英语听书《海底两万里》第158期 第11章 诺第留斯号(9)

 　　Professor, this strange man then said, you must excuse the informality with which I receive you, and the disorder¹ reigning² in this lounge.

　　教授，这个古怪人说，请您原谅我这样毫不客气地在这里接待您，请您原谅这所客厅乱七八糟的没有秩序。

　　Sir, I replied, without prying³ into who you are, might I venture to identify you as an artist?

　　船长，我并不想知道您是什么人，但我现在可以猜测您是一位艺术家吧？

　　A collector, sir, nothing more. Formerly⁴ I loved acquiring these beautiful works created by the hand of man.

　　先生，我至多不过是一个业余爱好者。我从前喜欢收藏人类双手创造出来的这些最美的作品。

　　I sought them greedily, ferreted them out tirelessly, and I've been able to gather some objects of great value.

　　我当时是一个热烈的接触，一个不倦的追求家，因此收集了一些价值很高的美术品。

　　They're my last mementos⁵ of those shores that are now dead for me.

　　这些东西是已经死亡的陆地—对我来说—所留下的最后纪念品了。

　　In my eyes, your modern artists are already as old as the ancients.

　　在我看来，你们的那些近代的美术家也已经是古代的了，

　　They've existed for 2,000 or 3,000 years, and I mix them up in my mind. The masters are ageless.

　　他们都已经有两三千年了，所以在我心中，也不把他们分为古代的和现代的。名家大师是没有时代的呀。

　　What about these composers?

　　这些音乐家又怎样呢？

　　I said, pointing to sheet music by Weber, Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Herold, Wagner,

　　我指着韦伯、罗西尼、莫扎特、贝多芬、海顿、梅衣比尔。海罗尔、瓦格纳、

　　Auber, Gounod, Victor Masse, and a number of others scattered⁶ over a full size piano-organ, which occupied one of the wall panels in this lounge.

　　奥比、古诺以及其他许多人的乐谱说，这些乐谱杂乱地放在一座大型钢琴上面，钢琴占着客厅的一方格的地位。

1 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

2 reigning   

adj.统治的，起支配作用的

参考例句：

• The sky was dark, stars were twinkling high above, night was reigning, and everything was sunk in silken silence. 天很黑，星很繁，夜阑人静。
• Led by Huang Chao, they brought down the reigning house after 300 years' rule. 在黄巢的带领下，他们推翻了统治了三百年的王朝。

3 prying   

adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开

参考例句：

• I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活！
• She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

5 mementos   

纪念品，令人回忆的东西( memento的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The museum houses a collection of mementos, materials and documents. 博物馆保存着很多回忆录以及文献资料。
• This meant, however, that no one was able to retrieve irreplaceable family mementos. 然而，这也意味着谁也没能把无可替代的家庭纪念品从火中救出来。

6 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。