Chapter 89

Everything suffered. Everything became sun-bleached andweather-beaten. The lifeboat, the raft until it was lost, thetarpaulin, the stills, the rain catchers, the plastic bags, the lines,the blankets, the net – all became worn, stretched, slack,cracked, dried, rotted, torn, discoloured. What was orangebecame whitish orange. What was smooth became rough. Whatwas rough became smooth. What was sharp became blunt.
What was whole became tattered¹. Rubbing fish skins and turtlefat on things, as I did, greasing them a little, made nodifference. The salt went on eating everything with its millionhungry mouths. As for the sun, it roasted everything. It keptRichard Parker in partial subjugation². It picked skeletons cleanand fired them to a gleaming white. It burned off my clothesand would have burned off my skin, dark though it was, had Inot protected it beneath blankets and propped-up turtle shells.
When the heat was unbearable³ I took a bucket and pouredsea water on myself; sometimes the water was so warm it feltlike syrup⁴. The sun also took care of all smells. I don'tremember any smells. Or only the smell of the spent hand-flareshells. They smelled like cumin, did I mention that? I don'teven remember what Richard Parker smelled like.
We perished away. It happened slowly, so that I didn't noticeit all the time. But I noticed it regularly. We were twoemaciated mammals, parched⁵ and starving. Richard Parker's furlost its lustre⁶, and some of it even fell away from his shouldersand haunches. He lost a lot of weight, became a skeleton in anoversized bag of faded fur. I, too, withered⁷ away, themoist-ness sucked out of me, my bones showing plainlythrough my thin flesh.
I began to imitate Richard Parker in sleeping an incrediblenumber of hours. It wasn't proper sleep, but a state ofsemi-consciousness in which daydreams⁸ and reality were nearlyindistinguishable. I made much use of my dream rag.
These are the last pages of my diary:
Today saw a shark bigger than any I've seen till now. Aprimeval monster twenty feet long. Striped. A tiger shark –very dangerous. Circled us. Feared it would attack. Havesurvived one tiger; thought I would die at the hands ofanother. Did not attack. Floated away. Cloudy weather, butnothing.
No rain. Only morning greyness. Dolphins. Tried to gaffone. Found I could not stand. R. P. weak and ill-tempered.
Am so weak, if he attacks I won't be able to defend myself.
Simply do not have the energy to blow whistle.
Calm and burning hot day. Sun beating without mercy.
Feel my brains are boiling inside my head. Feel horrid⁹.
Prostrate¹⁰ body and soul. Will die soon. R.P. breathing butnot moving. Will die too. Will not kill me.
Salvation¹¹. An hour of heavy, delicious, beautiful rain.
Filled mouth, filled bags and cans, filled body till it couldnot take another drop. Let myself be soaked to rinse¹² offsalt. Crawled over to see R. P. Not reacting. Body curled,tail flat. Coat clumpy with wetness. Smaller when wet.
Bony. Touched him for first time ever. To see if dead. Not.
Body still warm. Amazing to touch him. Even in thiscondition, firm, muscular, alive. Touched him and furshuddered as if I were a gnat¹³. At length, head half inwater stirred. Better to drink than to drown. Better signstill: tail jumped. Threw piece of turtle meat in front ofnose. Nothing. At last half rose – to drink. Drank anddrank. Ate. Did not rise fully¹⁴. Spent a good hour lickinghimself all over. Slept.
It's no use. Today I die.
I will die today.
I die.
This was my last entry. I went on from there, endured, butwithout noting it. Do you see these invisible spirals on themargins of the page? I thought I would run out of paper. Itwas the pens that ran out.

1 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

2 subjugation   

n.镇压，平息，征服

参考例句：

• The Ultra-Leftist line was a line that would have wrecked a country, ruined the people, and led to the destruction of the Party and national subjugation. 极左路线是一条祸国殃民的路线，亡党亡国的路线。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This afflicted German intelligence with two fatal flaws: inefficiency, and subjugation to a madman. 这给德国情报工作造成了两个致命的弱点，一个是缺乏效率，另一个是让一个疯子总管情报。 来自辞典例句

3 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

4 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

5 parched   

adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干

参考例句：

• Hot winds parched the crops.热风使庄稼干透了。
• The land in this region is rather dry and parched.这片土地十分干燥。

6 lustre   

n.光亮，光泽；荣誉

参考例句：

• The sun was shining with uncommon lustre.太阳放射出异常的光彩。
• A good name keeps its lustre in the dark.一个好的名誉在黑暗中也保持它的光辉。

7 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

8 daydreams   

n.白日梦( daydream的名词复数 )v.想入非非，空想( daydream的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Often they gave themselves up to daydreams of escape. 他们常沉溺进这种逃避现实的白日梦。 来自英汉文学
• I would become disgusted with my futile daydreams. 我就讨厌自己那种虚无的梦想。 来自辞典例句

9 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

10 prostrate   

v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的

参考例句：

• She was prostrate on the floor.她俯卧在地板上。
• The Yankees had the South prostrate and they intended to keep It'so.北方佬已经使南方屈服了,他们还打算继续下去。

11 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。

12 rinse   

v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗

参考例句：

• Give the cup a rinse.冲洗一下杯子。
• Don't just rinse the bottles. Wash them out carefully.别只涮涮瓶子，要仔细地洗洗里面。

13 gnat   

v.对小事斤斤计较，琐事

参考例句：

• Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.小事拘谨，大事糊涂。
• He's always straining at a gnat.他总是对小事很拘谨。

14 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。