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Grade 7 Up-Defoe's classic novel of shipwreck and survival, now nearly 300 years old, is abridged competently in this recording. The flavor of the 18th century language is retained, but the plot moves along at a pace more appealing to 21st century ears. The reader, Martin Shaw, has a pleasant voice, but unfortunately tends to trail off at the ends of sentences, losing whole words. As with all abridgements, large sections of the story and entire characters are omitted, but since most of the book tells of Crusoe's solitary sojourn on the island, this is not a major problem. This version is no substitute for the original, but it would be a supplemental purchase in libraries where abridgements are popular. 内容简介
This classic story of a shipwrecked mariner on a deserted island is perhaps the greatest adventure in all of English literature. Fleeing from pirates, Robinson Crusoe is swept ashore in a storm possessing only a knife, a box of tobacco, a pipe-and the will to survive. His is the saga of a man alone: a man who overcomes self-pity and despair to reconstruct his life; who painstakingly teaches himself how to fashion a pot, bake bread, build a canoe; and who, after twenty-four agonizing years of solitude, discovers a human footprint in the sand... Consistently popular since its first publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe's story of human endurance in an exotic, faraway land exerts a timeless appeal. The first important English novel, Robinson Crusoe has taken its rightful place among the great myths of Western civilization. 作者简介
Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe in London in 1660. It was perhaps, ineveitable that Defoe, an outspoken man, would become a political journalist. As a Puritan he believed God had given him a mission to print the truth, that is, to proselytize on religion and politics, and in fact, he became a prolific pamphleteer satirizing the hypocrisies of both Church and State. Defoe admired William III, and his poem The True-Born Englishman (1701) won him the King's friendship. But an ill-timed satire on High Church extremists, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, published during Queen Anne's reign, resulted in his being pilloried and imprisoned for seditious libel in 1703.
At fifty-nine Defoe turned to fiction, completing The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719), partly based on the saga of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor; Moll Flanders (1722); Colonel Jack (1722); A Journal of the Plague Years (1722); and Roxana or the Fortunate Mistress (1724). 精彩书摘
I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull: He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd me.
I had two elder Brothers, one of which was Lieutenant Collonel to an English Regiment of Foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Coll. Lockhart, and was killed at the Battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards: What became of my second Brother I never knew any more than my Father or Mother did know what was become of me.
Being the third Son of the Family, and not bred to any Trade, my Head began to be fill'd very early with rambling Thoughts: My Father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent Share of Learning, as far as House-Education, and a Country Free-School generally goes, and design'd me for the Law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to Sea, and my Inclination to this led me so strongly against the Will, nay the Commands of my Father, and against all the Entreaties and Perswasions of my Mother and other Friends, that there seem'd to be something fatal in that Propension of Nature tending directly to the Life of Misery which was to be-fal me.
My Father, a wise and grave Man, gave me serious and excellent Counsel against what he foresaw was my Design. He call'd me one Morning into his Chamber, where he was confined by the Gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this Subject: He ask'd me what Reasons more than a meer wandring Inclination I had for leaving my Father's House and my native Country, where I might be well introduced, and had a Prospect of raising my Fortunes by Application and Industry, with a Life of Ease and Pleasure. He told me it was for Men of desperate Fortunes on one Hand, or of aspiring, superior Fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon Adventures, to rise by Enterprize, and make themselves famous in Undertakings of a Nature out of the common Road; that these things were all either too far above me, or too far below me; that mine was the middle State, or what might be called the upper Station of Low Life, which he had found by long Experience was the best State in the World, the most suited to human Happiness, not exposed to the Miseries and Hardships, the Labour and Sufferings of the mechanick Part of Mankind, and not embarass'd with the Pride, Luxury, Ambition and Envy of the upper Part of Mankind. He told me, I might judge of the Happiness of this State, by this one thing, viz. That this was the State of Life which all other People envied, that Kings have frequently lamented the miserable Consequences of being born to great things, and wish'd they had been placed in the Middle of the two Extremes, between the Mean and the Great; that the wise Man gave his Testimony to this as the just Standard of true Felicity, when he prayed to have neither Poverty or Riches.
He bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the Calamities of Life were shared among the upper and lower Part of Mankind; but that the middle Station had the fewest Disasters, and was not expos'd to so many Vicissitudes as the higher or lower Part of Mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many Distempers and Uneasinesses either of Body or Mind, as those were who, by vi-cious Living, Luxury and Extravagancies on one Hand, or by hard Labour, Want of Necessaries, and mean or insufficient Diet on the other Hand, bring Distempers upon themselves by the natural Consequences of their Way of Living; That the middle Station of Life was calculated for all kind of Vertues and all kinds of Enjoyments; that Peace and Plenty were the Hand-maids of a middle Fortune; that Temperance, Moderation, Quietness, Health, Society, all agreeable Diversions, and all desirable Pleasures, were the Blessings attending the middle Station of Life; that this Way Men went silently and smoothly thro' the World, and comfortably out of it, not embarass'd with the Labours of the Hands or of the Head, not sold to the Life of Slavery for daily Bread, or harrast with perplex'd Circumstances, which rob the Soul of Peace, and the Body of Rest; not enrag'd with the Passion of Envy, or secret burning Lust of Ambition for great things; but in easy Circumstances sliding gently thro the World, and sensibly tasting the Sweets of living, without the bitter, feeling that they are happy, and learning by every Day's Experience to know it more sensibly.
After this, he press'd me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young Man, not to precipitate my self into Miseries which Nature and the Station of Life I was born in, seem'd to have provided against; that I was under no Necessity of seeking my Bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the Station of Life which he had been just recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the World, it must be my meer Fate or Fault that must hinder it, and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharg'd his Duty in warning me against Measures which he knew would be to my Hurt: In a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at Home as he directed, so he would not have so much Hand in my Misfortunes, as to give me any Encouragement to go away: And to close all, he told me I had my elder Brother for an Example, to whom he had used the same earnest Perswasions to keep him from going into the Low Country Wars, but could not prevail, his young Desires prompting him to run into the Army where he was kill'd; and tho' he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish Step, God would not bless me, and I would have Leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his Counsel when there might be none to assist in my Recovery.
I observed in this last Part of his Discourse, which was truly Prophetick, tho' I suppose my Father did not know it to be so himself; I say, I observed the Tears run down his Face very plentifully, and especially when he spoke of my Brother who was kill'd; and that when he spoke of my having Leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so mov'd, that he broke off the Discourse, and told me, his Heart was so full he could say no more to me.
I was sincerely affected with this Discourse, as indeed who could be otherwise; and I resolv'd not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my Father's Desire. But alas! a few Days wore it all off; and in short, to prevent any of my Father's farther Importunities, in a few Weeks after, I resolv'd to run quite away from him. However, I did not act so hastily neither as my first Heat of Resolution prompted, but I took my Mother, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter than ordinary, and told her, that my Thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the World, that I should never settle to any thing with Resolution enough to go through with it, and my Father had better give me his Consent than force me to go without it; that I was now Eighteen Years old, which was too late to go Apprentice to a Trade, or Clerk to an Attorney; that I was sure if I did, I should never serve out my time, and I should certainly run away from my Master before my Time was out, and go to Sea; and if she would speak to my Father to let me go but one Voyage abroad, if I came home again and did not like it, I would go no more, and I would promise by a double Diligence to recover that Time I had lost.
探寻失落的文明与人类的韧性:《失落的航海日志》 一本深入人心的史诗,一幅描绘人类精神如何超越绝境的恢宏画卷。 著者:亚历山大·格雷厄姆(Alexander Graham) 首次出版年份:1888年 装帧:精装 --- 导言:远航的召唤与沉寂的深渊 《失落的航海日志》并非一个关于财富或王权的叙事,它是一则关于“存在”本身的深刻探讨。本书首次公之于世,即以其冷峻而又充满诗意的笔触,震撼了维多利亚时代晚期沉溺于工业繁荣的读者。亚历山大·格雷厄姆,这位终生以海洋为伴的退役海军测绘师,以他独特的视角,记录了一场远超任何预期的灾难,以及随之而来的对人性最深层次的拷问。 故事的开端,定格在1875年,一艘名为“信天翁号”(The Albatross)的巨型三桅帆船,满载着为新殖民地准备的物资和技术设备,从英国朴茨茅斯启航。他们的目标是绘制南太平洋上一系列尚未被精确测量的珊瑚礁群,并建立一个临时的天文观测站。船上汇聚了当时最顶尖的科学家、经验丰富的船员,以及几位怀揣着对未知世界憧憬的年轻学者。这艘船,象征着当时人类对知识的渴望和对技术的自信。 然而,命运的剧本在接近赤道的某个无名海域被彻底改写。格雷厄姆的日志以一种近乎冷静的科学家的口吻,描绘了那场突如其来的、无法预测的“黑水”风暴——一种只在古老航海传说中提及的、气压骤降引发的极端天气现象。不到半小时,“信天翁号”便被彻底撕裂,船上所有人都被抛入茫茫大海。 第一部:遗忘之地的觉醒 格雷厄姆是唯一的幸存者。他奇迹般地抓住了船上一个装载着精密导航仪器的橡木箱,随波逐流,最终漂流到一个被厚重云雾常年笼罩的火山岛链边缘。这个地方,在任何已知的海图上都没有标记,它仿佛是被时间遗忘的角落。 本书的第一部分,细致入微地描绘了格雷厄姆从极度的生理创伤和精神休克中恢复过来的过程。他没有像许多幸存者那样,沉溺于对逝去同伴的哀悼或对命运的诅咒。相反,他展现出一种令人惊异的实用主义精神。他的背景——测绘师和工程师——成为了他在荒野中生存下来的关键。 格雷厄姆没有急于寻找淡水或搭建住所,他首先做的,是清点和评估他从残骸中抢救出来的物品:一个损坏的六分仪、几卷防水的绘图纸、一支几乎用尽的墨水瓶、一本破损的植物学图鉴,以及一个装有火石和少量黄铜碎片的工具箱。 他将这些物品视为“文明的微小残骸”,并制定了一套严格的生存法则,这套法则完全基于逻辑和观察,而非情感。他没有幻想救援,而是将“建立一个可持续的临时定居点”定为首要目标。这种对秩序的执着,构成了本书早期章节中最引人入胜的部分。他用帆布和漂浮木搭建了一个能抵御季风的棚屋,利用火山岩的特性搭建了简易的蒸馏器来收集饮用水。 第二部:生态的迷宫与自然的教诲 随着时间的推移,格雷厄姆开始深入探索这个岛屿。他很快发现,这片土地并非一片死寂的荒芜。相反,它是一个生物多样性极高、却又极其危险的生态系统。 他将岛上发现的动植物进行了详尽的记录,这部分内容占据了全书近三分之一的篇幅,其专业程度足以媲美当时的皇家学会报告。他发现了一种独特的、具有发光特性的苔藓,以及一种体型庞大的、但性情温顺的巨型陆龟。他对这些物种的分类和行为模式的记录,精准得令人咋舌,显示出他强大的科学素养。 然而,生存的挑战并未停止。岛上存在着一种被称为“红影”的掠食者——一种类似大型猫科动物,但皮毛颜色异常深沉的生物。格雷厄姆必须不断地升级他的防御工事,学习如何利用当地的植物制作麻醉剂或陷阱。 本书的哲学深度在于,格雷厄姆与自然的关系,并非简单的“征服”或“逃避”。他学会了“共存”。他意识到,他的知识和技术,在这个原始环境中,必须被重新校准。他不再是文明的代表,而只是生态链中的一个环节。他开始尊重岛上的季节循环、潮汐规律,甚至开始模仿当地某些鸟类的求偶舞蹈,以便在不惊扰它们的前提下,获取它们的巢蛋。 第三部:时间、记忆与孤独的形而上学 在被困的第三年,当物质上的生存已基本稳定后,格雷厄姆的内心世界开始显现出更深层次的危机——绝对的孤独。 《失落的航海日志》在这里转向了对时间感和身份认同的深刻反思。格雷厄姆保留了精确的日期记录,试图用这种方式锚定自己与外界文明世界的联系。然而,日复一日重复的日出日落,使得时间的概念变得模糊而扁平。他开始与自己对话,用英语、法语、拉丁语,甚至是他在船上听到的水手歌谣的片段,来对抗寂静。 他将自己从“幸存者”的角色,逐渐转变为“记录者”。他开始利用打磨过的火山岩片作为书写介质,试图将他所有的观察、感受和对过往生活的追忆,刻录下来。这段自我对话揭示了人类精神的韧性:当外部的社会结构崩塌时,人类如何依靠内在的叙事来维持“自我”的存在。 他回忆起欧洲的喧嚣、伦敦的雾气、书本的油墨味,这些记忆不再是怀旧的感伤,而是一种用来对比当下环境的参照系。他得出的结论是:人类对意义的追求,远比对物质的依赖更为根本。 尾声:归来与遗忘 在被困的第七年,一个偶然的契机——一次海上漂流上来的废弃捕鲸船残骸,为格雷厄姆带来了返回文明世界的可能。 他没有立刻离开。在最后几周里,他进行了他一生中最重要的一项工作:系统地销毁或隐藏了所有可能引起后世探险家过度干预的证据。他不愿意让这个“遗忘之地”被现代文明的贪婪所侵蚀。他将自己所有的科学笔记、植物图谱,以及对岛上生态系统的详尽描述,小心翼翼地封装在一个防水的金属容器中,沉入岛屿北侧一个隐蔽的海蚀洞穴。 当他最终被一艘路过的商船发现时,格雷厄姆已经几乎认不出镜子里的自己。他带着被灼伤的皮肤、粗糙的双手和深邃的眼神回到了伦敦。 然而,文明社会接纳了他,却无法真正理解他。他的科学发现被视为异想天开,他的哲学思考被归类为“热带的谵妄”。当他试图描述他所建立的那个逻辑自洽的微观世界时,人们只看到了一个衣衫褴褛、讲述着荒谬故事的迷失者。 《失落的航海日志》最终的价值,不在于它是一部冒险故事,而在于它是一份人类如何在没有社会、没有期待、没有既定规则的情况下,重新构建自我存在的宣言。它迫使读者审视自己所依赖的文明结构,并思考:在去除一切外在标签之后,我们究竟是谁?这本书,是关于寻找“家园”的终极寓言——那个家园,也许只存在于我们最坚韧的内心深处。