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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
‘The Seven Voyages of Sinbad,’ part I
    2022-01-04  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

As told in the “One Thousand and One Nights,” on seven voyages through the seas between Africa and south Asia, Sinbad the Sailor enters magical realms, meets monsters and witnesses supernatural wonders. He ends up a rich merchant living in Baghdad.

On his first voyage, Sinbad sets out to recover the inheritance he lost by loose living. The stories are also about how he became a better person. He lands on an island — actually a sleeping whale — and is stranded when the whale dives and Sinbad’s companions escape without him. He washes ashore on another island, and saves a mare belonging to the king of that land when it is attacked by a supernatural horse that lives underwater. He becomes a trusted counselor to the king, and when Sinbad’s ship luckily lands on that very island, with his goods still in it, he exchanges the goods with the king, and sells what he has gained at a great profit.

Sinbad grows restless at home and sets out again on a second voyage. Again left behind by his shipmates, he finds the nest of a giant bird called a roc. Attaching himself to one with his turban, he flies to a valley of snakes big enough to swallow elephants. The valley’s floor is covered with diamonds; Sinbad manages to get a bagful and escape on another roc. Once again he returns to Baghdad a wealthy man.

Again leaving home, Sinbad is captured by a monstrous creature, much like the cyclops, and escapes by blinding him. After further adventures he returns from this third voyage wealthier than before.

The fourth voyage also includes a shipwreck, and Sinbad lives among “savages” that feed the men a plant that robs them of their reason — and then eat them. But Sinbad refuses to eat it, and escapes to another island, where the king marries him to a rich and beautiful woman. To his horror, when she dies he learns that according to the custom of the land, he is to be buried with her! As more couples — one dead, one alive — are dropped into the cave where he is trapped, he kills the living and takes what few rations they have brought with them. He also collects the gold and gems from the corpses. At last he follows a wild beast out of the cave and returns to Baghdad.

We’ll continue Sinbad’s story next time.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. kingdoms, lands

2. allotment of food and water

3. money left by a dead person

4. female horse

5. trip, journey

6. wild people

7. hat made of wrapped cloth

8. left behind

9. trader

10. dead bodies

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