英语听书《白鲸记》第26期

  In New Bedford,fathers,they say,give whales for dowers to their daughters,and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises¹ a piece. 

 You must go to New Bedford to see a brilliant wedding;for,they say,they have reservoirs of oil in every house,and every night recklessly burn their lengths in spermaceti candles. 

 In summer time,the town is sweet to see;full of fine maples² long avenues of green and gold.And in August, 

 high in air,the beautiful and bountiful horse chestnuts,candelabra wise,proffer the passer by their tapering³ upright cones⁴ of congregated⁵ blossoms. 

 So omnipotent⁶ is art;which in many a district of New Bedford has superinduced bright terraces of flowers upon the barren refuse rocks thrown aside at creation's final day. 

 And the women of New Bedford,they bloom like their own red roses.But roses only bloom in summer; 

 whereas the fine carnation⁷ of their cheeks is perennial⁸ as sunlight in the seventh heavens.Elsewhere match that bloom of theirs,ye can not,save in Salem, 

 where they tell me the young girls breathe such musk,their sailor sweethearts smell them miles off shore,as though they were drawing nigh the odorous Moluccas instead of the Puritanic sands. 

 CHAPTER 7.The Chapel⁹. 

 In this same New Bedford there stands a's Whaleman Chapel,and few are the moody¹⁰ fishermen,shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, 

 who fail to make a Sunday visit to the spot.I am sure that I did not. 

 Returning from my first morning stroll,I again sallied out upon this special errand.The sky had changed from clear,sunny cold,to driving sleet¹¹ and mist. 

 Wrapping myself in my shaggy jacket of the cloth called bearskin,I fought my way against the stubborn storm.Entering,I found a small scattered¹² congregation of sailors,and sailors ' wives and widows. 

 A muffled¹³ silence reigned,only broken at times by the shrieks¹⁴ of the storm.Each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, 

 as if each silent grief were insular¹⁵ and incommunicable.The chaplain had not yet arrived;and there these silent islands of men and women sat steadfastly¹⁶ eyeing several marble tablets, 

 with black borders,masoned into the wall on either side the pulpit. 

 Three of them ran something like the following,but I do not pretend to quote: 

 SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN TALBOT,Who,at the age of eighteen,was lost overboard,Near the Isle¹⁷ of Desolation,off Patagonia,November 1st,1836.THIS TABLET Is erected¹⁸ to his Memory BY HIS SISTER. 

 SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT LONG,WILLIS ELLERY,NATHAN COLEMAN,WALTER CANNY,SETH MACY, 

 AND SAMUEL GLEIG,Forming one of the boats ' crews OF THE SHIP ELIZA Who were towed out of sight by a Whale,On the Off shore Ground in the PACIFIC, 

 December 31st,1839.THIS MARBLE Is here placed by their surviving SHIPMATES. 

1 porpoises   

n.鼠海豚( porpoise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A shoal of porpoises are well on the feed. 一群海豚正在吞食。 来自辞典例句
• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。 来自辞典例句

2 maples   

槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木

参考例句：

• There are many maples in the park. 公园里有好多枫树。
• The wind of the autumn colour the maples carmine . 秋风给枫林涂抹胭红。

3 tapering   

adj.尖端细的

参考例句：

• Interest in the scandal seems to be tapering off. 人们对那件丑闻的兴趣似乎越来越小了。
• Nonproductive expenditures keep tapering down. 非生产性开支一直在下降。

4 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

5 congregated   

（使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The crowds congregated in the town square to hear the mayor speak. 人群聚集到市镇广场上来听市长讲话。
• People quickly congregated round the speaker. 人们迅速围拢在演说者的周围。

6 omnipotent   

adj.全能的，万能的

参考例句：

• When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science.我们达到万能以后就不需要科学了。
• Money is not omnipotent,but we can't survive without money.金钱不是万能的，但是没有金钱我们却无法生存。

7 carnation   

n.康乃馨（一种花）

参考例句：

• He had a white carnation in his buttonhole.他在纽扣孔上佩了朵白色康乃馨。
• He was wearing a carnation in his lapel.他的翻领里别着一枝康乃馨。

8 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

9 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

10 moody   

adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的

参考例句：

• He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
• I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。

11 sleet   

n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹

参考例句：

• There was a great deal of sleet last night.昨夜雨夹雪下得真大。
• When winter comes,we get sleet and frost.冬天来到时我们这儿会有雨夹雪和霜冻。

12 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

13 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 shrieks   

n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• shrieks of fiendish laughter 恶魔般的尖笑声
• For years, from newspapers, broadcasts, the stages and at meetings, we had heard nothing but grandiloquent rhetoric delivered with shouts and shrieks that deafened the ears. 多少年来， 报纸上， 广播里， 舞台上， 会场上的声嘶力竭，装腔做态的高调搞得我们震耳欲聋。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 insular   

adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• Having lived in one place all his life,his views are insular.他一辈子住在一个地方，所以思想狭隘。

16 steadfastly   

adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝

参考例句：

• So he sat, with a steadfastly vacant gaze, pausing in his work. 他就像这样坐着，停止了工作，直勾勾地瞪着眼。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• Defarge and his wife looked steadfastly at one another. 德伐日和他的妻子彼此凝视了一会儿。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

17 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

18 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。