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Reflections on Captain Grant's Children

I finally finished reading the book Captain Grant's Children today.

Children of Captain Grant/[France] jules verne, edited by Wen Bin/Tongliao: Inner Mongolia Children's Publishing House, 2004, 4 classic series of world literary masterpieces.

Synopsis of story:

Duncan, the new ship of Sir Gillina Sail, a Scottish nobleman, caught a shark in the trial. The sailors found a drift bottle in the shark's stomach, and the letters in the bottle were blurred by seawater. According to the remaining handwriting, it can be inferred that this is a distress letter sent by a captain named Grant two years ago. He is trapped somewhere at 37 degrees south latitude. Sir grina Van turned to the British Navy to rescue Captain Grant, but failed. At the request of Captain Grant's children Mary and Andrew robl, they decided to drive their own Duncan to find it. In addition to Mary and Andrew robl, they were accompanied by Grenavan's wife Helen, his good friend Colonel Mike Nabbes, and the French geographer Baganel who mistakenly boarded the Duncan due to carelessness. They searched all the lands at 37 degrees south latitude: Chile, Argentina, inland Australia and New Zealand in South America. There are dangers all the way, but when climbing the alpine glacier, I suddenly encountered an earthquake, crossed the grassland and suffered from drought and flood, and the wild animals on the land were killed by the traitor. They were almost killed by the native cannibals, but they were finally rescued when they were desperate, and finally found Captain Grant on a desert island and successfully returned to Scotland.

This is a novel about Scottish national spirit, but the author is French. However, a French geographer in the novel, Baganel, is described as funny: at first, he got on the Duncan by mistake because of taking the wrong boat, and later he went to visit Captain Grant together, thus launching a special "adventure". Along the way, I still made a careless mistake, preparing to learn Spanish but learning Portuguese; He reinterpreted the address information in the drift bottle again and again "without a doubt", only to find that he forgot to explain the name of another desert island in his native French. Even when I wrote the request letter, I wrote the wrong address. Australia spelled New Zealand, but because of this mistake, all the people were saved. However, the author also played a big joke on him. He was stabbed all over his body from his feet to his shoulders when he was captured by the aborigines in New Zealand, but giving him a beautiful and rich wife was also a reward for his great contribution to the expedition.

The novel is called "Captain Grant's Children", but not only Mary, the daughter of Captain Grant, and Andrew robl, his son, are the protagonists, but even Sir grina Van is not the protagonist of the novel. Captain Grant's shipwreck stems from his ambition as a Scottish son and daughter: to find an immigrant area completely belonging to Scotland for his dear motherland and let it enjoy independence and happiness that it can't enjoy in Europe. At the beginning of the novel, it describes Sir Grena Van's "Scottish complex" as a scotsman and the contradiction between Scotland and England. Therefore, the "children of Captain Grant" mentioned in the novel should refer to all Scots who support and inherit Grant's "Scottish spirit".

The novel does seem a bit laborious, so at first I thought my 10-year-old son, who just entered the fourth grade of primary school, couldn't understand it. The novel is about sailing, so it needs basic geographical knowledge to sort out the clues of story development. Moreover, there are large sections of maritime exploration history in the novel, all of which are told by geographers, which makes the story very complicated and reduces readability. In the process of their "exploration", geographers also explained a lot of geographical knowledge, meteorological knowledge, animal and plant knowledge, local customs, social evolution and so on. This knowledge greatly enriches the reader's encyclopedic knowledge. Some sentences are beautifully described, but they also add too much space, making the ups and downs of the story less compact. However, it always feels good to read the whole book. Especially the "dramatic" ending!

This novel is one of Verne's famous trilogy (Captain Grant's Children, Two Wan Li under the Sea, Mysterious Island). I haven't read the other two books. However, I watched the movie around the world in 80 days starring Jackie Chan on TV and found it very interesting. Verne's books in the school library are also borrowed by students from time to time. So I decided to read a book long ago. This time, it can be regarded as "solving a little trouble", hehe. In addition, I have read several French novels recently, including The Story of a Wanderer and The Tempest, so I know a little more about the French nation. When I was reading this novel, I was deeply touched by the geographer Baganel's ridicule of the British Empire's overseas colonial policy of "completely eliminating change". The novel describes the history from 1864 to 1865, and reminds me of the modern history of China with the Opium War of 1840 as the dividing line. What are the similarities and differences between the Chinese nation at that time and the cannibal aborigines in New Zealand described in the novel?

Novel development clues:

1May 30, 862, callao, Peru, the three-masted Britannia, Captain Harry Grant;

1862 On June 27th, the Britannia was wrecked on Maria Terca Island in the South Pacific. Eight days later, she threw a drift bottle for help.

On July 26th, 1864, trial of Duncan, Clyde Bay, the sea surface in the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland, drifting bottles;

On August 25th, 1864, at 3: 00 a.m., the Duncan set out in Glasgow Harbor, carrying Sir Glena Sailor and Mrs. Helen, Mary Grant and Robert Grant, Major Mike Nabbes, and all the crew: Captain Meng Le, Chief Mate Tom Austin, purser Mr. and Mrs. Aubinne, and all the sailors; Suddenly appeared an "uninvited guest", French geographer Baganel;

On August 30th, I saw the Madeira Islands;

On September 3, Duncan sailed between Cape Verde Islands;

On September 7, a north wind sent the Duncan across the equator and into the southern hemisphere;

On September 15, the Duncan crossed the winter solstice line, and the bow turned to the famous strait of magellan entrance;

On September 25th, Duncan sailed to the same latitude as strait of magellan;

The correct length of the strait is only 700 kilometers, and it is all deep water. The ship with the largest tonnage can sail. The seabed is flat, there are many freshwater stations, many inland rivers, rich in fish, and hunting products are everywhere in the forest. Safe and convenient berthing stations abound. It takes 36 hours to sail in the Strait.

Sailing around the Brunswick Peninsula; Through the mouth of St. Nicholas Bay; Bypass Cape Frood; Bypass Paulard's angle;

Eight days later, we sailed into Tal Cabano Bay. And finally docked at the port of Tal Cabano. At this time, it has left the foggy sea in Clyde Bay for 42 days. 65438+1October 7th.

10 June 14, Duncan cruised between Cape Corea and Cape San Antonio; Sir Glina Sail, Colonel Mike Nabbes, Bhagat Nell, Andrew Young, and three seamen's first mate Tom Oston, seamen Wilson and Muladi, a group of seven people,

Estimated route: First, it starts from one end of the 37-filling line between Cape Lu Mei and Caneiro Bay on the Chilean coast, passes through the capital of Arro Gagna, then passes through the high and low rocks by the path south of Andu Valley volcano, then slides down the hillside extending in this area, crosses the Neiwukang River and the Colorado River, reaches the Dingpa grassland, passes through the salt lake, the Guamini River and the Tabakan Mountain (with a small border with Buenos Aires), crosses the border and climbs the Tanqiu.

In the high and low rocks of Mount Andas, the earthquake caused the young Andrew to disappear briefly. Vultures arrested him, and he was rescued by the local indigenous Batagona "Takafu".

10 year1October 22nd, Tacaf officially became the guide for this group of passengers. Out of the high and low rocks, into the grassland.

10 year1On the evening of October 26th, I arrived in Colorado River for the night.

10 year1On the evening of October 28th, the horses rested by the lake of Lan Kun, a big lake.

10 year129 October, it began to travel in the "Jupa District" of Argentina and began to suffer from drought. The salt lake has dried up. Then Sir Grina and young Andrew robl first went to the Guamini River to find water with Tacaf. Meet a wolf by the river at night. Andrew robl rode Tacaf's BMW alone, took the wolves, saved everyone and joined another team.

165438+1On the evening of October 3, we stopped at the end of the Palpa area, at the border of Buenos Aires province. The next morning, I crossed the dividing line between the plains and grasslands of Argentina.

165438+1October 6th, arrived at "Independence Fort" in Tandir village. At this time, the original idea of "clues" was interrupted.

On the 240-kilometer road from Fort Independence to the Atlantic Ocean, it suffered a terrible flood and lived in an "Omby" tree. This tree is about 30 meters high, and its shade covers about 120 square kilometers. In the storm, lightning hit the tree and the tree caught fire. There were crocodiles in the flood below, and then the hurricane uprooted the whole tree and went down the river. So lucky to "land" and be rescued.

165438+1October 12, reaching the Atlantic coast. 13 meet Duncan. Say goodbye to takaf.

So the journey across South America in a straight line ended.

Re-enter the journey Starting from Cape Corinth, bypassing Torrilis, exploring the island of the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Amsterdam Island on February 6, 65438, and continuing to sail eastward. /kloc-in the early morning of 0/4, it began to encounter a storm at sea. Thanks to the resourcefulness and decisiveness of Captain Meng Le, it was lucky to escape. 65438+Arrived at Cape Bainu on February 20th. On the island, I met Elton, the "shipwrecked crew" on the Britannia, on a farm. Then, under the guidance of Elton, he crossed the 37-degree parallel continent of Australia. Along the way, the local customs of the Australian mainland are slowly presented to readers: the geographical knowledge of Australian aborigines and children, the chaotic and miserable life of immigrants in the golden land, the strange life of aborigines and the tragic fate of aborigines women, the hospitality of two young people who sit on the ground, and so on. Who knows this Elton is a gangster who wants to take the Duncan as a pirate ship? This group of passengers, including Sir Glena Sail, his wife Helen, Mary and his younger brother Andrew robl, Colonel mcnab, geographer Bhagatnell, Captain Meng Le and three sailors, were taken to a swamp by Elton, in front of which was the swift Weihe River in Si Nuo. Cattle and horses were slowly poisoned by Elton all the way. At this time, the ox cart fell into the swamp again and people could not cross the river. Even Sir Elton was injured by exposing his mask. It's really hard to meet and dangerous. At this time (65438+1October 14), the jazz authorized bhagat Neil to write a distress letter to Duncan and change the rendezvous point. But this letter was taken away by the bandit leader.

When the time reaches186565438+1October 2 1, the river is successfully crossed when the water level begins to drop. Next, they walked carefully for five days to Deleget City, and then took the mail train to Tuff Bay, which they thought was the rendezvous point agreed in the distress letter. But at this moment, the Duncan sailed to another place specified in the distress letter. Sir Grina, whose whereabouts are unknown, is worried that the Duncan has become a pirate ship.

At this time, the group must make a plan to return to Europe. They rented a ship "mcquarrie" bound for Auckland, the capital of New Zealand's North Island, and prepared to take the ship of Peninsula Mail Company back to Europe. 65438+1sailing on October 27th. Who knows that the ship was caught in a storm when it approached the coast of New Zealand, ran aground on an uninhabited beach and was captured by local aborigines. From this, I learned about the "customs and habits" of New Zealand aborigines and was almost killed as a martyr. Thanks to the young and witty Robel and the calm and sophisticated Baganel, he was able to escape. After experiencing some special landforms in New Zealand, I finally fled to the seaside, but I met the situation of "there are wolves in front and tigers behind". At the critical moment, they were lucky enough to board a boat and run for their lives to the sea, but the canoe of the indigenous people behind them chased them at a faster speed. At this time, they were ecstatic to see a big ship ahead, but it was "Duncan who thought it was a pirate ship." Just when Captain Meng Le decided to cross the rubicon, he found that Duncan was still their Duncan. The rogue leader "Sailor Elton" was detained on the ship by the first mate Austin. In order to exile him to an uninhabited desert island, he happened to find Captain Grant on the desert island. That was March 8.

A happy ending.

Returning to China, March 18, I saw the American coast. The next day, she anchored in Valo Bay, Talka. At this time, it lasted for five months, and Duncan strictly followed the 37-degree south latitude line and circled the earth once.

On May 9th, 50 days after leaving Valo Bay, Talka, I returned to Sir Malcolm's residence.