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[00:00.00]Lesson Four Text
[00:04.60]"Take Over, Bos'n!"Oscar Schisgall
[00:11.26]Hour after hour I kept the gun pointed1 at the other nine men.
[00:17.82]From the lifeboat's stern, where I'd sat most of the twenty days of our drifting,
[00:24.16]I could'keep them all covered.
[00:28.24]If I had to shoot at such close quarters,I wouldn't miss.
[00:34.40]They realized that.
[00:37.36]Nobody jumped at me.
[00:40.59]But in the way they all glared I could see how they'd come to hate my guts2.
[00:47.75]Especially Barrett, who'd been bos'n's mate;
[00:53.03]Barrett said in his harsh,cracked voice, "You're a fool, Snyder.
[00:59.79]You can't hold out forever!You're half asleep now!"
[01:06.04]I didn't answer.He was right.How long can a man stay awake?
[01:13.20]I hadn't dared to shut my eyes in maybe seventy two hours.
[01:19.44]Very soon now I'd doze4 off,
[01:23.49]and the instant that happened they'd jump on the little water that was left.
[01:29.86]The last canteen lay under my legs. There wasn't much in it twenty days.
[01:37.52]Maybe a pint5.Enough to give each of them a few drops.
[01:43.58]Yet I could see in their bloodshot eyes
[01:48.15]that they'd gladly kill me for those few drops.
[01:52.59]As a man I didn't count any more.
[01:57.16]I was no longer third officer of the wrecked6 Montala.
[02:02.20]I was just a gun that kept them away from the water they craved7.
[02:07.76]And with their tongue swollen8 and their cheeks sunken, they were half crazy.
[02:15.21]The way I judged it, we must be some two hundred miles east of Ascension.
[02:21.79]Now that the storms were over,the Atlantic swells9 were long and easy,
[02:28.92]and the morning sun was hot so hot it scorched10 your skin.
[02:35.48]My own tongue was thick enough to stop my throat.
[02:41.12]I'd have given the rest of my life for a single gulp11 of water.
[02:47.37]But I was the man with the gun the only authority in the boat and I knew this:
[02:56.12]once the water was gone we'd have nothing to look forward to but death.
[03:02.60]As long as we could look forward to getting a drink later,
[03:07.35]there was something to live for.
[03:11.19]We had to make it last as long as possible.
[03:15.63]If I'd given in to the curses, we'd have emptied the last canteen days ago.
[03:23.68]By now we'd all be dead.
[03:28.12]The men weren't pulling on the oars12.
[03:32.27]They'd stopped that long ago, too weak to go on.
[03:37.31]The nine of them facing me were a pack of bearded, ragged13, half-naked animals,
[03:45.38]and I probably looked as bad as the rest.
[03:49.51]Some sprawled14 over the gunwales, dozing15.
[03:54.24]The rest watched me as Barrett did, ready to spring the instant I relaxed.
[04:02.18]When they weren't looking at my face they looked at the canteen under my legs.
[04:08.22]Jeff Barrett was the nearest one.A constant threat.
[04:13.65]The bos's mate was a heavy man, bald, with a scarred and brutal16 face.
[04:21.38]He'd been in a hundred fights, and they'd left their marks on him.
[04:27.55]Barrett had been able to sleep in fact, he'd slept through most of the night
[04:34.91]and I envied him that.
[04:38.57]His eyes wouldn't close.
[04:42.12]They kept watching me, narrow and dangerous.
[04:47.45]Every now and then he jeered17 at me in that hoarse18,broken voice:
[04:53.64]"Why don't you quit? You can't hold out!"
[04:59.10]"Tonight," I said."We'll ration19 the rest of the water tonight."
[05:05.55]"By tonight some of us'll be dead!We want it now!"
[05:10.73]"Tonight," I said.
[05:13.57]Couldn't he understandthat if we waited until night
[05:18.12]the few drops wouldn't be sweated out of us so fast
[05:23.27]But Barrett was beyond all reasoning.
[05:27.81]His mind had already cracked with thirst.
[05:33.17]I saw him begin to rise, a calculating look in his eyes.
[05:39.51]I aimed the gun at his chest and he sat down again.
[05:45.39]I'd grabbed my gun on instinct, twenty days ago,
[05:50.54]just before running for the lifeboat.
[05:54.77]Nothing else would have kept Barrett and the rest away from the water.
[06:01.40]These fools couldn't they see I wanted a drink as badly as any of them?
[06:08.46]But I was in command here that was the difference.
[06:13.81]I was the man with the gun, the man who had to think.
[06:19.56]Each of the others could afford to think only of himself;
[06:24.39]I had to think of them all.
[06:28.94]Barrett's eyes kept watching me, waiting. I hated him.
[06:35.18]I hated him all the more because he'd slept.
[06:39.75]As the boat rose and fell on the long swells,
[06:45.32]I could feel sleep creeping over me like paralysis20.
[06:50.59]I bent21 my head.It filled my brain like a cloud.I was going, going...
[06:58.93]Barrett stood over me,and I couldn't even lift the gun.
[07:04.86]In a vague way I could guess what would happen.
[07:09.71]He'd grab the water first and take his drop.
[07:14.08]By that time the others would be screaming and tearing at him,
[07:19.04]and he'd have to yield the canteen.
[07:22.80]Well, there was nothing more I could do about it.
[07:27.35]I whispered, "Takeover, bos'n. "
[07:31.32]Then I fell face down in the bottom of the boat.
[07:36.28]I was asleep be fore3 I stopped moving. . .
[07:40.23]When a hand shook my shoulder,I could hardly raise my head. .
[07:45.97]Jeff Barrett's hoarse voice said, "Here! Take your share o' the water!"
[07:52.14]Somehow I propped22 myself up on my arms, dizzy and weak.
[07:58.01]I looked at the men, and I thought my eyes were going.
[08:02.98]Their figures were dim shadowy; but then I realized it wasn't because of my eyes.
[08:11.13]It was night. The sea was black; there were stars overhead.
[08:17.16]I'd slept the day away.
[08:20.79]So we were in our twenty first night adrift
[08:26.36]the night in which the tramp Croton finally picked us up
[08:31.69]but now as I turned my head to Barrett there was no sign of any ship.
[08:39.13]He knelt beside me, holding out the canteen,
[08:44.17]his other hand with the gun steady on the men.
[08:49.14]I stared at the canteen as if it were amirage.
[08:54.31]Hadn't they finished that pint of water this morning?
[08:58.46]When I looked up at Barrett's ugly face, it was grim.
[09:03.19]He must have guessed my thoughts.
[09:06.64]"You said, 'Takeover, bos'n,' didn't you?" he growled23.
[09:11.68]"I've been holding off these apes all day." He lifted the gun in his hand.
[09:18.81]"When you're boss-man," he added,
[09:22.47]"in command "and responsible for the rest you ,
[09:27.75]you sure get to see things different, don't you?"
收听单词发音 |
1
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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2
guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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3
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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4
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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7
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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8
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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9
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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10
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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11
gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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12
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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14
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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15
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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16
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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17
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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19
ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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20
paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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21
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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22
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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