国家地理:Surviving Alcatraz 走险恶魔岛

During his days of crime, Darwin Coon was a reckless young man. He robbed five banks in the Midwest and escaped from the Nevada State Penitentiary¹. At Alcatraz, the isolation² and boredom³ worn Coon down.

"This is 127. This is where I've spent four years of my life."
"And it just starts to squeeze you, starts to close in on you. And I guess it's from the fact that you are in such a small area and not allowed to go any further. You, ah, you lose the sense of reality and, er, you wonder whether you are part of the real world."

Each of these convicts hunger to survive, each struggle for ways to beat the odds⁴ and beat the time. For Darwin Coon, his felony sentence meant long hours in his cell.

"Er, there really wasn't much to entertain yourself with on Alcatraz. There were very few guys pace in their cell because it was so small. They, that's all they ever did to themselves. They just lay back and, and, and, and look at the ceiling. "

To keep sane⁵, Darwin read books from the highly-censored library, painted and played an instrument. He also fought the isolation by interacting with his fellow inmates⁶. He even played chess with cell neighbors.

"You have a new chessboard set up. And your opponent would make a move."
"Queen to D4."
"When you caught what he moved, you make the move on the board and then you call your move."

And to communicate with more distant inmates, Darwin discovered some secret survival techniques that inmates kept to themselves. One, use the talking pipe built right in the cell.

"Yeah, Tony, ah? Tonight, it's gonna happen."
"Er, flush your toilet, and then you scoop⁷ all the excessive water out, so that you got a clear line, and if he does the same thing upstairs, you have just like a telephone, you know."
"Alright, see you tonight."

But he and all the inmates knew the guards were always listening. To keep their secrets to themselves, Coon and his cell neighbors had another trick- a whistle that told everyone, a guard's on the way.

"Coming Around the Mountain was a, our signal that there was an officer on the tier."

1 penitentiary   

n.感化院；监狱

参考例句：

• He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
• While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候，她的父亲死了，家庭就拆散了。

2 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

3 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。

4 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

5 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

6 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。