英语听书《白鲸记》第724期

 Nor do heroes, saints, demigods, and prophets alone comprise the whole roll of our order. 这样，在我们团体的全部成员中，就不仅有英雄、圣人、神明和预言者了。

Our grand master is still to be named; 我们还得举出我们的老祖师来；

for like royal kings of old times, we find the head-waters of our fraternity in nothing short of the great gods themselves. 因为，如同古代的帝王一样，我们发现在我们的同道的来源中，就不乏许多大神。

That wondrous¹ oriental story is now to be rehearsed from the Shaster, which gives us the dread² Vishnoo, one of the three persons in the godhead of the Hindoos; 那个神奇的东方传说，那个现在还在经书上一再被传诵着的、可畏敬的毗湿奴，经书上就告诉我们，它是印度的三大神之一；

gives us this divine Vishnoo himself for our Lord; 这个神明的毗湿奴就是我们的上帝；

Vishnoo, who, by the first of his ten earthly incarnations, has for ever set apart and sanctified the whale. 毗湿奴，作为尘世上的十大化身的第一个化身，就始终被单独奉为大鲸之神。

When Brahma, or the God of Gods, saith the Shaster, resolved to recreate the world after one of its periodical dissolutions, 据经书上说，当婆罗门，即众神之神决定要在这世界的一次定期毁灭后重造世界的时候，

he gave birth to Vishnoo, to preside over the work; 他生出了毗湿奴来主持这个大业，

but the Vedas, or mystical books, whose perusal³ would seem to have been indispensable to Vishnoo before beginning the creation, 但是，那部《吠陀经》，或者叫做《禅经》，对于毗湿奴说来，却似乎是他在开始创造世界之前，非加探讨不可的东西。

and which therefore must have contained something in the shape of practical hints to young architects, these Vedas were lying at the bottom of the waters; （因此它一定有些什么切合实际的东西，可供年轻的建筑师们借镜）可是，由于这部《吠陀经》一直就深藏在海里，

so Vishnoo became incarnate⁴ in a whale, and sounding down in him to the uttermost depths, rescued the sacred volumes. 所以毗湿奴不得不化身为大鲸，深潜到海底里，把这部圣书给捞了出来。

Was not this Vishnoo a whaleman, then? 这样说来，难道这个毗湿奴不是个捕鲸人么？

Even as a man who rides a horse is called a horseman? 岂不是正如我们把骑着马的人称为骑手一样吗？

Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there's a member-roll for you!  柏修斯，圣乔治，海格立斯，约拿和毗湿奴！这就是你所看到的一份会员录！

What club but the whaleman's can head off like that? 除了捕鲸人的团体以外，有哪个团体能够有这样源长流远呢。

1 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

2 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

3 perusal   

n.细读，熟读；目测

参考例句：

• Peter Cooke undertook to send each of us a sample contract for perusal.彼得·库克答应给我们每人寄送一份合同样本供阅读。
• A perusal of the letters which we have published has satisfied him of the reality of our claim.读了我们的公开信后，他终于相信我们的要求的确是真的。

4 incarnate   

adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的

参考例句：

• She was happiness incarnate.她是幸福的化身。
• That enemy officer is a devil incarnate.那个敌军军官简直是魔鬼的化身。