英语听书《白鲸记》第20期

  CHAPTER 4.The Counterpane. 

 Upon waking next morning about daylight, 

 I found Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. 

 You had almost thought I had been his wife.The counterpane was of patchwork¹, 

 full of odd little parti coloured squares and triangles;and this arm of his tattooed² all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth³ of a figure, 

 no two parts of which were of one precise shade owing I suppose to his keeping his arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, 

 his shirt sleeves irregularly rolled up at various times this same arm of his, 

 I say,looked for all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt.Indeed, 

 partly lying on it as the arm did when I first awoke,I could hardly tell it from the quilt, 

 they so blended their hues⁴ together;and it was only by the sense of weight and pressure that I could tell that Queequeg was hugging me. 

 My sensations were strange.Let me try to explain them.When I was a child,I well remember a somewhat similar circumstance that befell me; 

 whether it was a reality or a dream,I never could entirely⁵ settle.The circumstance was this. 

 I had been cutting up some caper⁶ or other I think it was trying to crawl up the chimney,as I had seen a little sweep do a few days previous; 

 and my stepmother who,somehow or other,was all the time whipping me,or sending me to bed supperless, 

 my mother dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed,though it was only two o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, 

 the longest day in the year in our hemisphere.I felt dreadfully.But there was no help for it, 

 so up stairs I went to my little room in the third floor,undressed myself as slowly as possible so as to kill time,and with a bitter sigh got between the sheets. 

 I lay there dismally⁷ calculating that sixteen entire hours must elapse before I could hope for a resurrection. 

 Sixteen hours in bed!the small of my back ached to think of it.And it was so light too; 

 the sun shining in at the window,and a great rattling⁸ of coaches in the streets,and the sound of gay voices all over the house. 

 I felt worse and worse at last I got up,dressed,and softly going down in my stockinged feet, 

 sought out my stepmother,and suddenly threw myself at her feet, 

 beseeching her as a particular favour to give me a good slippering for my misbehaviour; 

 anything indeed but condemning⁹ me to lie abed such an unendurable length of time. 

 But she was the best and most conscientious¹⁰ of stepmothers,and back I had to go to my room. 

 For several hours I lay there broad awake,feeling a great deal worse than I have ever done since, 

 even from the greatest subsequent misfortunes.At last I must have fallen into a troubled nightmare of a doze; 

 and slowly waking from it half steeped in dreams I opened my eyes,and the before sun lit room was now wrapped in outer darkness. 

1 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

2 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

4 hues   

色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点

参考例句：

• When the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from it. 太阳一出，更把它映得千变万化、异彩缤纷。
• Where maple trees grow, the leaves are often several brilliant hues of red. 在枫树生长的地方，枫叶常常呈现出数种光彩夺目的红色。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 caper   

v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏

参考例句：

• The children cut a caper in the yard.孩子们在院子里兴高采烈地乱蹦乱跳。
• The girl's caper cost her a twisted ankle.小姑娘又蹦又跳，结果扭伤了脚踝。

7 dismally   

adv.阴暗地，沉闷地

参考例句：

• Fei Little Beard assented dismally. 费小胡子哭丧着脸回答。 来自子夜部分
• He began to howl dismally. 它就凄凉地吠叫起来。 来自辞典例句

8 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

9 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 conscientious   

adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的

参考例句：

• He is a conscientious man and knows his job.他很认真负责，也很懂行。
• He is very conscientious in the performance of his duties.他非常认真地履行职责。