Pre-reading

Why didn’t the cannibals attack them?

Intensive Reading

I asked, “Will they return? Will they attack us?”

我问:“他们会回来吗?”他们会攻击我们吗?”

He said, “They will probably never attack us. The guns created a great shock. They couldn’t understand how we won. I heard them shout that you and Friday were spirits sent from heaven.”

他说，“他们可能永远不会攻击我们。枪造成了巨大的震动。他们不明白我们是怎么赢的。我听见他们喊你和星期五是天堂派来的精灵。”

I still worried that the cannibals could return. But it never happened.

我还是担心食人族会回来。但这一切从未发生。

When our guests were strong enough, I began to think about the journey by sea again. I asked the Spanish about his arrival on these islands. He said that he was on a ship which went to Havana. There were sixteen Europeans on Friday’s island.

当我们的客人体力充沛时，我又开始考虑海上旅行了。我问西班牙人他是怎么到达这些岛屿的。他说他在一艘开往哈瓦那的船上。星期五的岛上有16个欧洲人。

They were Spanish and Portuguese. He told me that the storm broke the ship near my island. They saved themselves in a boat. Now they lived with Friday’s people. I asked the Spanish if they tried to make another sea journey. Of course, they wanted to go home, but they had no tools to build a ship. I showed the Spanish the tools which I had from the ship. He said that with my tools it was possible to build a ship.

他们是西班牙人和葡萄牙人。他告诉我，暴风雨在我的岛附近把船撞坏了。他们用一艘小船自救。现在他们和星期五的族人住在一起。我问西班牙人他们是否试过再进行一次海上旅行。当然，他们想回家，但是他们没有造船的工具。我给西班牙人看了我从船上带回来的工具。他说用我的工具有可能可以造出一艘船。

I thought that the Spanish and Friday’s father could return to their island. They could tell other Europeans about the possibility to build a ship. Together we could go to Brazil or Havana or maybe Europe.

我想，西班牙人和星期五的父亲可以回到他们的岛上。他们可以告诉其他欧洲人建造船只的可能性。我们可以一起去巴西、哈瓦那或者也许欧洲。

Notes:

1. probably：很有可能，可能性比possible更大。

2. spirit：精灵，幽灵，它也可以指一个人的精神或毅力。

3. possibility：可能性，possible的名词形式。

Exercise:

How did the Spanish end up living with Friday’s people?