Part of the draw of living on the island was that “time did not matter—sometimes I would lose track of the year,” he said. “It was so magical, millions of birds, turtles. When I’d go out with the 16)dinghy, 17)manta ray would escort me, dolphins.” Still, island life took its toll. “I got attacked by loneliness,” said Mr. Lextrait, who came to depend on the company of his German shepherd mix. His infrequent visitors would ask things like “What are you going to do if a coconut falls on your head?”—given that the nearest doctor was hundreds of miles away. “I said, ‘18)Oh my, if I think like that, I’ll never do anything.’”

　　吸引莱科斯曲特在这个岛上住下的部分原因在于“时间无关紧要——住在这里,我有时会弄不清楚自己处在哪个季节,”他说,“这里栖息着数百万只鸟和海龟,太不可思议了。当我划着小舢板出海时,蝠鲼和海豚会为我护航。”尽管如此,孤岛生活也让他付出了代价。“我为寂寞所困扰,”莱科斯曲特先生说,他现在主要依赖自己那只混血的德国牧羊犬作伴。偶尔会有几个访客,他们会问些诸如“如果椰子砸到了你的头上,你会怎么办?”的问题——鉴于离他最近的医生也在几百英里之外。“我会说,‘天呐,如果我老是担心这担心那,那我就什么也干不了了。’”
　　
　　Others choose a 19)reclusive lifestyle as a political statement. Edward Griffith-Jones, a 27-year-old British man, spent the last year living in a hut he built in a national park in Sweden. It was his way of being environmentally responsible, he said.

　　还有些人选择隐居来表明自己的政治立场。27岁的英国小伙子爱德华·格里菲斯-琼斯去年一整年都住在瑞典某国家公园中他自建的一间小木屋里。他表示要以此履行他对环境负责的承诺。
　　
　　Living deep in a Swedish forest, he had to take an hour and a half walk from the nearest train station—a trip that could take four hours during the winter, when the snow was deep. He had a cell phone, which he charged with a small solar generator and used to call his family and his girlfriend. His diet was not for the fainthearted. Along with 20)perch and 21)pike from nearby lakes, he ate wild plants like 22)nettles, berries and 23)tubers, as well as mice and rats. He couldn’t hunt larger 24)game because he didn’t have a gun—to purchase one, he would have had to provide an address—but he began studying how to make a bow and 25)fletch arrows. Every aspect of his daily routine was essential to his survival.

　　住在瑞典这么一片森林的深处,他得走上一个半小时才能去到最近的火车站——冬天雪厚时要走上4个小时。他有一部用来和他的家人以及女友通话的手机,以及一台可以为手机充电的小型太阳能发电机。他赖以为生的食物胆小的人决不敢吃。除了吃从附近的湖里捕的鲈鱼和梭子鱼,他还吃诸如荨麻、浆果和球根等野生植物,小鼠、大鼠他也吃。他无法捕获大型猎物,因为没有枪——购买枪支需提供住址——但他开始研究如何制造弓和羽箭了。他的日常事务的方方面面都事关生存大计。
　　
　　David Glasheen, 66, likened his experience of living alone to “going to the moon.” He lives on Restoration Island, off the northern coast of Australia, with his mixed-breed dog, and has been there since 1996.

　　66岁的戴维·葛拉辛则将自己的独居经历比作“去了一趟月球”。自1996年起,他就和他那条混血狗住在澳大利亚北海岸以外的复原岛上。