英语听书《白鲸记》第500期

 "That's his hump. “那就是它的背峰。

There, there, give it to him!" whispered Starbuck. 喏，喏，给它一下呀！”斯达巴克悄悄地说。

A short rushing sound leaped out of the boat; 小艇里迸出一阵急遽的冲击声；

it was the darted¹ iron of Queequeg. 魁魁格在投标枪了。

Then all in one welded commotion² came an invisible push from astern, 于是，一阵骚乱，船尾受到了一记眼所不见的推击，

while forward the boat seemed striking on a ledge³; 前边又象是突然触了礁，

the sail collapsed⁴ and exploded; a gush⁵ of scalding vapor⁶ shot up near by; 帆篷胀破了，近旁射出一阵炙热的水雾，

something rolled and tumbled like an earthquake beneath us. 艇底下象是遭了地震似的有什么东西在滚动颠簸。

The whole crew were half suffocated⁷ as they were tossed helter-skelter into the white curdling⁸ cream of the squall. 全体水手都快要闷死了，他们在这种含有白粘粘的油体的大风里，都给颠簸得狼狈不堪。狂风。

Squall, whale, and harpoon⁹ had all blended together; 大鲸和标枪交织成一片；

and the whale, merely grazed by the iron, escaped. 可是那条鲸，只是让标枪轻轻擦了一下，就逃走了。

Though completely swamped, the boat was nearly unharmed.  小艇虽然给弄得完全淹没了，却几乎毫无损伤。

Swimming round it we picked up the floating oars¹⁰, and lashing¹¹ them across the gunwale, tumbled back to our places. 我们在小艇四周游来游去，捡起那些漂荡着的桨子，把它们横绑在舷边上，急急忙忙爬到各人的原位去。

There we sat up to our knees in the sea, 我们就坐在淹及膝盖的水里，

the water covering every rib¹² and plank¹³,  海水把每片船肋和船板都给淹没了，

so that to our downward gazing eyes the suspended craft seemed a coral boat grown up to us from the bottom of the ocean. 所以，这只搁起的小艇，在我们眼睛朝下看的时候，就象是一只从海底里向上朝我们生长起来的珊瑚艇。

The wind increased to a howl; 风势增强，大肆呼啸；

the waves dashed their bucklers together; 海浪把我们包围住了；

the whole squall roared, forked, and crackled around us like a white fire upon the prairie, 一片狂风在我们周围号啸、穿梭、噼噼啪啪地响得象是大草原上的烈火，

in which unconsumed, we were burning; immortal¹⁴ in these jaws¹⁵ of death! 我们这些鬼门关里的不死者，燃烧在烈火里，却还没有烧成灰烬！

In vain we hailed the other boats; 我们在大风暴中徒劳地呼喊其它几只小艇，

as well roar to the live coals down the chimney of a flaming furnace as hail those boats in that storm. 犹如对着那火光熊熊的大炉子，烟囱底下烧得通红的煤块吼叫，

Meanwhile the driving scud¹⁶, rack, and mist, grew darker with the shadows of night; 这时，随着夜幕拢来，那些飞沫，结索架和迷雾也越来越模糊难辨，

no sign of the ship could be seen. 那只船连影子也看不到了。

The rising sea forbade all attempts to bale out the boat. 奔腾的大海使得想救小艇的一切企图都成为枉费的。

The oars were useless as propellers¹⁷, performing now the office of life-preservers. 那些桨子都跟螺旋桨一样不顶事，现在只能权充救命工具了。

So, cutting the lashing of the waterproof¹⁸ match keg, 斯达巴克割断了防水的火柴桶的绳索后，

after many failures Starbuck contrived¹⁹ to ignite the lamp in the lantern; 擦了好多次，总算把灯笼点着了，

then stretching it on a waif pole, handed it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. 他把灯笼缚在一支浮标(浮标——缚有一面小旗的木棒，用以插在死鲸的身上。)上后，就交给魁魁格这个敢死队的旗手。

There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that almighty²⁰ forlornness. 于是，魁魁格坐在那里，在万分绝望中擎起那支微弱的烛火。

There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, 他坐在那里，作为一个没有任何信念的人的象征，

hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair. 在绝望的境地里，无望地撑起希望来。 

1 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

3 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 gush   

v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• There was a gush of blood as the arrow was pulled out from the arm.当从手臂上拔出箭来时，一股鲜血涌了出来。

6 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

7 suffocated   

（使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的过去式和过去分词 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气

参考例句：

• Many dogs have suffocated in hot cars. 许多狗在热烘烘的汽车里给闷死了。
• I nearly suffocated when the pipe of my breathing apparatus came adrift. 呼吸器上的管子脱落时，我差点给憋死。

8 curdling   

n.凝化v.（使）凝结( curdle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Curdling occurs when milk turns sour and forms solid2 chunks. 凝结时牛奶变酸并且结成2大块固体。 来自互联网
• The sluggish cream wound curdling spirals through her tea. 黏糊糊的奶油在她的红茶里弯弯曲曲地凝结成螺旋形。 来自互联网

9 harpoon   

n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获

参考例句：

• The harpoon drove deep into the body of the whale.渔叉深深地扎进鲸鱼体内。
• The fisherman transfixed the shark with a harpoon.渔夫用鱼叉刺住鲨鱼。

10 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 rib   

n.肋骨，肋状物

参考例句：

• He broke a rib when he fell off his horse.他从马上摔下来折断了一根肋骨。
• He has broken a rib and the doctor has strapped it up.他断了一根肋骨，医生已包扎好了。

13 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

14 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

15 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

16 scud   

n.疾行；v.疾行

参考例句：

• The helpers came in a scud.救援者飞奔而来。
• Rabbits scud across the turf.兔子飞快地穿过草地。

17 propellers   

n.螺旋桨，推进器( propeller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The water was thrashing and churning about under the propellers. 水在螺旋桨下面打旋、翻滚。 来自辞典例句
• The ship's propellers churned the waves to foam. 轮船的推进器将海浪搅出泡沫。 来自辞典例句

18 waterproof   

n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水

参考例句：

• My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
• All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

19 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

20 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。