Chapter 41

The elements allowed me to go on living. The lifeboat didnot sink. Richard Parker kept out of sight. The sharks prowledbut did not lunge. The waves splashed me but did not pull meoff.
I watched the ship as it disappeared with much burbling andbelching. Lights flickered² and went out. I looked about for myfamily, for survivors³, for another lifeboat, for anything thatmight bring me hope. There was nothing. Only rain, maraudingwaves of black ocean and the flotsam of tragedy.
The darkness melted away from the sky. The rain stopped.
I could not stay in the position I was in forever. I was cold.
My neck was sore from holding up my head and from all thecraning I had been doing. My back hurt from leaning againstthe lifebuoy. And I needed to be higher up if I were to seeother lifeboats.
I inched my way along the oar⁴ till my feet were against thebow of the boat. I had to proceed with extreme caution. Myguess was that Richard Parker was on the floor of the lifeboatbeneath the tarpaulin⁵, his back to me, facing the zebra, whichhe had no doubt killed by now. Of the five senses, tigers relythe most on their sight. Their eyesight is very keen, especiallyin detecting motion. Their hearing is good. Their smell isaverage. I mean compared to other animals, of course. Next toRichard Parker, I was deaf, blind and nose-dead. But at themoment he could not see me, and in my wet condition couldprobably not smell me, and what with the whistling of the windand the hissing⁶ of the sea as waves broke, if I were careful,he would not hear me. I had a chance so long as he did notsense me. If he did, he would kill me right away. Could heburst through the tarpaulin, I wondered.
Fear and reason fought over the answer. Fear said Yes. Hewas a fierce, 450-pound carnivore. Each of his claws was assharp as a knife. Reason said No. The tarpaulin was sturdycanvas, not a Japanese paper wall. I had landed upon it froma height. Richard Parker could shred⁷ it with his claws with alittle time and effort, but he couldn't pop through it like ajack-in-the-box. And he had not seen me. Since he had notseen me, he had no reason to claw his way through it.
I slid along the oar. I brought both my legs to one side ofthe oar and placed my feet on the gunnel. The gunnel is thetop edge of a boat, the rim⁸ if you want. I moved a little moretill my legs were on the boat. I kept my eyes fixed⁹ on thehorizon of the tarpaulin. Any second I expected to see RichardParker rising up and coming for me. Several times I had fits offearful trembling. Precisely¹⁰ where I wanted to be most still –my legs – was where I trembled most. My legs drummedupon the tarpaulin. A more obvious rapping on RichardParker's door couldn't be imagined. The trembling spread tomy arms and it was all I could do to hold on. Each fit passed.
When enough of my body was on the boat I pulled myselfup. I looked beyond the end of the tarpaulin. I was surprisedto see that the zebra was still alive. It lay near the stern,where it had fallen, listless, but its stomach was still pantingand its eyes were still moving, expressing terror. It was on itsside, facing me, its head and neck awkwardly propped¹¹ againstthe boat's side bench. It had badly broken a rear leg. Theangle of it was completely unnatural¹². Bone protruded¹³ throughskin and there was bleeding. Only its slim front legs had asemblance of normal position. They were bent¹⁴ and neatlytucked against its twisted torso. From time to time the zebrashook its head and barked and snorted. Otherwise it layquietly.
It was a lovely animal. Its wet markings glowed brightly whiteand intensely black. I was so eaten up by anxiety that Icouldn't dwell on it; still, in passing, as a faint afterthought, thequeer, clean, artistic¹⁵ boldness of its design and the fineness ofits head struck me. Of greater significance to me was thestrange fact that Richard Parker had not killed it. In thenormal course of things he should have killed the zebra. That'swhat predators¹⁶ do: they kill prey¹⁷. In the present circumstances,where Richard Parker would be under tremendous mentalstrain, fear should have brought out an exceptional level ofaggression. The zebra should have been properly butchered.
The reason behind its spared life was revealed shortly. Itfroze my blood – and then brought a slight measure of relief.
A head appeared beyond the end of the tarpaulin. It looked atme in a direct, frightened way, ducked under, appeared again,ducked under again, appeared once more, disappeared a lasttime. It was the bear-like, balding-looking head of a spottedhyena. Our zoo had a clan²⁰ of six, two dominant²¹ females andfour subordinate males. They were supposed to be going toMinnesota. The one here was a male. I recognized it by itsright ear, which was badly torn, its healed jagged edgetestimony to old violence. Now I understood why RichardParker had not killed the zebra: he was no longer aboard.
There couldn't be both a hyena¹⁹ and a tiger in such a smallspace. He must have fallen off the tarpaulin and drowned.
I had to explain to myself how a hyena had come to be onthe lifeboat. I doubted hyenas²² were capable of swimming inopen seas. I concluded that it must have been on board allalong, hiding under the tarpaulin, and that I hadn't noticed itwhen I landed with a bounce. I realized something else: thehyena was the reason those sailors had thrown me into thelifeboat. They weren't trying to save my life. That was the lastof their concerns. They were using me as fodder²³. They werehoping that the hyena would attack me and that somehow Iwould get rid of it and make the boat safe for them, nomatter if it cost me my life. Now I knew what they werepointing at so furiously just before the zebra appeared.
I never thought that finding myself confined in a small spacewith a spotted¹⁸ hyena would be good news, but there you go.
In fact, the good news was double: if it weren't for this hyena,the sailors wouldn't have thrown me into the lifeboat and Iwould have stayed on the ship and I surely would havedrowned; and if I had to share quarters with a wild animal,better the upfront ferocity of a dog than the power and stealthof a cat. I breathed the smallest sigh of relief. As aprecautionary measure I moved onto the oar. I sat astride it,on the rounded edge of the speared lifebuoy, my left footagainst the tip of the prow¹, my right foot on the gunnel. Itwas comfortable enough and I was facing the boat.
I looked about. Nothing but sea and sky. The same whenwe were at the top of a swell²⁴. The sea briefly²⁵ imitated everyland feature – every hill, every valley, every plain. Acceleratedgeotectonics. Around the world in eighty swells²⁶. But nowhere onit could I find my family. Things floated in the water but nonethat brought me hope. I could see no other lifeboats.
The weather was changing rapidly. The sea, so immense, sobreathtakingly immense, was settling into a smooth and steadymotion, with the waves at heel; the wind was softening²⁷ to atuneful breeze; fluffy²⁸, radiantly white clouds were beginning tolight up in a vast fathomless²⁹ dome³⁰ of delicate pale blue. It wasthe dawn of a beautiful day in the Pacific Ocean. My shirt wasalready beginning to dry. The night had vanished as quickly asthe ship.
I began to wait. My thoughts swung wildly. I was eitherfixed on practical details of immediate³¹ survival or transfixed bypain, weeping silently, my mouth open and my hands at myhead.

1 prow   

n.(飞机)机头，船头

参考例句：

• The prow of the motor-boat cut through the water like a knife.汽艇的船头像一把刀子劈开水面向前行驶。
• He stands on the prow looking at the seadj.他站在船首看着大海。

2 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

5 tarpaulin   

n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽

参考例句：

• The pool furniture was folded,stacked,and covered with a tarpaulin.游泳池的设备都已经折叠起来，堆在那里，还盖上了防水布。
• The pool furniture was folded,stacked,and covered with a tarpaulin.游泳池的设备都已经折叠起来，堆在那里，还盖上了防水布。

6 hissing   

n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
• His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕

7 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。

8 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

11 propped   

支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
• This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。

12 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

13 protruded   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The child protruded his tongue. 那小孩伸出舌头。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The creature's face seemed to be protruded, because of its bent carriage. 那人的脑袋似乎向前突出，那是因为身子佝偻的缘故。 来自英汉文学

14 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

15 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

16 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

18 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

19 hyena   

n.土狼，鬣狗

参考例句：

• African hyena noted for its distinctive howl.非洲鬣狗，以其特别的嚎叫而闻名。
• The hyena's public image is not aided by its ridiculous appearance.鬣狗滑稽的外表无助于改善它在公众心中的形象。

20 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

21 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

22 hyenas   

n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These animals were the prey of hyenas. 这些动物是鬣狗的猎物。 来自辞典例句
• We detest with horror the duplicity and villainy of the murderous hyenas of Bukharinite wreckers. 我们非常憎恨布哈林那帮两面三刀、杀人破坏，干尽坏事的豺狼。 来自辞典例句

23 fodder   

n.草料；炮灰

参考例句：

• Grass mowed and cured for use as fodder.割下来晒干用作饲料的草。
• Guaranteed salt intake, no matter which normal fodder.不管是那一种正常的草料，保证盐的摄取。

24 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

25 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

26 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

27 softening   

变软，软化

参考例句：

• Her eyes, softening, caressed his face. 她的眼光变得很温柔了。它们不住地爱抚他的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• He might think my brain was softening or something of the kind. 他也许会觉得我婆婆妈妈的，已经成了个软心肠的人了。

28 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

29 fathomless   

a.深不可测的

参考例句：

• "The sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice, And darkness masses its endless clouds;" 瀚海阑干百丈冰，愁云黪淡万里凝。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• Day are coloured bubbles that float upon the surface of fathomless night. 日是五彩缤纷的气泡，漂浮在无尽的夜的表面。

30 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

31 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。