8 The English Ship

CHAPTER 8 The English Ship Ten more days passed before we came across another human being. The people we met were friendly and helpful. They wore few clothes and we did not speak the same language, but they were extremely generous. They gave us food and water even though we had nothing to trade. Although the strange people were very

第八章英国船又过了十天，我们又遇到一个人。 我们遇到的人都很友好，乐于助人。 他们穿的衣服很少，我们说的语言也不同，但他们非常慷慨。 他们给了我们食物和水，尽管我们没有什么可以交换的。 虽然奇怪的人很

kind, we still needed to find an English ship. Our small boat was not prepared for heavy sailing. The only chance we had to survive was being rescued. I didn't tell Xury that I was worried about us making it. I didn't want him to be scared or upset. We sailed onward. Another week passed. Finally, we came upon some landmarks I recognized. About three leagues off the coast, I could see the Cape Verde Islands. I let out a great whoop! "What is it Robinson?" Xury asked. I pointed across the landscape. "Do you see that over there—those islands? That's how we're going to get to England! We're safe. We're saved, Xury! Saved!" My smiles soon turned to frowns as I truly considered our situation. If we sailed out into the open sea and got caught by the wrong wind, we would be swept away, never to be seen again. I went inside to sit down in my

但我们还是需要找到一艘英国船。 我们的小船不适于长途航行。 我们生存的唯一机会就是获救。 我没告诉苏里我担心我们的关系。 我不想让他害怕或难过。 我们继续航行。又一个星期过去了。 最后，我们来到了一些我认得的地标。 在离海岸大约三里格的地方，我可以看见佛得角群岛。 我大声叫了一声！“怎么了，鲁滨逊？”Xury问道。 我指着远处的风景。 “你看到那边那些岛了吗？” 我们就是这样去英国的！我们是安全的。 我们得救了，苏里！得救了!”当我真正考虑到我们的处境时，我的笑容很快变成了皱眉。 如果我们驶进公海，被逆风吹走，我们就会被卷走，再也不会出现。 我进去坐到我的

small captain's cabin to consider our options. "Robinson!" I heard Xury call me from outside. "I see a ship! I see a ship!" And true enough, there was a ship! It looked Portuguese. I took up the binoculars and watched carefully to see if it was bound for shore. Alas, we were not that lucky. The ship was sailing away from us. Oh, no! I thought. I'm not letting them go without at least trying to get their attention. "Come on, Xury!" I yelled. "Let's try and catch them." We mustered as much sail as our little boat could manage. We chased the ship as fast as we could, but it soon became clear we would never catch up. "What do we do now, Robinson?" Xury asked. "The guns!" I said. "We need to fire the guns and hope they hear us!" We each ran to our guns and started firing. I hoped and prayed the other ship would

小船长舱考虑我们的选择。 “罗宾逊!”我听到苏里在外面叫我。 “我看见一艘船！”我看见一艘船了！”没错，确实有一艘船！它看起来像葡萄牙人。 我拿起双筒望远镜，仔细地观察，看它是不是向海岸驶去。 唉，我们可没那么幸运。 那艘船正驶离我们。 哦,不!我想。我是不会让他们走的，至少我得试着引起他们的注意。 “来吧，佐立！”我喊道。 “让我们试着抓住它们。” 我们的小船尽可能多地收帆。 我们尽可能快地追赶那艘船，但很快就清楚了，我们永远追不上了。 “我们现在怎么办，罗宾逊？”Xury问道。 “枪!”我说。“我们需要开火，希望他们能听到我们的声音！”我们每个人都跑向枪，开始射击。 我希望并祈祷另一艘船会

hear our distress signal. The other ship shortened its sails and slowed down! I smiled broadly at Xury and said, "They've heard our shots! They're going to wait for us. Come on, let's go!" It took us three hours to catch up to them. When we arrived alongside, the men shouted off the deck to us in many different languages. First they tried Portuguese, then Spanish, then French—but we couldn't understand any of them. Finally, a Scottish sailor on board piped up, "Who are you? What has happened?" I explained I was an English sailor who had been captured by pirates. I told him that I had spent the past few years in captivity as a slave. The sailors were impressed that we managed to escape. They took Xury and me on board, and we were finally rescued! The ship's captain was very kind. When I offered him all of my worldly goods in

听到我们的求救信号。另一艘船缩短了帆，减速了！我对佐立笑了笑，说：“他们听到了我们的枪声！他们会等我们的。 快，我们走吧！”我们花了三个小时才赶上他们。 当我们靠岸时，甲板上的人用不同的语言对我们大喊大叫。 他们先是试了葡萄牙语，然后是西班牙语，然后是法语——但我们一个都听不懂。 最后，船上一个苏格兰水手尖声问道：“你是谁？” 出什么事了?”我解释说我是一名被海盗俘虏的英国水手。 我告诉他，我在过去的几年里一直被囚禁为奴隶。 水手们对我们成功逃脱印象深刻。 他们把我和苏里带上了船，我们终于获救了！船长非常和蔼。 我把我所有的财产都给了他

exchange for a safe passage to Brazil, he simply smiled and said, "I will take you with us to Brazil—there's no need for payment." I thanked him for his kindness. The captain was also very nice to Xury and promptly gave him a job as a sailor on the ship. This pleased Xury to no end. And just when I thought he couldn't be any nicer, he offered to buy our smaller boat! I readily accepted his offer. In addition to the boat, he bought quite a few of our other supplies, too. We had a safe and happy journey to Brazil. I had the money from the kind captain, which meant I wasn't completely penniless in a strange new land. I stayed with one of the captain's friends who owned and operated a large sugar plantation. The business of planting sugar looked interesting to me, so I tried to learn as much as I could. Plantation life appealed to me. With the money from the kind captain, I purchased a

作为安全前往巴西的交换，他只是微笑着说：“我会带你一起去巴西——不需要付钱。” 我感谢他的好意。 船长对佐里也很好，并立即给了他一份在船上当水手的工作。 这使佐立非常高兴。 就在我觉得他不能再好了的时候，他提出要买我们的小船！我欣然接受了他的提议。 除了船，他还买了我们的一些其他用品。 我们去巴西的旅途安全愉快。 我从好心的船长那里得到了钱，这意味着我在一个陌生的地方并不是身无分文。 我住在船长的一个朋友家里，他拥有并经营着一个很大的甘蔗种植园。 种糖的生意对我来说很有趣，所以我尽可能多地学习。 种植园生活对我很有吸引力。 用好心的船长给我的钱，我买了一艘

good chunk of land. My plan was to build a sugar plantation just like the one where I had been staying. There was so much opportunity for me in Brazil. But in order to stay, I needed a letter of naturalization, which I found wasn't that hard to get.

很好的一块土地。我的计划是建一个糖料种植园，就像我住过的那个一样。 我在巴西有很多机会。 但为了留下来，我需要一封入籍信，我发现这并不难得到。