27 Can We Get off the Island

CHAPTER 27 Can We Get off the Island? We needed a boat if we were going to escape. The two that I had built (for my first boat still lay marooned on land in the middle of the forest) would not work for such a long journey. "Friday, do you think you can help me build a boat like the one you saw four years ago?" I asked him one morning over

第二十七章我们能离开这个岛吗？ 如果我们要逃跑，我们需要一艘船。 我造的两艘船（因为我的第一艘船还困在森林中央的陆地上）不适合这样的长途旅行。 “星期五，你觉得你能帮我造一艘像你四年前看到的那样的船吗？”一天早上我邀请他过来

breakfast. "Yes, I don't see why not." He answered. "I'm not sure I know how, but I'm sure you can teach me—right, Robinson?" "Of course!" I said. "With both of us working on it, we should be able to build a nice boat to take us back to your island." We chopped down trees. We carved out planks. We hollowed out the bottom. We worked and worked. Months passed while our boat slowly took shape. We worked all the way through an entire dry season without stopping for even one day. Once the boat was finished, it took all of our energy to inch it bit-by-bit into the water. You had never seen two happier men the day the boat floated in the water for the first time! Friday was confident we could use our paddles and row all the way to the mainland. I had a better idea, though. While Friday chopped down a large cedar tree to use as a

早餐。“是的，我看没什么不可以的。” 他回答说。“我不确定我知道怎么做，但我相信你可以教我，对吧，罗宾逊？”“当然!”我说。 “有了我们俩的努力，我们应该能造一艘漂亮的船，把我们带回你的岛。” 我们砍倒了树。我们凿出木板。 我们挖空了底部。 我们不停地工作。几个月过去了，我们的船慢慢成型了。 在整个旱季，我们一直在工作，一天也没有停下来。 船一完工，我们就用尽全力一点一点地把它拖进水里。 在船第一次浮在水面上的那一天，你从来没有见过两个如此快乐的人！星期五相信我们可以用桨一路划到大陆。 不过我有个更好的主意。 星期五砍倒了一棵大雪松树

mast, I sat and sewed together all the bits of canvas I had been saving over the years. We put the mast in and set the sail up. The boat was now ready for a trial run! Friday and I boated around the harbor as I taught him how to sail. Like everything else I had shown him how to do, he was a quick learner. Soon, Friday knew how to handle the boat almost as well as I did! We then had to retire indoors for a rainy season. The boat needed to be protected from the weather. We dug a small dock out of the earth near the creek. Then, we kept it dry by building a dam up around it and piling large, full branches on top to make a roof. Now, all there was left to do was wait for better weather.

我坐在桅杆上，把多年来积攒下来的帆布碎片缝在一起。 我们收好桅杆，扬起了帆。 这艘船现在已经准备好试航了！星期五和我一边教他航海，一边在港口周围划船。 就像我教他做的其他事情一样，他学得很快。 很快，星期五就和我一样知道如何驾驶小船了！然后，我们不得不在雨季退居室内。 这艘船需要受到保护，不受天气影响。 我们在小溪附近的地里挖了一个小码头。 然后，我们在它周围建了一个大坝，把又大又满的树枝堆在上面做屋顶，让它保持干燥。 现在，剩下要做的就是等待好天气。

A total of twenty-seven years had passed since I was shipwrecked on the island. It was hard to believe that so much time had gone by. I would sit for long periods of time and wonder how much life had changed back home. Was my plantation still there? Was my family still alive? Did my brother ever come home? These thoughts ran through my head like raindrops, and nothing but the sunshine could stop them.

自从我在岛上遭遇海难以来，已经整整二十七年过去了。 很难相信这么多时间已经过去了。 我会坐很长时间，想知道家乡的生活发生了多大的变化。 我的种植园还在吗？ 我的家人还活着吗？ 我哥哥回来了吗？ 这些想法像雨滴一样在我的脑海里流淌，除了阳光，什么也阻挡不了它们。