英语听书《白鲸记》 第2期

  So fare thee well,poor devil of a Sub Sub,whose commentator¹ I am.Thou belongest to that hopeless,sallow tribe which no wine of this world will ever warm;and for whom even Pale Sherry would be too rosy² strong;but with whom one sometimes loves to sit,and feel poor devilish,too;and grow convivial³ upon tears;and say to them bluntly,with full eyes and empty glasses,and in not altogether unpleasant sadnessGive it up,Sub Subs!For by how much the more pains ye take to please the world,by so much the more shall ye for ever go thankless!Would that I could clear out Hampton Court and the Tuileries for ye!But gulp⁴ down your tears and hie aloft to the royal mast with your hearts;for your friends who have gone before are clearing out the seven storied heavens,and making refugees of long pampered⁵ Gabriel,Michael,and Raphael,against your coming.Here ye strike but splintered hearts togetherthere,ye shall strike unsplinterable glasses! 

 EXTRACTS. 

 And God created great whales.GENESIS. 

 Leviathan maketh a path to shine after him;One would think the deep to be hoary⁶.JOB. 

 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.JONAH. 

 There go the ships;there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein.PSALMS⁷. 

 In that day,the Lord with his sore,and great,and strong sword,shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent,even Leviathan that crooked⁸ serpent;and he shall slay⁹ the dragon that is in the sea.ISAIAH 

 And what thing soever besides cometh within the chaos¹⁰ of this monster's mouth,be it beast,boat,or stone,down it goes all incontinently that foul¹¹ great swallow of his,and perisheth in the bottomless gulf¹² of his paunch.HOLLAND'S PLUTARCH'S MORALS. 

 The Indian Sea breedeth the most and the biggest fishes that are:among which the Whales and Whirlpooles called Balaene,take up as much in length as four acres or arpens of land.HOLLAND'S PLINY. 

 Scarcely had we proceeded two days on the sea,when about sunrise a great many Whales and other monsters of the sea,appeared.Among the former,one was of a most monstrous¹³ size .... This came towards us,open mouthed,raising the waves on all sides,and beating the sea before him into a foam¹⁴.TOOKE'S LUCIAN.THE TRUE HISTORY. 

 He visited this country also with a view of catching¹⁵ horse whales,which had bones of very great value for their teeth,of which he brought some to the king .... The best whales were catched in his own country,of which some were forty eight,some fifty yards long.He said that he was one of six who had killed sixty in two days.OTHER OR OTHER'S VERBAL NARRATIVE¹⁶ TAKEN DOWN FROM HIS MOUTH BY KING ALFRED,A.D. 890. 

 And whereas all the other things,whether beast or vessel,that enter into the dreadful gulf of this monster's(whale's)mouth,are immediately lost and swallowed up,the sea gudgeon retires into it in great security,and there sleeps.MONTAIGNE.APOLOGY FOR RAIMOND SEBOND. 

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

3 convivial   

adj.狂欢的，欢乐的

参考例句：

• The atmosphere was quite convivial.气氛非常轻松愉快。
• I found it odd to imagine a nation of convivial diners surrendering their birthright.我发现很难想象让这样一个喜欢热热闹闹吃饭的民族放弃他们的习惯。

4 gulp   

vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽

参考例句：

• She took down the tablets in one gulp.她把那些药片一口吞了下去。
• Don't gulp your food,chew it before you swallow it.吃东西不要狼吞虎咽，要嚼碎了再咽下去。

5 pampered   

adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lazy scum deserve worse. What if they ain't fed up and pampered? 他们吃不饱，他们的要求满足不了，这又有什么关系？ 来自飘（部分）
• She petted and pampered him and would let no one discipline him but she, herself. 她爱他，娇养他，而且除了她自己以外，她不允许任何人管教他。 来自辞典例句

6 hoary   

adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的

参考例句：

• They discussed the hoary old problem.他们讨论老问题。
• Without a word spoken,he hurried away,with his hoary head bending low.他什么也没说，低着白发苍苍的头，匆匆地走了。

7 psalms   

n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的)

参考例句：

• the Book of Psalms 《〈圣经〉诗篇》
• A verse from Psalms knifed into Pug's mind: "put not your trust in princes." 《诗篇》里有一句话闪过帕格的脑海：“不要相信王侯。” 来自辞典例句

8 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

9 slay   

v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮

参考例句：

• He intended to slay his father's murderer.他意图杀死杀父仇人。
• She has ordered me to slay you.她命令我把你杀了。

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

11 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

12 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

13 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

14 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

15 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

16 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。