What was exceptional about the two men's stay on the desert island?

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 sunalways shines. Life there is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the treesand 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 likeRobinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes. Perhaps there is anelement of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunityto find out.

Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they hadstayed there longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the VirginIslands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began tosink. They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and cans ofbeer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tinycoral 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 therubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty toeat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of them put it 'atelike kings'. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men weregenuinely sorry that they had to leave.

New words and expressions 生词与短语

desert island

荒岛

unrealistic

adj. 不真实

paradise

n. 天堂，乐士

wretched

adj. 可怜的，艰苦的

starve

v. 挨饿

element

n. 成分

opportunity

n. 机会

coral

n. 珊瑚

Virgin Islands

维尔京群岛

Miami

n. 迈阿密(美国最南的城市)

dinghy

n. 救生筏，小船

Caribbean

n. 加勒比海

spear gun

捕鱼枪

lobster

n. 龙虾

tanker

n. 油轮新概念作文

genuinely

adv. 由衷地

Robinson Crusoe

鲁滨孙.克鲁索(小说《鲁滨孙漂流记》主人公)

本文参考译文

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，要么像鲁滨孙那样，天天盼船来，却总没见船影。也许，这两种都像都有可信之处。但很少有人能有机会去弄个究竟。

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到迈阿密修理。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。岛上几乎没有一颗树，也没有淡水，但这不算什么问题。他们用像皮艇蓄积雨水。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!

(兼职编辑：张博)