Chapter 55

Dawn came and matters were worse for it. Because now,emerging from the darkness, I could see what before I hadonly felt, the great curtains of rain crashing down on me fromtowering heights and the waves that threw a path over meand trod me underfoot one after another.
Dull-eyed, shaking and numb¹, one hand gripping the raincatcher, the other clinging to the raft, I continued to wait.
Sometime later, with a suddenness emphasized by the silencethat followed, the rain stopped. The sky cleared and the wavesseemed to flee with the clouds. The change was as quick andradical as changing countries on land. I was now in a differentocean. Soon the sun was alone in the sky, and the ocean wasa smooth skin reflecting the light with a million mirrors.
I was stiff, sore and exhausted², barely grateful to be stillalive. The words "Plan Number Six, Plan Number Six, PlanNumber Six" repeated themselves in my mind like a mantraand brought me a small measure of comfort, though I couldn'trecall for the life of me what Plan Number Six was. Warmthstarted coming to my bones. I closed the rain catcher. Iwrapped myself with the blanket and curled up on my side insuch a way that no part of me touched the water. I fell asleep.
I don't know how long I slept. It was mid-morning when Iawoke, and hot. The blanket was nearly dry. It had been abrief bout³ of deep sleep. I lifted myself onto an elbow.
All about me was flatness and infinity⁴, an endless panoramaof blue. There was nothing to block my view. The vastness hitme like a punch in the stomach. I fell back, winded. This raftwas a joke. It was nothing but a few sticks and a little corkheld together by string. Water came through every crack. Thedepth beneath would make a bird dizzy. I caught sight of thelifeboat. It was no better than half a walnut⁵ shell. It held on tothe surface of the water like fingers gripping the edge of a cliff.
It was only a matter of time before gravity pulled it down.
My fellow castaway came into view. He raised himself ontothe gunnel and looked my way. The sudden appearance of atiger is arresting in any environment, but it was all the moreso here. The weird⁶ contrast between the bright, striped, livingorange of his coat and the inert⁷ white of the boat's hull⁸ wasincredibly compelling. My overwrought senses screeched⁹ to ahalt. Vast as the Pacific was around us, suddenly, between us,it seemed a very narrow moat, with no bars or walls.
"Plan Number Six, Plan Number Six, Plan Number Six," mymind whispered urgently. But what was Plan Number Six? Ahyes. The war of attrition. The waiting game. Passivity. Lettingthings happen. The unforgiving laws of nature. The relentlessmarch of time and the hoarding¹⁰ of resources. That was PlanNumber Six.
A thought rang in my mind like an angry shout: "You fooland idiot! You dimwit! You brainless baboon¹¹! Plan Number Sixis the wont¹² plan of all! Richard Parker is afraid of the searight now. It was nearly his grave. But crazed with thirst andhunger he will surmount¹³ his fear, and he will do whatever isnecessary to appease¹⁴ his need. He will turn this moat into abridge¹⁵. He will swim as far as he has to, to catch the driftingraft and the food upon it. As for water, have you forgottenthat tigers from the Sundarbans are known to drink salinewater? Do you really think you can outlast¹⁶ his kidneys? I tellyou, if you wage a war of attrition, you will lose it! You willdie! IS THAT CLEAR?"

1 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

2 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

3 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

4 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

5 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

6 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

7 inert   

adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• Inert gas studies are providing valuable information about other planets,too.对惰性气体的研究，也提供了有关其它行星的有价值的资料。
• Elemental nitrogen is a very unreactive and inert material.元素氮是一个十分不活跃的惰性物质。

8 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

9 screeched   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• She screeched her disapproval. 她尖叫着不同意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The car screeched to a stop. 汽车嚓的一声停住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

11 baboon   

n.狒狒

参考例句：

• A baboon is a large monkey that lives in Africa.狒狒是一种生活在非洲的大猴子。
• As long as the baboon holds on to what it wants,it's trapped.只要狒狒紧抓住想要的东西不放手，它就会被牢牢困住。

12 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

13 surmount   

vt.克服；置于…顶上

参考例句：

• We have many problems to surmount before we can start the project.我们得克服许多困难才能著手做这项工作。
• We are fully confident that we can surmount these difficulties.我们完全相信我们能够克服这些困难。

14 appease   

v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足

参考例句：

• He tried to appease the crying child by giving him candy.他试图给那个啼哭的孩子糖果使他不哭。
• The government tried to appease discontented workers.政府试图安抚不满的工人们。

15 abridge   

v.删减，删节，节略，缩短

参考例句：

• They are going to abridge that dictionary.他们将要精简那本字典。
• He decided to abridge his stay here after he received a letter from home.他接到家信后决定缩短在这里的逗留时间。

16 outlast   

v.较…耐久

参考例句：

• The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.人生的充分利用就是为争取比人生更长久的东西而度过一生。
• These naturally dried flowers will outlast a bouquet of fresh blooms.这些自然风干的花会比一束鲜花更加持久。