时间:2018-12-30 作者:英语课 分类:国家地理2007年


英语课
During his days of crime, Darwin Coon was a reckless young man. He robbed five banks in the Midwest and escaped from the Nevada State Penitentiary 1. At Alcatraz, the isolation 2 and boredom 3 worn Coon down.

"This is 127. This is where I've spent four years of my life."
"And it just starts to squeeze you, starts to close in on you. And I guess it's from the fact that you are in such a small area and not allowed to go any further. You, ah, you lose the sense of reality and, er, you wonder whether you are part of the real world."

Each of these convicts hunger to survive, each struggle for ways to beat the odds 4 and beat the time. For Darwin Coon, his felony sentence meant long hours in his cell.

"Er, there really wasn't much to entertain yourself with on Alcatraz. There were very few guys pace in their cell because it was so small. They, that's all they ever did to themselves. They just lay back and, and, and, and look at the ceiling. "

To keep sane 5, Darwin read books from the highly-censored library, painted and played an instrument. He also fought the isolation by interacting with his fellow inmates 6. He even played chess with cell neighbors.

"You have a new chessboard set up. And your opponent would make a move."
"Queen to D4."
"When you caught what he moved, you make the move on the board and then you call your move."

And to communicate with more distant inmates, Darwin discovered some secret survival techniques that inmates kept to themselves. One, use the talking pipe built right in the cell.

"Yeah, Tony, ah? Tonight, it's gonna happen."
"Er, flush your toilet, and then you scoop 7 all the excessive water out, so that you got a clear line, and if he does the same thing upstairs, you have just like a telephone, you know."
"Alright, see you tonight."

But he and all the inmates knew the guards were always listening. To keep their secrets to themselves, Coon and his cell neighbors had another trick- a whistle that told everyone, a guard's on the way.

"Coming Around the Mountain was a, our signal that there was an officer on the tier."


n.感化院;监狱
  • He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
  • While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候,她的父亲死了,家庭就拆散了。
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离
  • The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
  • He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后,生活比较孤寂。
n.厌烦,厌倦,乏味,无聊
  • Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
  • A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别
  • The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
  • Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗?
adj.心智健全的,神志清醒的,明智的,稳健的
  • He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
  • He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )
  • One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.铲子,舀取,独家新闻;v.汲取,舀取,抢先登出
  • In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
  • Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。
学英语单词
abiotrophies
administration-sponsored
allophones
Andamanese
aquiculture in farm pond
ascoli (ascoli piceno)
assertionate
audio-frequency shift modulation
baffleds
barred owlet
betweenhood
biota-biotop system
boraxal
cargo berth
carrier current wave telegraph
central hemiparesis
centrifugal switch
cobalt powder
connectionless data transfer
CSPMR
Cyclobalanopsis delavayi
decastyles
derequisitions
dickism
direct yield
directional coupling
earth tripolite
El Kseïb
electric accumulator (secondary cell)
Entoidin
farewel
fast-front overvoltage
fawnest
felisha
flicker photometer
four address code
fraus omnia vitiat
gaseous discharge tube
Haitian
have half a mind to do something
have the law on
hockles
immunoadsorption
in-hands
inessentially
integrated national network
inverter transformer
italian peninsulas
journal box bolt tie bar
keraphylloceles
line response mode
linear kinematics
llorach
Lobobactrites
lupus discretus
macromolecular resin network
mbalax
meridional convergence
mortises
Northern Soul
otaue (japan)
oxogambirtannine
pediophobia
phenyl alkylsulfonate
PN sequence
principal object point
project configuration management system (pcms)
recessed fixture
rectangular curve
Rupe.) Maxim.
rush-limbaugh
santilite (opal sinter)
satellite-Omega integrated navigation system
segusoes
seinfeld
set coal
similar device
single phase
smokiest
spacing of normally sown seeds
speed-changer governing range
substantial emphysema
superrealist
Tanakh
Tchaikovsky
tepid unconditioned stimuli
the cretaceous
tra
tractor link
trade-deficit
transverse rhumb line
Trollopean
ungrafted
upward current
V-bar
vasomotory
vicia cracca l.
water proofing
welding-shop
winning-block
wood-working machine tool
zitovitch's test