5, Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunity to find out.
an element of truth: a bit of truth

6, Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer.
Wish 后面接从句时，从句用虚拟语气，表达一种与事实不符的状态（详见难点）

7, They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and tins of beer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island.
load with 把…装载到…上
e.g. The workers are loading the truck with goods.
Load 装，反义词Unload: 卸新概念法师

8, There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem.
hardly any: very little\ few
e.g. Hardly anybody likes him because he is so rude.
e.g. You hardly eat anything, what's wrong?
prove to be=turn out to be

9, They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of them put it 'ate like kings'.
put: to express\state