Chapter 42

She came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light,as lovely as the Virgin¹ Mary. The rising sun was behind her.
Her flaming hair looked stunning².
I cried, "Oh blessed Great Mother, Pondicherry fertilitygoddess, provider of milk and love, wondrous³ arm spread ofcomfort, terror of ticks, picker-up of crying ones, are you towitness this tragedy too? It's not right that gentleness meethorror. Better that you had died right away. How bitterly gladI am to see you. You bring joy and pain in equal measure.
Joy because you are with me, but pain because it won't be forlong. What do you know about the sea? Nothing. What do Iknow about the sea? Nothing. Without a driver this bus is lost.
Our lives are over. Come aboard if your destination is oblivion– it should be our next stop. We can sit together. You canhave the window seat, if you want. But it's a sad view. Oh,enough of this dissembling. Let me say it plainly: I love you, Ilove you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. Notthe spiders, please."It was Orange Juice – so called because she tended to drool– our prize Borneo orang-utan matriarch, zoo star and motherof two fine boys, surrounded by a mass of black spiders thatcrawled around her like malevolent⁴ worshippers. The bananason which she floated were held together by the nylon net withwhich they had been lowered into the ship. When she steppedoff the bananas into the boat, they bobbed up and rolled over.
The net became loose. Without thinking about it, only becauseit was at hand's reach and about to sink, I took hold of thenet and pulled it aboard, a casual gesture that would turn outto be a lifesaver in many ways; this net would become one ofmy most precious possessions.
The bananas came apart. The black spiders crawled as fastas they could, but their situation was hopeless. The islandcrumbled beneath them. They all drowned. The lifeboat brieflyfloated in a sea of fruit.
I had picked up what I thought was a useless net, but did Ithink of reaping from this banana manna? No. Not a singleone. It was banana split in the wrong sense of the term: thesea dispersed⁵ them. This colossal⁶ waste would later weigh onme heavily. I would nearly go into convulsions of dismay at mystupidity.
Orange Juice was in a fog. Her gestures were slow andtentative and her eyes reflected deep mental confusion. She wasin a state of profound shock. She lay flat on the tarpaulin⁷ forseveral minutes, quiet and still, before reaching over and fallinginto the lifeboat proper. I heard a hyena's scream.

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

3 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

4 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

5 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

6 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

7 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。