鲁宾逊漂流记01

 　　Chapter One： I Leave England

I was born in 1632 in the English city of York. I came from a good family who were from Holland¹. My father was a Dutch² merchant who left Holland when he was young. His business did very well in England. First he worked in the city of Hull³, and then in York. In York, he met and married my mother. Before she married my father, her name was Miss Robinson, and I was named Robinson Kreutznaer, after her.

　　Unfortunately, the English people in York thought it was too difficult to pronounce our Dutch name “Kreutznaer”, so they began to call our family “Crusoe,” and so today I am Robinson Crusoe.

　　I was the third son of the family, but at the time my story begins I was the only one left. My eldest⁴ brother was a soldier and was killed fighting the Spanish. My other brother disappeared—we do not know what happened to him.

　　Although my father’s business was doing well, I felt that the life of a merchant was not very interesting. I wanted to go to sea and have a life of adventure, sailing⁵ the oceans and exploring new countries.

　　“Robinson, you can’t go!” my father cried when I told him my plans.

　　“But Father, there is nothing for me to do here. I want to see the world.” I said.

　　“How can you say that there is nothing for you to do here?” my father replied. “You could go into trade, as I did. And look how well I have done!”

　　“Father, I am not good at business.” I said. I didn’t want to tell him that being a merchant was boring.

　　“Robinson,” said my father, “wait for a year. I’ll do all I can to teach you how to be a good business man. If after one year, you still want to go to sea, I will let you go.” It seemed as though he was begging me to stay. Perhaps he was afraid to lose another son.

　　At that time, I was seventeen years old, young and full of energy. A year seemed like a long time to me, but I agreed to stay, because I did not want to upset my father.

　　During that year, I studied hard and tried to learn about business, but it was no use. Perhaps I was born with ocean water in my veins⁶ instead of blood! I simply had to go to sea.

　　But after a year had passed my father still would not let me go. Father was a quiet and serious man, and he had many strong opinions. He told me that life at sea was dangerous and only for very poor or very rich men, who were probably all crazy anyway. “It is likely,” he said, “that if you go to sea you’ll be drowned or a drunk⁷ man before a month is gone!”

　　My family was in a middle position, neither very poor nor very rich. My father thought this was the best kind of family to belong to. I decided⁸ to ask my mother for help. She was a wonderful woman, and had always understood me. “Mother,” I said, “I still want to go to sea. Please help me to convince⁹ Father that I’ll be all right.

　　She looked at me sternly¹⁰. “Robinson, you know what your father thinks of life at sea.”

　　“Please, mother,” Icried. I was desperat. “Ask him to let me go for just one year. If after a year I don’t like the life at sea, I’ll come home and become the best business man in the family, I promise!”

　　Mother looked at me for a moment. “Robinson,” she said, “I will tell your father what you have told me, but you must understand that I cannot change his mind.”

　　Mother went and spoke¹¹ to Father, but he still would not let me go.

　　Three weeks after this, my nineteenth birthday came. Just after this, I decided to go to the city of Hull for a few days. I wanted to get away from my life of business in York.

　　I sat by the town’s harbor¹², watching the ships go out to sea. The ocean shone brightly in the golden¹³ sunlight¹⁴. How I wished I could have been one of the sailors! I dreamed of standing¹⁵ at the front of a ship, feeling the wind on my face as we traveld to strange and mysterious lands. It seemed it would never happen now.

　　I was feeling sadder than ever when a voice interrupted¹⁶ my thoughs. “Why, it’s Robinson Crusoe! What are you doing here in Hull?”

　　I looked around and saw Tom Bentley, an old friend of mine, standing before me.

　　“Tom!” I said, jumping up to shake his hand. “How are you?”

　　“I’m better, Robinson, now that we”ve met!” he said.

　　“We should celebrate our meeting with a glass of beer! Come on, there’s an inn¹⁷ over there,” I said.

　　“Unfortunately, I can’t,” said Tom. “I’m sailing to London on my father’s ship!”

　　“Your father’s ship? That sounds exciting!” I said.

　　Tom smiled. “Robinson,you should come with me! You look like you have nothing to do , and it won’t cost any money. What do you say?”

　　And so I wrote my father and mother a letter telling them what I was about go do, and in September, 1651 I left England to go to sea.

　　本文本由夏的微香网友听写，非常感谢他的分享。如有错误，欢迎指出。

1 Holland   

n.荷兰(欧洲)

参考例句：

• There are many dairies in Holland.荷兰有很多牛奶场。
• Holland is one of Germany's neighbours.荷兰是德国的邻国之一。

2 Dutch   

adj.荷兰(人)的；荷兰语(或文化)的；n.[the~]荷兰人；荷兰语

参考例句：

• The British and Dutch belong to the same race.英国人和荷兰人是同一种族。
• Do you know anyone who speaks Dutch?你认识会讲荷兰语的人吗？

3 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

4 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

5 sailing   

n.航行，航海术，启航

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• The operation was plain sailing.手术进行得顺利。

6 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 drunk   

adj.醉酒的；(喻)陶醉的；n.酗酒者，醉汉

参考例句：

• People who drives when they are drunk should be heavily penalised.醉酒驾车的人应受重罚。
• She found him drunk when she came home at night.她晚上回家时，经常发现他醉醺醺的。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 convince   

vt.使确认，使信服；使认识错误

参考例句：

• It requires a lot of talking to convince him.要说服他很费口舌。
• I have given over trying to convince him.我已经不再试图说服他了。

10 sternly   

adv.严厉地；严肃地

参考例句：

• The chair sternly rebuked the audience for their laughter.主席厉声斥责听众哄笑。
• Her husband looked at her sternly.她丈夫严厉地看着她。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 harbor   

n.海港，港口；vt.庇护，藏匿；心怀(怨恨等)

参考例句：

• The harbor lies to the south of the city.港口在城市的南边。
• At that time,our ship was tied up at this harbor.当时我们的船停靠在这个港口。

13 golden   

adj.金的，含金的，可贵的，金色的，贵重的，繁盛的

参考例句：

• My teacher is an Englishman with golden hair.我的老师是一个金黄色头发的英国人。
• It's a balmy evening,the golden time for lovers.这是一个暖和的夜晚，是恋人们的黄金时光。

14 sunlight   

n.日光，阳光，日照

参考例句：

• The room was flooded with warm and golden sunlight.房间充满着温暖、金色的阳光。
• In the bright sunlight she had to narrow her eyes.在强烈阳光下她必须眯着双眼。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 interrupted   

adj. 中断的 动词interrupt的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He could not conceal his annoyance at being interrupted. 他因受扰而难掩怒色。
• She was interrupted by the entrance of an attendant. 服务员进来，打断了她的话。

17 inn   

n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店，小饭店

参考例句：

• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。
• We stayed in a small village inn,right off the map.我们住在一家偏僻的乡村小店里。