Step 1: Intensive reading.
Try to answer the question below while you’re reading:
Question: What was exceptional about the two men's stay on the desert island?
Vocabulary:
desert island 荒岛
Miami n .迈阿密（美国最南的城市）
unrealistic adj .不真实的
paradise n .天堂，乐土
dinghy n .救生筏，小船
wretched adj .可怜的，艰苦的
Caribbean n .加勒比海
starve v .挨饿
spear gun 捕鱼枪
element n .成分
lobster n .龙虾
opportunity n .机会
tanker n .油轮
coral n .珊瑚
genuinely adv.由衷地
Virgin Islands 维尔京群岛
Robinson Crusoe 鲁滨逊 ·克鲁索（小说《鲁滨逊漂流记》主人公）
Passage:
Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island. We sometimes
imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines. Life there
is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work. The
other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. You
either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never
comes. Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have
had the opportunity to find out.
我们许多人对于荒岛生活有一种不切实际的想法。我们有时想象荒岛是阳光终日
普照的天堂。在那里，生活简单又美好。成熟的水果从树上掉下来，人们根本无
需劳动。另一种想法恰恰相反，认为荒岛生活很可怕，要么饿死，要么像鲁滨逊
那样，天天盼船来，却总不见船影。也许，这两种想象都有可信之处。但很少有
人能有机会去弄个究竟。
Notes:
1 imagine…to be…，作“想像……是……”，“设想……是……”讲。不定式 to be
引起的短语作宾语补足语。
2 quite the opposite，完全相反，截然不同。
3 starve to death，饿死。
Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there
longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to
have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink. They quickly loaded a
small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and cans of beer and rowed for a few miles
across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island. There were hardly any
trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem. The
men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with
them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of
them put it ‘ate like kings’. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both
men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.
最近有两个人在一座珊瑚岛上呆了 5 天，他们真希望在那儿再多呆一些日子。他
们驾着一条严重损坏的小船从维尔京群岛去迈阿密修理。途中，船开始下沉，他
们迅速把食物、火柴、罐装啤酒往一只救生筏上装。然后在加勒比海上划行了几
英里，到了一座珊瑚岛上。岛上几乎没有一棵树，也没有淡水，但这不算什么问
题。他们用橡皮艇蓄积雨水。由于他们随身带了一支捕鱼枪，因此，吃饭不愁。
他们天天捕捉龙虾和鱼，正如其中一位所说，吃得“像国王一样好” 。5 天后，一
条油轮从那儿路过，搭救了他们。这二位不得不离开那个荒岛时，还真的感到遗
憾呢！
Notes:
4 …wished they had stayed there longer.
……还真希望在那里多呆些日子。wish 引起的宾语从句常用虚拟语气。
5 as one of them put it，正如其中一位所说的。
11.2【阅读理解】Life on a desert island
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
Comprehension:
1 What sort of picture have most of us formed about life on desert island? (An
unrealistic picture.)
2 How do we imagine a desert island? (As a sort of paradise.)
3 Does the sun always shine on a desert island? (Yes, it does.)
4 What do we imagine life is like on a desert island? (Simple and good.)
5 What falls from the trees so we never have to work? (Ripe fruit.)
6 What's the other side of the picture? (Quite the opposite.)
7 Why might life be wretched? (Because you either starve to death or wait for a boat
which never comes.)
8 What do few of us have the opportunity to find out? (What life is really like on a
desert island.)
9 What did the two men who had spent five days on a coral island wish? (That they
had stayed there longer.)
10 What was the matter with their boat? (It was badly damaged.)
11 Where were they taking it to have it repaired? (From the Virgin Islands to
Miami.)
12 What happened during the journey? (Their boat began to sink.)
13 Where did they load food, matches and cans of beer? (On to a rubber dinghy.)
14 How did they arrive at a coral island? (They rowed a few miles across the
Caribbean.)
15 Which two conditions on the island were unpromising? (There were no trees and
there was no water.)
16 What did the men do for water? (They collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy.)
17 What had they brought with them that proved useful? (A spear gun.)
18 What did they catch every day? (Lobster and fish.)
19 How did they eat? (‘Like kings’.)
11.3【拓展写作】Life on a desert island
Step 3: Composition
Imagine spending two weeks on an uninhabited desert island. In not more than 200
words, describe what you did there. Use the ideas given below. Do not write more
than three paragraphs.
Title: Shipwrecked.
Introduction: Shipwreck—everybody drowned—clung to a plank—washed up on an
island.
Development: Slept for a long time—woke up—hungry and thirsty—explored
island—uninhabited—found plenty of fruit—freshwater spring—tried to hunt wild
animals—failed to catch anything—spent days swimming, lying in the sun.
Conclusion：Boats on horizon—signaled and shouted—rescued.
Key to composition
The ship went down and everyone was drowned. I was the only one who
managed to jump into the sea. I clung to a plank in the water for several hours till I
was washed up on desert island.
I slept on the beach for very long time — I can't remember how long. When I
woke up, I was hungry and thirsty, so I decided to explore the island. It was
uninhabited, but I found plenty of fruit which had fallen from the trees. I lived on
coconuts and pineapples and there was plenty of freshwater spring. I tried to hunt wild
animals with my bare hands (small pigs and other creatures), but I failed to catch
anything. So I spent my days swimming in the warm clear water and lying in the sun.
One afternoon while I was lying on the beach as usual, I saw a boat on horizon. I
signaled with my white shirt and shouted as loudly as I could. Fortunately, someone
on the boat saw me and I was rescued. Of course, I was pleased to get back to
civilization, but I was very sorry to leave this island paradise.
课外练习：
1 In what way are the pictures we form of life on a desert island unreal?
(a)They fail to present the wretchedness of such situation.
(b)We forget that we would be too weak to work and only imagine the pleasure of
idleness
(c)They are either unduly optimistic or unduly pessimistic.
(d) They lack any truth at all as most of us have never visited one.
2 What was the equipment the men had brought that proved essential to their
survival?
(a)Tools with which they had been going to repair their boat.
(b)Food, matches and tins of beer.
(c) Rainwater, lobster and fish.
(d) spear gun and rubber dinghy.
3 What made the men wish to stay on the desert island?
(a)Discovering how pleasant life can be fending for oneself.
(b)Having seen very few trees and no rainwater on the coral island.
(c)The fact that they were able to eat the same food as kings eat.
(d) Knowing they no longer needed to take their boat to Miami for repair.
4 We sometimes think of a desert island a sort of paradise.
(a)to be
(b)as being
(c)is
(d)be
5 But have had the opportunity to find out.
(a)we few
(b)hardly anybody
(c)little people
(d) not many
6 After a few miles across the Caribbean, they arrived at a small coral
island.
(a)they rowed
(b)rowed
(c)rowing
(d) to row
7 were scarce there and there was no water.
(a)The trees
(b)Trees
(c) Any trees
(d)Trees on the island
8 Both men genuinely regretted .
(a) their leave
(b) to have to leave
(c) having to leave
(d) they must have left
9 A desert island is place.
(a)an unpopular
(b)an uninhabited
(c)a deserted
(d)a barren
10 The other side of the picture is different.
(a)naturally
(b)rather
(c)really
(d) entirely
11 But this was not to be a problem.
(a)demonstrated
(b)thought
(c)shown
(d) found
12 And, as one of them it, they ‘ate like kings’.
(a) expressed
(b)placed
(c)told
(d) said
答案：1c 2d 3a 4b 5d 6c 7b 8c 9b 10d 11d 12a