Chapter 80

Of all the dorados, I remember one in particular, a specialdorado. It was early morning on a cloudy day, and we were inthe midst of a storm of flying fish. Richard Parker was activelyswatting at them. I was huddled¹ behind a turtle shell, shieldingmyself from the flying fish. I had a gaff with a piece of nethanging from it extended into the open. I was hoping to catchfish in this way. I wasn't having much luck. A flying fishwhizzed by. The dorado that was chasing it burst out of thewater. It was a bad calculation. The anxious flying fish gotaway, just missing my net, but the dorado hit the gunnel like acannonball. The thud it made shook the whole boat. A spurt² ofblood sprayed the tarpaulin³. I reacted quickly. I droppedbeneath the hail of flying fish and reached for the dorado justahead of a shark. I pulled it aboard. It was dead, or nearlythere, and turning all kinds of colours. What a catch! What acatch! I thought excitedly. Thanks be to you, Jesus-Matsya. Thefish was fat and fleshy. It must have weighed a good fortypounds. It would feed a horde⁴. Its eyes and spine⁵ wouldirrigate a desert.
Alas⁶, Richard Parker's great head had turned my way. Isensed it from the corner of my eyes. The flying fish were stillcoming, but he was no longer interested in them; it was thefish in my hands that was now the focus of his attention. Hewas eight feet away. His mouth was half open, a fish wingdangling from it. His back became rounder. His rump wriggled⁷.
His tail twitched⁸. It was clear: he was in a crouch⁹ and he wasmaking to attack me. It was too late to get away, too late evento blow my whistle. My time had come.
But enough was enough. I had suffered so much. I was sohungry. There are only so many days you can go withouteating.
And so, in a moment of insanity¹⁰ brought on by hunger –because I was more set on eating than I was on staying alive– without any means of defence, naked in every sense of theterm, I looked Richard Parker dead in the eyes. Suddenly hisbrute strength meant only moral weakness. It was nothingcompared to the strength in my mind. I stared into his eyes,wide-eyed and defiant¹¹, and we faced off. Any zookeeper will tellyou that a tiger, indeed any cat, will not attack in the face of adirect stare but will wait until the deer or antelope¹² or wild oxhas turned its eyes. But to know that and to apply it are twovery different things (and it's a useless bit of knowledge ifyou're hoping to stare down a gregarious¹³ cat. While you holdone lion in the thrall¹⁴ of your gaze, another will come up toyou from behind). For two, perhaps three seconds, a terrificbattle of minds for status and authority was waged between aboy and a tiger. He needed to make only the shortest oflunges to be on top of me. But I held my stare.
Richard Parker licked his nose, groaned¹⁵ and turned away.
He angrily batted a flying fish. I had won. I gasped¹⁶ withdisbelief, heaved the dorado into my hands and hurried awayto the raft. Shortly thereafter, I delivered to Richard Parker afair chunk¹⁷ of the fish.
From that day onwards I felt my mastery was no longer inquestion, and I began to spend progressively more time on thelifeboat, first at the bow, then, as I gained confidence, on themore comfortable tarpaulin. I was still scared of Richard Parker,but only when it was necessary. His simple presence no longerstrained me. You can get used to anything – haven't I alreadysaid that? Isn't that what all survivors¹⁸ say?
Initially¹⁹ I lay on the tarpaulin with my head against itsrolled-up bow edge. It was raised a little – since the ends ofthe lifeboat were higher than its middle – and so I could keepan eye on Richard Parker.
Later on I turned the other way, with my head resting justabove the middle bench, my back to Richard Parker and histerritory. In this position I was further away from the edges ofthe boat and less exposed to wind and spray.

1 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

2 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。

3 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。

4 horde   

n.群众，一大群

参考例句：

• A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
• Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵，被一大群人围住了。

5 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

6 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。

7 wriggled   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 crouch   

v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏

参考例句：

• I crouched on the ground.我蹲在地上。
• He crouched down beside him.他在他的旁边蹲下来。

10 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。

11 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

12 antelope   

n.羚羊；羚羊皮

参考例句：

• Choosing the antelope shows that China wants a Green Olympics.选择藏羚羊表示中国需要绿色奥运。
• The tiger was dragging the antelope across the field.老虎拖着羚羊穿过原野。

13 gregarious   

adj.群居的，喜好群居的

参考例句：

• These animals are highly gregarious.这些动物非常喜欢群居。
• They are gregarious birds and feed in flocks.它们是群居鸟类，会集群觅食。

14 thrall   

n.奴隶；奴隶制

参考例句：

• He treats his wife like a thrall.他把妻子当作奴隶看待。
• He is not in thrall to the media.他不受制于媒体。

15 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

18 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

19 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。