Chapter 71

To those who should ever find themselves in a predicamentsuch as I was in, I would recommend the following program:
1. Choose a day when the waves are small but regular. Youwant a sea that will put on a good show when your lifeboat isbroadside to it, though without capsizing your boat.
2. Stream your sea anchor full out to make your lifeboat asstable and comfortable as possible. Prepare your safe havenfrom the lifeboat in case you should need it (you most likelywill). If you can, devise some means of bodily protection.
Almost anything can make a shield. Wrapping clothes orblankets around your limbs will make for a minimal¹ form ofarmour.
3. Now comes the difficult part: you must provoke theanimal that is afflicting² you. Tiger, rhinoceros³, ostrich⁴, wild boar,brown bear – no matter the beast, you must get its goat. Thebest way to do this will most likely be to go to the edge ofyour territory and noisily intrude⁶ into the neutral zone. I didjust that: I went to the edge of the tarpaulin⁷ and stampedupon the middle bench as I mildly blew into the whistle. It isimportant that you make a consistent, recognizable noise tosignal your aggression⁸. But you must be careful. You want toprovoke your animal, but only so much. You don't want it toattack you outright⁹. If it does, God be with you. You will betorn to pieces, trampled¹⁰ flat, disembowelled, very likely eaten.
You don't want that. You want an animal that is piqued,peeved, vexed¹¹, bothered, irked, annoyed – but not homicidal.
Under no circumstances should you step into your animal'sterritory. Contain your aggression to staring into its eyes andhurling toots and taunts¹².
4. When your animal has been roused, work in all bad faithto provoke a border intrusion. A good way of bringing thisabout in my experience is to back off slowly as you aremaking your noises. BE SURE NOT TO BREAK EYECONTACT! As soon as the animal has laid a paw in yourterritory, or even made a determined¹³ advance into the neutralterritory, you have achieved your goal. Don't be picky orlegalistic as to where its paw actually landed. Be quick to beaffronted. Don't wait to construe¹⁴ – misconstrue as fast as youcan. The point here is to make your animal understand that itsupstairs neighbour is exceptionally persnickety about territory.
5. Once your animal has trespassed¹⁵ upon your territory, beunflagging in your outrage¹⁶. Whether you have fled to your safehaven off the lifeboat or retreated to the back of your territoryon the lifeboat, START BLOWING YOUR WHISTLE AT FULLBLAST and IMMEDIATELY TRIP THE SEA ANCHOR. Thesetwo actions are of pivotal importance. You must not delayputting them into effect. If you can help your lifeboat getbroadside to the waves by other means, with an oar⁵ forexample, apply yourself right away. The faster your lifeboatbroaches to the waves, the better.
6. Blowing a whistle continuously is exhausting for theweakened castaway, but you must not falter¹⁷. Your alarmedanimal must associate its increasing nausea¹⁸ with the shrill¹⁹ criesof the whistle. You can help things move along by standing²⁰ atthe end of your boat, feet on opposing gunnels, and swaying inrhythm to the motion imparted by the sea. However slight youare, however large your lifeboat, you will be amazed at thedifference this will make. I assure you, in no time you'll haveyour lifeboat rocking and rolling like Elvis Presley. Just don'tforget to be blowing your whistle all the while, and mind youdon't make your lifeboat capsize.
7. You want to keep going until the animal that is yourburden – your tiger, your rhinoceros, whatever – is properlygreen about the gills with seasickness²¹. You want to hear itheaving and dry retching. You want to see it lying at thebottom of the lifeboat, limbs trembling, eyes rolled back, adeathly rattle²² coming from its gaping²³ mouth. And all the whileyou must be shattering the animal's ears with the piercingblows of your whistle. If you become sick yourself, don't wasteyour vomit²⁴ by sending it overboard. Vomit makes an excellentborder guard. Puke on the edges of your territory.
8. When your animal appears good and sick, you can stop.
Seasickness comes on quickly, but it takes a long while to goaway. You don't want to overstate your case. No one dies ofnausea, but it can seriously sap the will to live. When enoughis enough, stream the sea anchor, try to give shade to youranimal if it has collapsed²⁵ in direct sunlight, and make sure ithas water available when it recovers, with anti-seasicknesstablets dissolved in it, if you have any. Dehydration²⁶ is a seriousdanger at this point. Otherwise, retreat to your territory andleave your animal in peace. Water, rest and relaxation²⁷, besidesa stable lifeboat, will bring it back to life. The animal should beallowed to recover fully²⁸ before going through steps 1 to 8again.
9. Treatment should be repeated until the association in theanimal's mind between the sound of the whistle and the feelingof intense, incapacitating nausea is fixed²⁹ and totallyunambiguous. Thereafter, the whistle alone will deal withtrespassing or any other untoward³⁰ behaviour. Just one shrillblow and you will see your animal shudder³¹ with malaise andrepair at top speed to the safest, furthest part of its territory.
Once this level of training is reached, use of the whistle shouldbe sparing.

1 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

2 afflicting   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• Violent crime is only one of the maladies afflicting modern society. 暴力犯罪仅仅是困扰现代社会的严重问题之一。
• Violent crime is only one of the maladies afflicting modern society. 暴力犯罪仅仅是危害社会的弊病之一。

3 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。

4 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

5 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。

6 intrude   

vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰

参考例句：

• I do not want to intrude if you are busy.如果你忙我就不打扰你了。
• I don't want to intrude on your meeting.我不想打扰你们的会议。

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。

8 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

9 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

10 trampled   

踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊，怕他让暴民踩着。
• People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。

11 vexed   

adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论

参考例句：

• The conference spent days discussing the vexed question of border controls. 会议花了几天的时间讨论边境关卡这个难题。
• He was vexed at his failure. 他因失败而懊恼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 taunts   

嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He had to endure the racist taunts of the crowd. 他不得不忍受那群人种族歧视的奚落。
• He had to endure the taunts of his successful rival. 他不得不忍受成功了的对手的讥笑。

13 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

14 construe   

v.翻译，解释

参考例句：

• He had tried to construe a passage from Homer.他曾尝试注释荷马著作的一段文字。
• You can construe what he said in a number of different ways.他的话可以有好几种解释。

15 trespassed   

（trespass的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Here is the ringleader of the gang that trespassed on your grounds. 这就是侵犯你土地的那伙人的头子。
• He trespassed against the traffic regulations. 他违反了交通规则。

16 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

17 falter   

vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚

参考例句：

• His voice began to falter.他的声音开始发颤。
• As he neared the house his steps faltered.当他走近房子时，脚步迟疑了起来。

18 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

19 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

20 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

21 seasickness   

n.晕船

参考例句：

• Europeans take melons for a preventive against seasickness. 欧洲人吃瓜作为预防晕船的方法。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was very prone to seasickness and already felt queasy. 他快晕船了，已经感到恶心了。 来自辞典例句

22 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

23 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

25 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

26 dehydration   

n.脱水，干燥

参考例句：

• He died from severe dehydration.他死于严重脱水。
• The eyes are often retracted from dehydration.眼睛常因脱水而凹陷。

27 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

28 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

29 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。

30 untoward   

adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的

参考例句：

• Untoward circumstances prevent me from being with you on this festive occasion.有些不幸的事件使我不能在这欢庆的时刻和你在一起。
• I'll come if nothing untoward happens.我要是没有特殊情况一定来。

31 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。