英语听书《白鲸记》第217期

 Upon waking next morning about daylight, I found Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner.  第二天早晨,约莫天亮时分,我一觉醒来,发现魁魁格的一只臂膀非常亲昵地搁在我身上。

You had almost thought I had been his wife.  人们简直要把我当做他的妻子。

The counterpane was of patchwork¹, full of odd little parti-colored squares and triangles;  那条被单是由许多布片拼起来的,尽是许多杂色的零头方块块和三角形;

and this arm of his tattooed² all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth³ of a figure,  而他这只刺了花的胳膊却布满了无垠无止而错综复杂的克利特迷宫似的图案,

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,  那上面的色泽没有一块是相同的...我认为那是因为他在海上老是随便让他的胳膊一会儿对着太阳,一会儿在暗头里,他的衬衫袖子又经常乱卷起来的缘故...

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.  他这一只胳膊,我说,看来看去就跟那条百衲被单一模一样。

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;  说老实话,一半是因为我一醒来,那只胳膊恰好搁在被单上,使我一时很难分清究竟是胳膊还是被单,因为两者的色泽是这样混淆不清;

and it was only by the sense of weight and pressure that I could tell that Queequeg was hugging me. 只因我还觉得有一股重量和压力,这才搞清原来是魁魁格在紧抱着我。

My sensations were strange.  我的感觉很是奇特。

Let me try to explain them.  我不妨试来解释一下。

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.  我记得很清楚,我小的时候,也曾经碰到过类似的情况;那究竟是真有其事抑或是个梦,我可始终不能完全确定。

The circumstance was this. I had been cutting up some caper⁶ or other. 情况是这样:当时我正在闹着什么玩儿。

I think it was trying to crawl up the chimney, as I had seen a little sweep do a few days previous;  我想是正要爬上烟囱,因为前几天我看到一个扫烟囱的小孩这样做过;

and my stepmother who, somehow or other, was all the time whipping me, or sending me to bed supperless, 可是,我的继母(她不知怎地,老是要鞭打我,或者是不让我吃饭就叫我去睡觉。

my mother dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed,  我的这位母亲却拉住了我双腿,把我从烟囱里拉出来,急忙打发我去睡觉,

though it was only two o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, the longest day in the year in our hemisphere.  虽然那时只是六月二十一日下午两点钟,也是我们那地方一年里最长的白昼。

I felt dreadfully.  我觉得非常可怕。

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,  可是,我毫无办法,只得上楼,到我那间在四楼的小房间里去,我尽量慢吞吞地脱衣裳来消磨时间,

and with a bitter sigh got between the sheets. 后来便伤心地叹了一口气钻进被子里。

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。