- What happened after the girl set out from the coast in a samll boat one afternoon？
- What did the girl do when the boat struck a rock？
- How many miles did she swim that night？
Nearly a week passed before the girl was able to explain what had hapened to her. One afternoon she set out from the coast in a small boat and was caught in a storm. Towards evening, the boat struck a rock and the girl jumped into the sea. Then she swam to the shore after spending the whole night in the water. During that time she covered a distance of eight miles. Early next morning,she saw a light ahead. She knew she was near the shore bacause the light was high up on the cliffs. On arriving at the shore, the girl struggled up the cliff towards the light she had seen. That was all she remembered. When she woke up a day later, she found herself in hospital.
New words and expressions
darknewss n. 黑暗 shore 海岸
explain v. 解释。 light 灯光
coast 海岸。 ahead adv. 在前面
storm n. 暴风雨 cliff n.峭壁
towards prep. 向，朝；接近 struggle v. 挣扎
rock n. 岩石，礁石 hospital n. 医院
Notes on the text
- set out 固定词组，出发，动身。
- ...was caught。in a storm，遇上了暴风雨。catch此处作“突然遇上”讲。
- During that time she covered a distance of eight miles. 在那段时间里，她游了8英里。 cover作“行过”，“走过”等讲。
- a light ahead，前面的一盏灯。ahead是形容词，此处作定语，放在所修饰的名次的后面。
- On arrving at the shore...,一到岸边...。on + 动名词相当于一个由as soon as 引导的时间状语从句。
- That was all she remembered。她所记得的就是这些。all是句中的表语，she remembered是定语从句，用来修饰all，一引导词that因在从句中作宾语而被省略。
参考译文
几乎过了一个星期，那姑娘才能讲述自己的遭遇。一天下午，她乘小船从海岸出发，遇上了风暴。天将黑时，小船撞在了一块礁石上，姑娘跳进了海里。她在海里游了整整一夜才游到岸边。在那段时间里，她游了8英里。第二天凌晨，她看到前方有灯光，知道自己已经接近岸边了，因为那灯光是在高高的峭壁上。到达岸边后，姑娘朝着她看到的灯光方向挣扎着往峭壁上爬去。她所记得的就是这些。第二天她醒来时，发现自己躺在医院里。
