. Hemakes me the most zestyyet subtle macaroni and cheese I'veever had. And his vegetarian¹ tacos would be the envy of allMexico.
I notice something else: his cupboards are jam-packed.
Behind every door, on every shelf, stand mountains ofneatly stacked cans and packages. A reserve of food to lastthe siege of Leningrad.
Chapter 7It was my luck to have a few good teachers in my youth,men and women who came into my dark head and lit amatch. One of these was Mr. Satish Kumar, my biology teacherat Petit Seminaire and an active Communist who was alwayshoping Tamil Nadu would stop electing movie stars and go theway of Kerala. He had a most peculiar² appearance. The top ofhis head was bald and pointy, yet he had the most impressivejowls I have ever seen, and his narrow shoulders gave way toa massive stomach that looked like the base of a mountain,except that the mountain stood in thin air, for it stoppedabruptly and disappeared horizontally into his pants. It's amystery to me how his stick-like legs supported the weightabove them, but they did, though they moved in surprisingways at times, as if his knees could bend in any direction. Hisconstruction was geometric: he looked like two triangles, a smallone and a larger one, balanced on two parallel lines. Butorganic, quite warty³ actually, and with sprigs of black hairsticking out of his ears. And friendly. His smile seemed to takeup the whole base of his triangular⁴ head.
Mr. Kumar was the first avowed⁵ atheist⁶ I ever met. Idiscovered this not in the classroom but at the zoo. He was aregular visitor who read the labels and descriptive notices intheir entirety and approved of every animal he saw. Each tohim was a triumph of logic⁷ and mechanics, and nature as awhole was an exceptionally fine illustration of science. To hisears, when an animal felt the urge to mate, it said "GregorMendel", recalling the father of genetics, and when it was timeto show its mettle⁸, "Charles Darwin", the father of naturalselection, and what we took to be bleating⁹, grunting¹⁰, hissing,snorting, roaring, growling¹¹, howling, chirping¹² and screechingwere but the thick accents of foreigners. When Mr. Kumarvisited the zoo, it was to take the pulse of the universe, andhis stethoscopic mind always confirmed to him that everythingwas in order, that everything was order. He left the zoo feelingscientifically, refreshed. The first time I saw his triangular formteetering and tottering¹³ about the zoo, I was shy to approachhim. As much as I liked him as a teacher, he was a figure ofauthority, and I, a subject. I was a little afraid of him. Iobserved him at a distance. He had just come to therhinoceros pit. The two Indian rhinos¹⁵ were great attractions atthe zoo because of the goats. Rhinos are social animals, andwhen we got Peak, a young wild male, he was showing signsof suffering from isolation¹⁶ and he was eating less and less. Asa stopgap measure, while he searched for a female, Fatherthought of seeing if Peak couldn't be accustomed to living withgoats. If it worked, it would save a valuable animal. If it didn't,it would only cost a few goats. It worked marvellously. Peakand the herd¹⁷ of goats became inseparable, even when Summitarrived. Now, when the rhinos bathed, the goats stood aroundthe muddy pool, and when the goats ate in their corner, Peakand Summit stood next to them like guards. The livingarrangement was very popular with the public.
Mr. Kumar looked up and saw me. He smiled and, onehand holding onto the railing, the other waving, signalled me tocome over.
"Hello, Pi," he said.
"Hello, sir. It's good of you to come to the zoo.""I come here all the time. One might say it's my temple.
This is interesting…" He was indicating the pit. "If we hadpoliticians like these goats and rhinos we'd have fewer problemsin our country. Unfortunately we have a prime minister whohas the armour¹⁸ plating of a rhinoceros¹⁴ without any of its goodsense."I didn't know much about politics. Father and Mothercomplained regularly about Mrs. Gandhi, but it meant little tome. She lived far away in the north, not at the zoo and not inPondicherry. But I felt I had to say something.
"Religion will save us," I said. Since when I could remember,religion had been very close to my heart.
"Religion?" Mr. Kumar grinned broadly. "I don't believe inreligion. Religion is darkness."Darkness? I was puzzled. I thought, Darkness is the lastthing that religion is. Religion is light. Was he testing me? Washe saying, "Religion is darkness," the way he sometimes said inclass things like "Mammals lay eggs," to see if someone wouldcorrect him? ("Only platypuses¹⁹, sir.")"There are no grounds for going beyond a scientificexplanation of reality and no sound reason for believinganything but our sense experience. A clear intellect, closeattention to detail and a little scientific knowledge will exposereligion as superstitious²⁰ bosh. God does not exist." -Did he say that? Or am I remembering the lines of lateratheists? At any rate, it was something of the sort. I had neverheard such words.
"Why tolerate darkness? Everything is here and clear, if onlywe look carefully."He was pointing at Peak. Now though I had greatadmiration for Peak, I had never thought of a rhinoceros as alight bulb.
He spoke²¹ again. "Some people say God died during thePartition in 1947. He may have died in 1971 during the war.
Or he may have died yesterday here in Pondicherry in anorphanage. That's what some people say, Pi. When I was yourage, I lived in bed, racked with polio. I asked myself every day,‘Where is God? Where is God? Where is God?' God nevercame. It wasn't God who saved me – it was medicine. Reasonis my prophet and it tells me that as a watch stops, so wedie. It's the end. If the watch doesn't work properly, it must befixed here and now by us. One day we will take hold of themeans of production and there will be justice on earth."This was all a bit much for me. The tone was right – lovingand brave – but the details seemed bleak²². I said nothing. Itwasn't for fear of angering Mr. Kumar. I was more afraid thatin a few words thrown out he might destroy something that Iloved. What if his words had the effect of polio on me? Whata terrible disease that must be if it could kill God in a man.
He walked off, pitching and rolling in the wild sea that wasthe steady ground. "Don't forget the test on Tuesday. Studyhard, 3.14!""Yes, Mr. Kumar."He became my favourite teacher at Petit Seminaire and thereason I studied zoology²³ at the University of Toronto. I felt akinship with him. It was my first clue that atheists are mybrothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word theyspeak speaks of faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs ofreason will carry them – and then they leap.
I'll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in mycraw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must allpass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played withdoubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished²⁵ night inprayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God,why have you forsaken²⁶ me?" then surely we are also permitteddoubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as aphilosophy of life is akin²⁴ to choosing immobility as a means oftransportation.

1 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

2 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

3 warty   

adj.有疣的，似疣的；瘤状

参考例句：

• Warty recurrences occurred in the perineal wound within a month of surgery. 局部切除术后一个月内伤口疣体复发。 来自互联网
• African wild swine with warty protuberances on the face and large protruding tusks. 在脸部和突出的长牙上有疣样隆起的非洲野猪。 来自互联网

4 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

5 avowed   

adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• An aide avowed that the President had known nothing of the deals. 一位助理声明，总统对这些交易一无所知。
• The party's avowed aim was to struggle against capitalist exploitation. 该党公开宣称的宗旨是与资本主义剥削斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

7 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

8 mettle   

n.勇气，精神

参考例句：

• When the seas are in turmoil,heroes are on their mettle.沧海横流，方显出英雄本色。
• Each and every one of these soldiers has proved his mettle.这些战士个个都是好样的。

9 bleating   

v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说

参考例句：

• I don't like people who go around bleating out things like that. 我不喜欢跑来跑去讲那种蠢话的人。 来自辞典例句
• He heard the tinny phonograph bleating as he walked in. 他步入室内时听到那架蹩脚的留声机在呜咽。 来自辞典例句

10 grunting   

咕哝的，呼噜的

参考例句：

• He pulled harder on the rope, grunting with the effort. 他边用力边哼声，使出更大的力气拉绳子。
• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。

11 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

12 chirping   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫，把我们吵醒了。
• The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。

13 tottering   

adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠

参考例句：

• the tottering walls of the castle 古城堡摇摇欲坠的墙壁
• With power and to spare we must pursue the tottering foe. 宜将剩勇追穷寇。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

15 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

16 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

17 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

18 armour   

（=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队

参考例句：

• His body was encased in shining armour.他全身披着明晃晃的甲胄。
• Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour.防弹车护有装甲。

19 platypuses   

n.鸭嘴兽( platypus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Like humans, platypuses carry an X and a Y chromosome. 鸭嘴兽跟人类一样，也有X和Y染色体。 来自互联网

20 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

21 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

22 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

23 zoology   

n.动物学，生态

参考例句：

• I would like to brush up my zoology.我想重新温习一下动物学。
• The library didn't stock zoology textbooks.这家图书馆没有动物学教科书。

24 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

25 anguished   

adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式)

参考例句：

• Desmond eyed her anguished face with sympathy. 看着她痛苦的脸，德斯蒙德觉得理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The loss of her husband anguished her deeply. 她丈夫的死亡使她悲痛万分。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

26 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。