英语听书《白鲸记》第171期

 Water there is not a drop of water there!  水...那儿一滴水也没有!

Were Niagara but a cataract¹ of sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it?  如果尼亚加拉。只是一阵黄沙的大瀑布,你会跋涉千里到那里去游赏它吗?

Why did the poor poet of Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach?  田纳西州那个穷诗人在突然获得两大把银角子后,为什么就要转起念头来:究竟是去买件上衣,还是到罗卡韦海滩去远足一番?

Why is almost every robust² healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to sea?  为什么几乎每个身心强健的小伙子总要渴望出海呢?

Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration³, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land?  为什么你初次出门坐船,一听说你和你坐的船现在已经望不到陆地了,你就觉得有那么一阵神秘的心情颤动呢?

Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy?  为什么古波斯人把海奉若神明?

Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity⁴, and own brother of Jove?  为什么希腊人把海当成独立的神,而且是约芙的亲兄弟呢?

Surely all this is not without meaning.  当然,这些都不是毫无意义的。

1 cataract   

n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障

参考例句：

• He is an elderly gentleman who had had a cataract operation.他是一位曾经动过白内障手术的老人。
• The way is blocked by the tall cataract.高悬的大瀑布挡住了去路。

2 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

3 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

4 deity   

n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物)

参考例句：

• Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
• The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。