1、CHAPTER ONE ROBINSON’S ADVENTURE AT SEA I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York in English. My father was of good family. He was a merchant from Bremen in Germany. He settled in England and made his fortune in trade, and then he married. My mother’s family name was Robinson. I was bapti
2、sed Robinson Kreutznaer. However, in England we were always called Crusoe, so my friends call me Crusoe. I have two brothers one became a soldier and was killed in a battle against the Spaniards. I do not know what happened to my other brother. My father hoped I would study law, but I wanted to go
3、to the sea. Although my mother and father did not want me go, my desire was so strong that I ignored their wishes. My father was a wise and serious man. He said that if I stayed at home my life would be easy and pleasant. Only desperate men or very fortune men want abroad, he said. I was neither d
4、esperate nor very fortune .Mine was the middle state, and he thought the middle state was the best. The poor had a difficult life, and the rich were hated by the poor, said he. In the middle state a man could be happy .Kings often regretted that they were not born in the middle state, and wise men p
5、rayed to have neither poverty nor wealth. He said the greatest misfortunes in life were suffered by the rich and the poor. Only the man in the middle state can live in peace. He said that moderation, quietness, and good health were the conditions of the middle state. He begged me not to abandon thi
6、s happy condition. He told me that he had begged my brother not to bee a soldier for the same reasons. However, my brother had run away to the army, and now he was dead. He said that God would not bless me if I went to sea, and that I would be sorry I had ignored my father’s advice. During the last
7、 part of his discourse the tears ran down his face, especially when he spoke of my brother. When he said that I would regret my choice, he was so moved that he could say no more. I was sincerely affected by his words and decided not to think of going abroad any more. But alas. In a few days I began
8、 to dream of the sea again. I spoke to my mother. I told her that I still desired to go to the sea and that nothing else would make me happy. I said that I was eighteen years old, too old to begin another profession. I asked her to persuade my father to let me go to sea. This made her very angry. S
9、he said that it would be useless to speak to my father. If I wanted to ruin myself, she said, there was nothing she or my father could do to stop me. However, they would never agree to it. A year later, I ran off to sea. This is how it happened. One day I went to the port of Hull. A friend of mine
10、was going by sea to London in his father’s ship. He asked me to go with him. Since it would cost me nothing, I decide to go, even not telling mother and father. Thus on the first of September 1651 I went on board a ship for the first time. As soon as the ship was at sea, the wind began to blow. I f
11、elt very sick and frightened. I thought that God was punishing me for leaving my father’s house. The storm grew worst, although it was not as bad as many I have seen since. It was not even as bad as the storm I saw just a few days later, but it frightened me then. I thought the sea would swallow us.
12、 I swore to God that, if I lived, I would return to my father’s house and never go to sea again. The next day the sea grew clam and the sun shone. I no longer felt sick or frightened. My friend said, ‘well, Bob, how do you feel? Were you afraid? “It was a terrible storm,'' said I. “Do you call th
13、at a storm? Said he.” That was nothing. Let’s drink some rum and forget about it.” We drank the rum, and I forgot my promise to God. A few days later, there was a really terrible storm. The waves were as high as mountains. I was very frightened, I felt sorry that I had forgotten my promise to God.
14、 The sailors began to cry out that the ship would founder. Fortunately, I did not know what the word “founder” meant. I saw the captain and some others praying to God. At last we were rescued by a boat from another ship. As we escaped, we saw our ship go down. It was only then that I understood the
15、word “founder”. When we reached the shore, the people were very kind to us. They gave us money to return Hull or continue to London, as we pleased. If I had returned home, I would have been happy. My father, like the father in Christ’s story of the prodigal son, would have weled me. But I was fooli
16、sh, and I did not go home. The captain, who was my father’s friend, said to me, ‘Young man, you should never go to sea again’. “Why, sir?” said I.” Will you never go to sea again?” “That is different,” said the captain. ”The sea is my profession. It is mu duty to go to sea, but you made this voya
17、ge to see if you liked it. God has shown you that the sea is not for you, perhaps that is why my ship foundered. You are like Jonah of the Bible story. I am sorry I ever allowed you on my ship.” I went to London by land. How unwise young people are!They are not afraid to sin, but they are afraid to
18、 seem foolish!I signed up for voyage to Africa. I should have signed up as a sailor. I could have learned the sailor’s profession. In time, I might even have bee a captain, however, I always made the worst choice, and I chose to go sea as a gentleman. Therefore I had no duties on the ship, and I hav
19、e no chance of learning to be a sailor. I met the captain of a ship that had been on the coast of Africa. He had made good profits from the voyage and was eager to go again. He asked me to go with him as his panion. He said I need not pay for the voyage. If I had any money, he said, he would show m
20、e how to make a profit in trade. I accepted the offer, and bee friend with the captain, who was a good and honest man. Following the captain’s advice, I spent about forty pounds on things of little value. These I could trade for gold on the coast of Africa. The voyage was a great success for me. I
21、ndeed, it was my only successful voyage. My friend the captain taught me the skills of both a sailor and a merchant. I brought home five pounds nine ounce of gold, which I sold in London for nearly three hundred pounds. Soon after out return to English, my friend died, I decided to do the same voya
22、ge again and signed up on the some ship with its new captain. As we approached the coast of Africa. We were pursued by a Turkish ship. After a short battle, the Turkish ship was victorious, and we were all taken as prisoners to the port of Sallee. The captain of Turkish ship made me his slave. I wa
23、s horrified by this surprising change from merchant to miserable slave. I remember my father’s prophesy that I would be miserable, and I realized that it had indeed been fulfilled. After about two years of slavery, I saw my chance of escape. One day, my master sent me out fishing with his brother I
24、smael and a black slave boy called Xury. The fishing boat was full of food, guns and fresh water. While we were fishing, I pushed Ismael into the sea. He cried for help. I pointed a gun at him and said,’ I will not hurt you, if you do as I say. You swim well enough to reach the shore. Go, swim to th
25、e shore and let us alone. If you not, I will shoot you in the head, for I want my liberty.’ Ismeal swam away from the ship, and I turned to the slave boy. ‘Xury ' said I, ‘If you will be faithful to me, I will make you a great man. If not, I will throw you into the sea too'. The boy smiled and pro
26、mised to be faithful to me. We sailed along the coast of Africa, close to the shore. Sometimes we heard lions and other wild beasts. We needed fresh water, but we were afraid to go ashore, for fear of wild breasts and savages. Xury said that he would go ashore to get water, and I should wait in the
27、 boat. ‘Why should you go, Xury?' I asked.’ why should I not go, and you wait in the boat?’ Xury replied in words that made me love him ever after: ‘If wild men e, they will eat me, and you will escape.’ ‘Well, Xury,’ I said, ‘we will both go. If wild men e we will kill them, and they will eat n
28、either of us.’ We went ashore and got fresh water. As we were returning to the boat, we saw a lion on the beach, for I thought it might be of some value. We sailed along the coast for ten days. I hoped that we would meet a European trading ship and be saved, but we did not meet one. Sometimes we sa
29、w people on the shore. Their skin was black, and they were naked. Once I thought of going ashore to meet them, but Xury advised against it. I made signs to them that we needed food. They brought meat and grain and left it on the beach for us. I made signs to thank them but had nothing to give them i
30、n payment. However, we soon had the chance to do them a great service. Just as we reached our boat, a leopard came running down from the mountain towards the beach. I shot it dead. The Negroes were amazed and terrified by the sound of my gun. When they saw that the leopard was dead, they approached
31、 him. They wished to eat the fresh of this animal. I made signs to tell them that they could have him, and they began cutting him up. They cut off the skin and gave it to me. Leaving my friendly Negroes, I sailed on for eleven days. As we approached Cape Verde, Xury cried out, ‘master! A ship!’ I s
32、aw that it was a Portuguese ship. I sailed towards it, and in three hours I reached it. Then men on the ship asked me who I was. When I told them my story, they were very kind. They took me on board their ship with all my property from the boat. I offered all my property to the captain, to thank hi
33、m for saving me, but he would not take it. He said they were sailing to Brazil. He said that my property would be returned to me when we arrived. He offered to buy my boat from me. He paid me eighty pieces of eight for it. He also offered me sixty pieces of eight for my boy Xury. I did not want to s
34、ell the poor boy’s liberty because he had helped me to escape from slavery, then the captain offered to set Xury free in ten years if he became a Christian. Xury said he was willing to go with him, so I let the captain have him. About 22 days later we landed in All Saints’ Bay in Brazil, I will nev
35、er forget the captain’s kindness. He brought a lot of my property from the boat. I left the ship with two hundred and twenty of eight. In Brazil I saw how well the sugar planters lived. They grew rich quickly. I decided to settle in Brazil and became a sugar planter. The first two year was difficu
36、lt, but then my plantation grew prosperous. I was sorry that I had sold my boy Xury, for I needed help. I was not happy in my new life. This was the middle state of which my father had spoken. I often said to myself, ‘I could have done this at home, instead of ing five thousand miles to do it among
37、strangers and savages. I thought I was like a man stranded alone upon an island. Never pare your situation to a worse one! God may place you in the worse situation, so that you long for your old life! I say, God was just to leave me on an island where I really was alone! If I had been content to st
38、ay as I was, I would have been rich and happy. By leaving me on an island, God made me understand this. The captain of the Portuguese ship advised me to send for some money. I had left my money with friend in London. My friend sent me the money in the form of goods. When they arrived, I thought t
39、hat my fortune was made. I sold the goods at a great profit for about four hundred pounds. As soon as I got this money, I brought myself a Negro slave. After four years, I had learned the language and made some friends among my fellow planters. I told them of the trade in Negro slaves on the coast,
40、 ‘If a merchant takes knives, hatchets, and other things of little value.’ I said, ‘he can easily trade them for gold and Negro slaves.’ They listened very attentively, especially to the part about buying slaves. There were very few slaves in Brazil at the time, and they cost a lot of money. Three
41、planters came to me next morning. They said they planned to buy a ship and sail to the African coast to buy slaves. They wanted to make one voyage only, then share the slaves among their plantations. They asked me if I would go on this voyage, and they promised that I would have a share of slaves wi
42、thout spending any money. I agreed to go. I went aboard the ship on the first of September 1659, exactly eight years after my first voyage from Hull. We sailed up the coast to Cape St Augustine, and then we lost sight of land. Twelve days later, a hurricane hit our ship. For twelve days the winds b
43、lew strongly. Every day I expected the sea to swallow us. On the twelfth day, the weather was a little calmer. The ship was filling with water, so I advised the captain to sail for Barbados. As we sailed another storm hit us. The wind blew us far away from the trading routes. If we came to land, we
44、 would probably be eaten by savages. One morning, a sailor cried out, ‘land!’ we ran out to look, but at that moment the ship struck sand. The waves broke over the ship, and we thought we would all die. We could not move the ship off the sand. We were sure that the ship would soon break into piece
45、s. Therefore, we climbed into a boat and left the ship. We rowed through that wild water towards the land, knowing that we were rowing towards our greatest danger. Then a great wave came and the boat turned over. Though I was a good swimmer, I could not get my breath in this stormy sea. A wave carr
46、ied me along towards the shore. It left me on the sand, half-drowned. I stood up and walked fast towards the beach. I knew another wave would soon break over me. The sea rose behind me like a mountain. I held my breath, and the wave carried me closer to the shore. I tried to stand up and get my brea
47、th again but another wave broke over me. I was carried with great force and speed towards the shore. Then my head shot above the water again, then that wave too began to withdraw. I felt the earth under my feet. I ran towards the shore, but twice more the waves came over me. The last time nearly ki
48、lled me. The sea threw me hard against a rock. I held on to the rock as the next wave broke over me. When the wave withdraw, I ran to the beach, climbed over the rocks, and lay down on the grass. Chapter two Looked up and thanked God for saving my life. A short time before there had seemed to be
49、 no hope. It is impossible to describe the joy of someone who has just escaped death. I alone had survived; all my panions were dead. When I saw how far away the ship was, I was amazed that I had been able to get to shore. I then began to look around me, to see what kind of a place I was in. My joy
50、 left me. I was wet, I had no other clothes, and I had nothing to eat or drink. Surely I would die of starvation or be eaten by wild animals. I had no gun with which to hunt for food or defend myself. For a while I ran around, trembling and crying. Night came. I walked around, looking for fresh wate
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