英语听书《白鲸记》第1025期

While the two crews were yet circling in the waters, reaching out after the revolving¹ line-tubs, oars³, and other floating furniture, while aslope little Flask⁴ bobbed up and down like an empty vial, twitching⁵ his legs upwards⁶ to escape the dreaded⁷ jaws⁸ of sharks; and Stubb was lustily singing out for some one to ladle him up; and while the old man's line — now parting — admitted of his pulling into the creamy pool to rescue whom he could; — in that wild simultaneousness of a thousand concreted perils⁹, — Ahab's yet unstricken boat seemed drawn¹⁰ up towards Heaven by invisible wires, — as, arrow-like, shooting perpendicularly¹¹ from the sea, the White Whale dashed his broad forehead against its bottom, and sent it turning over and over, into the air; till it fell again — gunwale downwards¹² — and Ahab and his men struggled out from under it, like seals from a sea-side cave.

这时，那两只小艇的水手都还在浪涛里不住打旋，大家都伸着手去抓住那些滚动的索桶。桨子，和其它各种漂来浮去的用具，小弗拉斯克象只空瓶子倾斜地上下浮动，双脚向上曲起，以避开那些鲨鱼的可怕的嘴巴；斯塔布则死劲地呼叫看，要人把他捞起来；至于那个老人的绳索——现在已经断了——只能让他给拖进奶油色的水塘里晃来晃去，碰到谁就救谁；——在那暴风雨似的百难临头的同时，——亚哈那只还没有遭到冲损的小艇，似乎是让一根眼不能见的绳索直往上天曳拉上去，——就在这时，白鲸象一支箭似的，从海里笔直地射了出来，用它那宽大的前额朝艇底猛地一顶，把它撞在空中，翻过来又翻过去，最后又落了下来——艇舷朝下——于是亚哈和他几个水手，就象一群从海边的洞穴里钻出来的海豹一般，从小艇下面挣扎出来。

The first uprising momentum¹³ of the whale — modifying its direction as he struck the surface — involuntarily launched him along it, to a little distance from the centre of the destruction he had made; and with his back to it, he now lay for a moment slowly feeling with his flukes from side to side; and whenever a stray oar², bit of plank¹⁴, the least chip or crumb¹⁵ of the boats touched his skin, his tail swiftly drew back, and came sideways smiting¹⁶ the sea. But soon, as if satisfied that his work for that time was done, he pushed his pleated forehead through the ocean, and trailing after him the intertangled lines, continued his leeward¹⁷ way at a traveller's methodic pace.

这条大鲸初次向上一冒的势头——它往上冲时，把方向弄歪了——不自觉地一冲就冲得跟它所要毁击的目标稍微隔开了些；于是它的背顶着小艇，就那么停了一会儿，裂尾悠然地甩来甩去；每当一支漂泛的桨子，一片木板，一小块艇木碎片碰着它的身子时，它的尾巴就迅疾地一缩，斜斜地伸出来拍击着浪潮。但是，不一会儿，好象认为自己这番做法可以到此为止了，它把它那打褶的前额在海里往前一冲，后边拖着一串纠缠着的绳索，象个旅客那样，拖着慢条斯理的步子，继续向下风游去。

1 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。

2 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

3 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

5 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

7 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

8 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

9 perils   

极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境）

参考例句：

• The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。
• With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难？

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 perpendicularly   

adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地

参考例句：

• Fray's forehead was wrinkled both perpendicularly and crosswise. 弗雷的前额上纹路纵横。
• Automatic resquaring feature insures nozzle is perpendicularly to the part being cut. 自动垂直功能，可以确保刀头回到与工件完全垂直的位置去切割。

12 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

13 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

14 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

15 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

16 smiting   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He set to smiting and overthrowing. 他马上就动手殴打和破坏。 来自辞典例句

17 leeward   

adj.背风的；下风的

参考例句：

• The trees all listed to leeward.树木统统向下风方向倾。
• We steered a course to leeward.我们向下风航驶。