英语听书《白鲸记》第351期

 In his youth Daggoo had voluntarily shipped on board of a whaler, lying in a lonely bay on his native coast.  在他少年的时候,大个儿就自动跑上那只停泊在他故乡的荒凉的港湾上的捕鲸船。

And never having been anywhere in the world but in Africa, Nantucket, and the pagan harbors most frequented by the whalemen;  于是,他除了到过非洲。南塔开特以及捕鲸者最常到的那些异教的港口外,从来没有到过别的什么地方;

and having now led for many years the bold life of the fishery in the ships of owners uncommonly¹ heedful of what manner of men they shipped;  现在大个儿虽然已在那些非常注意他们的船员是些什么人的船东的船上,过了多年勇猛的捕鱼生活;

Daggoo retained all his barbaric virtues², and erect³ as a giraffe, moved about the decks in all the pomp of six feet five in his socks.  他依然保持着他所有的野性的特点,象只长颈鹿般昂着头,足足六英尺五英寸的雄姿,在甲板上走来走去。

There was a corporeal⁴ humility⁵ in looking up at him; and a white man standing⁶ before him seemed a white flag come to beg truce⁷ of a fortress⁸.  谁一抬头向他一望,都不免感到相形见绌;一个白种人站到他面前去,仿佛就是一面去向要塞求降的白旗。

Curious to tell, this imperial negro, Ahasuerus Daggoo, was the Squire⁹ of little Flask¹⁰, who looked like a chess-man beside him.  说来也真奇怪,这个合乎帝王身份的黑人,这个亚哈随鲁式的大个儿,竟就是小小的弗拉斯克的随从,而他站在大个儿的旁边,可活象只棋子。

As for the residue¹¹ of the Pequod's company, be it said, that at the present day not one in two of the many thousand men before the mast employed in the American whale fishery, are Americans born, though pretty nearly all the officers are.  至于"裴廓德号"上的其余一些人物,请记住,在现代的美国捕鲸业中,在那些被雇用的水手中,是美国人的还不上一半呢,而且这不上一半的人又差不多都是船上的头目。

Herein it is the same with the American whale fishery as with the American army and military and merchant navies, and the engineering forces employed in the construction of the American Canals and Railroads.  因此,美国捕鲸业的情形,就跟美国海陆军队和商船,以及受雇于建造美国大运河和铁路的那些工程人员的情况一样。

The same, I say, because in all these cases the native American literally¹² provides the brains, the rest of the world as generously supplying the muscles.  我所以说是一样,是因为在所有这些场合上,美国人只是提供智慧,至于力气呢,则由世界其它各地去慷慨输捐了。

No small number of these whaling seamen¹³ belong to the Azores, where the outward bound Nantucket whalers frequently touch to augment¹⁴ their crews from the hardy¹⁵ peasants of those rocky shores.  在这些捕鲸的水手中,有不少是来自亚速尔群岛的,那里是许多外航的南塔开特捕鲸船经常驶去,把那些生长在岩石的岸边的能吃苦耐劳的农民找来补充他们的水手的地方。

1 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

2 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

3 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

4 corporeal   

adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的

参考例句：

• The body is the corporeal habitation of the soul.身体为灵魂之有形寓所。
• He is very religious;corporeal world has little interest for him.他虔信宗教，对物质上的享受不感兴趣。

5 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

8 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

9 squire   

n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅

参考例句：

• I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.我告诉他乡绅是世界上最宽宏大量的人。
• The squire was hard at work at Bristol.乡绅在布里斯托尔热衷于他的工作。

10 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

11 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

14 augment   

vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张

参考例句：

• They hit upon another idea to augment their income.他们又想出一个增加收入的办法。
• The government's first concern was to augment the army and auxiliary forces.政府首先关心的是增强军队和辅助的力量。

15 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。