英语听书《海底两万里》第522期 第32章 海湾暖流(13)

 I withdrew. From that day forward our position was very strained.  我只好退出来。从那天起，我们的处境就变得非常紧张。

I reported this conversation to my two companions. 我向我的两个同伴汇报了我的谈话。

Now we know, Ned said, "that we can't expect a thing from this man. “我们现在知道，”尼德说，“对于这个人没有任何可指望了。

The Nautilus is nearing Long Island.  ‘鹦鹉螺号’正在向长岛靠近。

We'll escape, no matter what the weather." 不论天气如何，我们逃走吧。” 

But the skies became more and more threatening. There were conspicuous¹ signs of a hurricane on the way.  但天气变得越来越糟，出现了一些大风暴的迹象。

The atmosphere was turning white and milky².  大气灰沉沉的。

Slender sheaves of cirrus clouds were followed on the horizon by layers of nimbocumulus. Other low clouds fled swiftly. 天际边一层层散开的卷云的后面，紧随团团乌云，还有一些低云飞快地掠过。

The sea grew towering, inflated³ by long swells⁴. 海水高涨，海浪澎湃。

Every bird had disappeared except a few petrels, friends of the storms. 除了暴风雨的朋友海燕外，其他的鸟儿都不见了。

The barometer⁵ fell significantly, indicating a tremendous tension in the surrounding haze⁶.  晴雨表明显下降，说明空气中湿度极高。

The mixture in our stormglass decomposed⁷ under the influence of the electricity charging the air. A struggle of the elements was approaching. 在大气中饱含的电离子的作用下，雷鸣电闪：暴风雨就要来了。

The storm burst during the daytime of May 13, just as the Nautilus was cruising abreast⁸ of Long Island, a few miles from the narrows to Upper New York Bay. 5月13日，确切地说，当“鹦鹉螺号”船只浮在与长岛同一纬度上，距纽约水道几海里时，暴风雨发作了。

I'm able to describe this struggle of the elements because Captain Nemo didn't flee into the ocean depths; instead, from some inexplicable⁹ whim,  我之所以能描绘下这场暴风雨，是因为尼摩船长由于不可解释的任性，不是让船潜入海底避雨，

he decided¹⁰ to brave it out on the surface. 而是正面与暴风雨对抗。

The wind was blowing from the southwest, initially¹¹ a stiff breeze, in other words, with a speed of fifteen meters per second,  当时风从西南面刮来，先是阵阵每秒15米风速的凉爽大风，

which built to twenty-five meters near three o'clock in the afternoon.  到晚上三点钟，刮到了每秒25米。

This is the figure for major storms. 这是台风的速度。

1 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

2 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

3 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

5 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。

6 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

7 decomposed   

已分解的，已腐烂的

参考例句：

• A liquid is decomposed when an electric current passes through it. 当电流通过时，液体就分解。
• Water can be resolved [decomposed] into hydrogen and oxygen. 水可分解为氢和氧。

8 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。

9 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。