5 Pirates!

CHAPTER 5 Pirates! As much as my luck had changed when I arrived in London, the opposite was now true. The second voyage to Africa soon became my worst trip yet. I soon learned that there were far worse things than a capful of wind and a close rescue! As our ship made a course for the Canary Islands, we were surprised by a pirate ship.

第五章海盗！当我到达伦敦时，我的运气发生了很大的变化，但现在情况正好相反。 第二次非洲之旅很快成为我最糟糕的一次旅行。 我很快了解到，还有比大风和侥幸获救更糟糕的事情！当我们的船向加那利群岛驶去时，我们被一艘海盗船吓了一跳。

They chased us for hours with full sails blazing. When they caught up to us, our only chance was to fight. We prepared our guns for battle. The pirate ship came up on our quarter-deck. We took our chances and fired all of our guns directly into the rogue ship. They returned fire with their large cannons. All the pirates started firing their guns, too, but not a single shot hit any of our men! This success was short lived, and within minutes about sixty pirates boarded our ship. They sliced our rigging with their swords, and then attacked our sails. We fought them off for as long as we could with our own rifles and swords (and got them off the deck twice!). Victory was not to be ours, and we surrendered before any lives were lost. The pirates loaded us onto their ship as prisoners. We sailed to the port of Sallee, on the northern coast of Africa. Most of the men on board were sold up the country as slaves.

他们扯着帆追了我们好几个小时。 当他们追上我们时，我们唯一的机会就是战斗。 我们准备好了战斗用的枪。 海盗船驶上了我们的后甲板。 我们抓住了机会，把所有的枪都对准了那艘流氓船。 他们用大炮还击。 所有的海盗也开始开火，但没有一枪打中我们的人！这次成功是短暂的，几分钟后，大约60名海盗登上了我们的船。 他们用剑砍断了我们的索具，然后袭击了我们的帆。 我们用自己的步枪和剑尽可能长时间地击退他们（并两次把他们从甲板上轰下来！） 胜利不属于我们，我们在伤亡之前投降了。 海盗把我们当作囚犯装上船。 我们驶往非洲北部海岸的萨利港。 船上的大多数人都被卖到全国做奴隶了。

The pirate captain took a liking to me because I was both young and nimble. He decided to keep me. In one fell swoop, I went from merchant to slave. I was extremely unhappy. My father's words echoed in my mind. I was convinced that I would always be unlucky. My selfish desire to leave home would never amount to anything but misery. I spent long days working in my master's garden. There were also many household chores to do. My heart and body longed to go back to sea, where I would at least have a chance to escape. The master never took me on his fishing trips. Instead, he left me behind to work. Each day felt longer than the one before, and two years passed slowly. Day and night I dreamt of little else but escaping. Without friends, I had only my own thoughts to keep my company. The work was hard and the sun

海盗船长喜欢我，因为我既年轻又敏捷。 他决定留下我。我一下子从商人变成了奴隶。 我非常不开心。父亲的话在我脑海中回响。 我确信我将永远是不幸的。 我想离开家的自私愿望只会带来痛苦。 我花了很多时间在主人的花园里干活。 还有许多家务事要做。 我的身心都渴望回到大海，至少在那里我有机会逃离。 主人从来不带我去钓鱼。 相反，他把我丢在家里去工作。 一天比一天长，两年慢慢地过去了。 日日夜夜，我除了逃跑别无他求。 没有朋友，我只有自己的思想陪伴我。 工作很辛苦，太阳也很晒

was hot. Was this how I would spend the rest of my life? Trapped in a foreign country, a slave to a terrible master?

很热。难道我的余生就要这样度过吗？ 被困在异国他乡，成为可怕主人的奴隶？