Chapter 91

I climbed aboard my brother's boat. With my hands Iexplored it. I found he had lied to me. He had a little turtlemeat, a dorado head, and even – a supreme¹ treat – somebiscuit crumbs². And he had water. It all went into my mouth. Ireturned to my boat and released his.
Crying as I had done did my eyes some good. The smallwindow at the top left of my vision opened a crack. I rinsedmy eyes with sea water. With every rinsing³, the window openedfurther. My vision came back within two days.
I saw such a vision that I nearly wished I had remainedblind. His butchered, dismembered body lay on the floor of theboat. Richard Parker had amply supped on him, including onhis face, so that I never saw who my brother was. Hiseviscerated torso, with its broken ribs⁴ curving up like the frameof a ship, looked like a miniature version of the lifeboat, suchwas its blood-drenched and horrifying⁵ state.
I will confess that I caught one of his arms with the gaffand used his flesh as bait. I will further confess that, driven bythe extremity⁶ of my need and the madness to which it pushedme, I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces, little stripsthat I meant for the gaff's hook that, when dried by the sun,looked like ordinary animal flesh. They slipped into my mouthnearly unnoticed. You must understand, my suffering wasunremitting and he was already dead. I stopped as soon as Icaught a fish.
I pray for his soul every day.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

3 rinsing   

n.清水，残渣v.漂洗( rinse的现在分词 )；冲洗；用清水漂洗掉（肥皂泡等）；（用清水）冲掉

参考例句：

• Pablo made a swishing noise rinsing wine in his mouth. 巴勃罗用酒漱着口，发出咕噜噜噜的声音。 来自辞典例句
• The absorption of many molecular layers could be reestablished by rinsing the foils with tap water. 多分子层的吸附作用可用自来水淋洗金属箔而重新实现。 来自辞典例句

4 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

5 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

6 extremity   

n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度

参考例句：

• I hope you will help them in their extremity.我希望你能帮助在穷途末路的他们。
• What shall we do in this extremity?在这种极其困难的情况下我们该怎么办呢？