Chapter 73

My greatest wish – other than salvation¹ – was to have abook. A long book with a never-ending story. One I could readagain and again, with new eyes and a fresh understandingeach time. Alas², there was no scripture³ in the lifeboat. I was adisconsolate Arjuna in a battered⁴ chariot without the benefit ofKrishna's words. The first time I came upon a Bible in thebedside table of a hotel room in Canada, I burst into tears. Isent a contribution to the Gideons the very next day, with anote urging them to spread the range of their activity to allplaces where worn and weary travellers might lay down theirheads, not just to hotel rooms, and that they should leave notonly Bibles, but other sacred writings as well. I cannot think ofa better way to spread the faith. No thundering from a pulpit,no condemnation⁵ from bad churches, no peer pressure, just abook of scripture quietly waiting to say hello, as gentle andpowerful as a little girl's kiss on your cheek.
At the very least, if I had had a good novel! But there wasonly the survival manual, which I must have read ten thousandtimes over the course of my ordeal⁶.
I kept a diary. It's hard to read. I wrote as small as I could.
I was afraid I would run out of paper. There's not much to it.
Words scratched on a page trying to capture a reality thatoverwhelmed me. I started it a week or so after the sinking ofthe Tsimtsum. Before that I was too busy and scattered⁷. Theentries are not dated or numbered. What strikes me now ishow time is captured. Several days, several weeks, all on onepage. I talked about what you might expect: about things thathappened and how I felt, about what I caught and what Ididn't, about seas and weather, about problems and solutions,about Richard Parker. All very practical stuff.

1 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

2 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

3 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

4 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

5 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

6 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

7 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。