英语听书《白鲸记》第205期

 I now demand of you to speak out and tell me who and what this harpooneer is, and whether I shall be in all respects safe to spend the night with him.  老板,我现在要你说出来,说给我听,这个标枪手究竟是个什么样的人,我跟他过夜是不是绝对安全。

And in the first place, you will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, which if true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark¹ mad, and I've no idea of sleeping with a madman;  所以,首先,请你做做好事,收回那个关于卖他的头的故事,因为如果这个故事是属实的话,那我可以充分判明这个标枪手完全是个疯子,我可不愿意跟一个疯子睡觉;

and you, sir, you I mean, landlord, you, sir, by trying to induce me to do so knowingly would thereby² render yourself liable to a criminal prosecution³. 而你,老兄,我说的是你,老板,你,老兄,明明知道这种情况,却打算诱我上你的圈套,你这种做法,我简直可以去控告你。

Wall,said the landlord, fetching a long breath, that's a purty long sarmon for a chap that rips a little now and then.  哎,店老板长长地抽了一口气,说道,一个爱发火的家伙,倒亏他说出这一大串道理来.

But be easy, be easy, this here harpooneer I have been tellin' you of has just arrived from the south seas, where he bought up a lot of balmed New Zealand heads,  可是,莫慌,莫慌,我跟你说的这个标枪手是新从南海来的,他在那边买来了一批香料制的新西兰头,

and he's sold all on 'em but one, and that one he's trying to sell to-night, cause to-morrow's Sunday,  全都卖掉了,只剩下一只,他想赶今天晚上把它卖掉,因为明天是礼拜日,

and it would not do to be sellin human heads about the streets when folks is goin' to churches.  大家都要去做礼拜,你在街上兜卖人头,成什么话说。

He wanted to last Sunday, but I stopped him just as he was goin' out of the door with four heads strung on a string, for all the airth like a string of inions. 上一个礼拜天,他就要拿出去卖,可是,正当他手里拿着四只串在绳子上的头,活象提着一串大葱头要出门的时候,给我拦住了。

1 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

2 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

3 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。