Chapter 48

Richard Parker was so named because of a clerical error. Apanther was terrorizing the Khulna district of Bangladesh, justoutside the Sundarbans. It had recently carried off a little girl.
All that was found of her was a tiny hand with a hennapattern on the palm and a few plastic bangles. She was theseventh person killed in two months by the marauder. And itwas growing bolder. The previous victim was a man who hadbeen attacked in broad daylight in his field. The beast draggedhim off into the forest, where it ate a good part of his head,the flesh off his right leg and all his innards. His corpse¹ wasfound hanging in the fork of a tree. The villagers kept a watchnearby that night, hoping to surprise the panther and kill it,but it never appeared. The Forest Department hired aprofessional hunter. He set up a small, hidden platform in atree near a river where two of the attacks had taken place. Agoat was tied to a stake on the rivers bank. The hunter waitedseveral nights. He assumed the panther would be an old,wasted male with worn teeth, incapable² of catching³ anythingmore difficult than a human. But it was a sleek⁴ tiger thatstepped into the open one night. A female with a single cub⁵.
The goat bleated⁶. Oddly, the cub, who looked to be aboutthree months old, paid little attention to the goat. It raced tothe waters edge, where it drank eagerly. Its mother followedsuit. Of hunger and thirst, thirst is the greater imperative⁷. Onlyonce the tiger had quenched⁸ her thirst did she turn to thegoat to satisfy her hunger. The hunter had two rifles with him:
one with real bullets, the other with immobilizing darts⁹. Thisanimal was not the man-eater, but so close to humanhabitation she might pose a threat to the villagers, especially asshe was with cub. He picked up the gun with the darts. Hefired as the tiger was about to fell the goat. The tiger rearedup and snarled¹⁰ and raced away. But immobilizing darts don'tbring on sleep gently, like a good cup of tea; they knock outlike a bottle of hard liquor straight up. A burst of activity onthe animal's part makes it act all the faster. The hunter calledhis assistants on the radio. They found the tiger about twohundred yards from the river. She was still conscious. Herback legs had given way and her balance on her front legswas woozy. When the men got close, she tried to get away butcould not manage it. She turned on them, lifting a paw thatwas meant to kill. It only made her lose her balance. Shecollapsed and the Pondicherry Zoo had two new tigers. Thecub was found in a bush close by, meowing with fear. Thehunter, whose name was Richard Parker, picked it up with hisbare hands and, remembering how it had rushed to drink inthe river, baptized it Thirsty. But the shipping¹¹ clerk at theHowrah train station was evidently a man both befuddled¹² anddiligent. All the papers we received with the cub clearly statedthat its name was Richard Parker, that the hunter's first namewas Thirsty and that his family name was None Given. Fatherhad had a good chuckle¹³ over the mix-up and Richard Parker'sname had stuck.
I don't know if Thirsty None Given ever got the man-eatingpanther.

1 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

2 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

3 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

4 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

5 cub   

n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人

参考例句：

• The lion cub's mother was hunting for what she needs. 这只幼师的母亲正在捕猎。
• The cub licked the milk from its mother's breast. 这头幼兽吸吮着它妈妈的奶水。

6 bleated   

v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的过去式和过去分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说

参考例句：

• The lost lamb bleated. 迷路的小羊咩咩的叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She bleated her disapproval of her son's marriage to Amy. 她用颤抖的声音表示不赞成儿子与艾米的婚事。 来自辞典例句

7 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

8 quenched   

解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却

参考例句：

• He quenched his thirst with a long drink of cold water. 他喝了好多冷水解渴。
• I quenched my thirst with a glass of cold beer. 我喝了一杯冰啤酒解渴。

9 darts   

n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• His darts trophy takes pride of place on the mantelpiece. 他将掷镖奖杯放在壁炉顶上最显著的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I never saw so many darts in a bodice! 我从没见过紧身胸衣上纳了这么多的缝褶！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 snarled   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
• As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时，它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

12 befuddled   

adj.迷糊的，糊涂的v.使烂醉( befuddle的过去式和过去分词 )；使迷惑不解

参考例句：

• He was befuddled by drink. 他喝得迷迷糊糊的。
• John is very amusing when he is completely befuddled. 当约翰喝得完全糊涂了的时候，他非常有趣儿。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。