英语听书《海底两万里》第251期 第19章 万尼科罗群岛(13)

 　　Questioning the natives, Captain Dumont d'Urville also learned that after La Perouse's two ships had miscarried on the island's reefs,  杜蒙?居维尔详细询问土人，知道拉?白鲁斯在岛附近暗礁上损失了他的两只船后，又造了一只较小的船，

　　the count had built a smaller craft, only to go off and miscarry a second time. Where? Nobody knew. 他乘新造的船出发，第二次又失踪了…在什么地方失踪呢？没有人知道。

　　The commander of the new Astrolabe then had a monument erected¹ under a tuft of mangrove,  这位指挥浑天仪号的船长于是在一株红树华盖下，建造了一座衣冠墓，

　　in memory of the famous navigator and his companions. It was a simple quadrangular pyramid, set on a coral base, with no ironwork to tempt² the natives' avarice³. 纪念那位著名的航海家和他的同伴。家是一座简单的四角形金字塔，建筑在珊瑚石的基地上，上面没有竖立什么可以引起土人的贪心的铁架。

　　Then Dumont d'Urville tried to depart;  杜蒙居维尔要离开这岛出发了；

　　but his crews were run down from the fevers raging on these unsanitary shores, and quite ill himself, he was unable to weigh anchor until March 17. 但他的船员受了海岛不良气候的影响，很多人患了热病，他本人也病得很厉害，一直到8月17日才拔锚动身。

　　Meanwhile, fearing that Dumont d'Urville wasn't abreast⁴ of Dillon's activities, the French government sent a sloop⁵ of war to Vanikoro,  当时法国政府怕杜蒙屠维尔不知道狄勇的工作结果，派出巴沿尼号小战舰到万尼科罗群岛，

　　the Bayonnaise under Commander Legoarant de Tromelin, who had been stationed on the American west coast.  战舰由列哥郎德土浪美林指挥，当时停在美洲西部海岸。

　　Dropping anchor before Vanikoro a few months after the new Astrolabe's departure,  巴沿尼号在浑天仪号离开了几个月后，开到了万尼科罗岛面前，

　　the Bayonnaise didn't find any additional evidence but verified that the savages⁶ hadn't disturbed the memorial honoring the Count de La Perouse. 并没有找到什么新的材料，仅仅看见土人对于拉?白鲁斯的墓没有破坏。

　　This is the substance of the account I gave Captain Nemo. 上面就是我给尼摩船长说的关于这件事的材料。

　　So, he said to me, the castaways built a third ship on Vanikoro Island, and to this day, nobody knows where it went and perished? 那么,他对我说，在万尼科罗群岛失事的遇难人所建造的第三只船，究竟在什么地方遇难沉没了，人们还是不知道吗?

　　Nobody knows. 人们还是不知道。

1 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

2 tempt   

vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣

参考例句：

• Nothing could tempt him to such a course of action.什么都不能诱使他去那样做。
• The fact that she had become wealthy did not tempt her to alter her frugal way of life.她有钱了，可这丝毫没能让她改变节俭的生活习惯。

3 avarice   

n.贪婪；贪心

参考例句：

• Avarice is the bane to happiness.贪婪是损毁幸福的祸根。
• Their avarice knows no bounds and you can never satisfy them.他们贪得无厌，你永远无法满足他们。

4 abreast   

adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地

参考例句：

• She kept abreast with the flood of communications that had poured in.她及时回复如雪片般飞来的大批信件。
• We can't keep abreast of the developing situation unless we study harder.我们如果不加强学习，就会跟不上形势。

5 sloop   

n.单桅帆船

参考例句：

• They heeled the sloop well over,skimming it along to windward.他们使单桅小船倾斜适当，让它顶着风向前滑去。
• While a sloop always has two sails,a cat-rigged boat generally has only one.一艘单桅帆船总是有两面帆，但一艘单桅艇通常只有一面帆。

6 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。