英语听书《海底两万里》第246期 第19章 万尼科罗群岛(8)

 　　After clearing the outer belt of rocks via a narrow passageway,  诺第留斯号从窄狭的水道，穿过外围的一道石带，

　　the Nautilus lay inside the breakers where the sea had a depth of thirty to forty fathoms¹.  走在暗礁岩石里面了，这里的海水深度为五十米至六十五米左右。

　　Under the green shade of some tropical evergreens², I spotted³ a few savages⁴ who looked extremely startled at our approach.  我看见红树荫下有十二三个土人，他们看见我们的船开来，表示极端惊怪。

　　In this long, blackish object advancing flush with the water,  看见这长长的灰黑东西在水面上行走，

　　didn't they see some fearsome cetacean that they were obliged to view with distrust? 他们可能认为是他们应当警戒的一条很厉害的鲸科动物呢？

　　Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the shipwreck⁵ of the Count de La Perouse. 这个时候，尼摩船长向我打听拉白鲁斯失事遇难的情形，这事我是知道的。

　　What everybody knows, captain, I answered him. 船长，我所知道的不过是大家都知道的罢了。我回答他。

　　And could you kindly⁶ tell me what everybody knows? he asked me in a gently ironic⁷ tone. 您可以把大家知道的情形告诉我吗？他带些讥讽的神气说。

　　Very easily. 那很容易。

　　I related to him what the final deeds of Captain Dumont d'Urville had brought to light,  我把杜蒙居维尔关于这事的最后著作中所谈到的情形告诉了他，

　　deeds described here in this heavily condensed summary of the whole matter. 下面就是简单的概述。

　　In 1785 the Count de La Perouse and his subordinate,  拉白鲁斯和他的副手郎格尔船长于1785年受路易十六的派遣，

　　Captain de Langle, were sent by King Louis XVI of France on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe.  作环游地球的航行。

　　They boarded two sloops⁸ of war, the Compass and the Astrolabe, which were never seen again. 他们乘罗盘号和浑天仪号两艘三级舰出发，以后就再没有听见他们的消息了。

　　In 1791, justly concerned about the fate of these two sloops of war,  1791年，法国政府很关心这两艘战舰的命运，

　　the French government fitted out two large cargo⁹ boats, the Search and the Hope,  装备了两艘大运输舰，搜索号和希望号， 准备出发，做寻找的工作。

　　which left Brest on September 28 under orders from Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.  这两艘大运输舰于9月28日离开布勒斯特海港，由当上尔加斯朵指挥。

1 fathoms   

英寻( fathom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The harbour is four fathoms deep. 港深为四英寻。
• One bait was down forty fathoms. 有个鱼饵下沉到四十英寻的深处。

2 evergreens   

n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The leaves of evergreens are often shaped like needles. 常绿植物的叶常是针形的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pine, cedar and spruce are evergreens. 松树、雪松、云杉都是常绿的树。 来自辞典例句

3 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

5 shipwreck   

n.船舶失事，海难

参考例句：

• He walked away from the shipwreck.他船难中平安地脱险了。
• The shipwreck was a harrowing experience.那次船难是一个惨痛的经历。

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

8 sloops   

n.单桅纵帆船( sloop的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。