英语听书《白鲸记》第650期

 　　It is well to parenthesize here, that of the fatal accidents in the Sperm-Whale Fishery, this kind is perhaps almost as frequent as any. 这里应该附带说一下，在捕抹香鲸业的许多意外之灾中，这类情况也差不多是屡见不鲜的。

　　Sometimes, nothing is injured but the man who is thus annihilated¹; 有时，除了那个就这样完蛋的人以外，其余却一概没有损伤；

　　oftener the boat's bow is knocked off, or the thigh-board, on which the headsman stands, is torn from its place and accompanies the body. 更平常的是艇头被撞烂了，或者是指挥人站的那块粗板，连人带板给碰掉了。

　　But strangest of all is the circumstance, that in more instances than one, 但是，最奇怪而不止发生一次的情况是，

　　when the body has been recovered, not a single mark of violence is discernible the man being stark² dead. 等到尸体找到的时候，身上竟连一点伤痕都看不出来，而那个人却已死得绷绷硬了。

　　The whole calamity³, with the falling form of Macey, was plainly descried⁴ from the ship. 这整个灾难以及梅赛跌下去的身体，船上的人都看得一清二楚。

　　Raising a piercing shriek—"The vial! the vial!" 可是，突然传来了刺耳的尖叫———"那只碗，那只碗！

　　Gabriel called off the terror-stricken crew from the further hunting of the whale. "迦百列把那些吓得要命的水手弄得不敢继续去猎击那条大鲸了。

　　This terrible event clothed the archangel with added influence; 这个可怕的事件又给这个天使长添了不少声势；

　　because his credulous⁵ disciples⁶ believed that he had specifically fore-announced it, instead of only making a general prophecy,  因为他那些轻信的门徒都认为他早已特地宣示过了，认为这并不仅仅是个普通的预言，

　　which any one might have done, and so have chanced to hit one of many marks in the wide margin⁷ allowed. 普通的预言谁都会做，谁都会有碰巧而幸中一次的机会。

　　He became a nameless terror to the ship. 他就此成为船上一种不可名状的恐怖。

　　Mayhew having concluded his narration⁸, Ahab put such questions to him, 梅休刚把故事讲完，亚哈就对他提出几个问题，

　　that the stranger captain could not forbear inquiring whether he intended to hunt the White Whale, if opportunity should offer.  弄得那个陌生船长不禁反问亚哈一声，如果有机会的话，他是否想去打那白鲸。

1 annihilated   

v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃

参考例句：

• Our soldiers annihilated a force of three hundred enemy troops. 我军战士消灭了300名敌军。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We annihilated the enemy. 我们歼灭了敌人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

4 descried   

adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的

参考例句：

• He descried an island far away on the horizon. 他看到遥远的地平线上有个岛屿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At length we descried a light and a roof. 终于，我们远远看见了一点灯光，一所孤舍。 来自辞典例句

5 credulous   

adj.轻信的，易信的

参考例句：

• You must be credulous if she fooled you with that story.连她那种话都能把你骗倒，你一定是太容易相信别人了。
• Credulous attitude will only make you take anything for granted.轻信的态度只会使你想当然。

6 disciples   

n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一

参考例句：

• Judas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. 犹大是耶稣十二门徒之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "The names of the first two disciples were --" “最初的两个门徒的名字是——” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

7 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

8 narration   

n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体

参考例句：

• The richness of his novel comes from his narration of it.他小说的丰富多采得益于他的叙述。
• Narration should become a basic approach to preschool education.叙事应是幼儿教育的基本途径。