英语听书《白鲸记》第803期

 　　Snatching the boat-knife from its sheath, he suspended its sharp edge over the line, and turning towards Stubb, exclaimed interrogatively, "Cut?" Meantime Pip's blue, choked face plainly looked, Do, for God's sake! All passed in a flash. In less than half a minute, this entire thing happened.

　　他从刀鞘里拉出了船刀，一边把刀锋搁在捕鲸索上，一边掉头对着斯塔布，探问地嚷道，"割吗？"这时，比普那只给窒息得铁青的面孔，很清楚地表示出：看在上帝的份上，请割吧！整个事情，发生在不满半分钟里，真是倏忽而逝。

　　Damn him, cut! roared Stubb; and so the whale was lost and Pip was saved.

　　该死的东西，割！斯塔布咆哮道；于是，失了大鲸，救了比普。

　　So soon as he recovered himself, the poor little negro was assailed¹ by yells and execrations from the crew. Tranquilly² permitting these irregular cursings to evaporate, Stubb then in a plain, business-like, but still half humorous manner, cursed Pip officially; and that done, unofficially gave him much wholesome³ advice. The substance was, Never jump from a boat, Pip, except—but all the rest was indefinite, as the soundest advice ever is. Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still better. Moreover, as if perceiving at last that if he should give undiluted conscientious⁴ advice to Pip, he would be leaving him too wide a margin⁵ to jump in for the future; Stubb suddenly dropped all advice, and concluded with a peremptory⁶ command "Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the Lord, I won't pick you up if you jump; mind that.

　　这个可怜的小黑人刚一恢复神志，就给水手们叫骂得要死。斯塔布安静地让他们把这种不正常的咒骂发泄过后，就以一种简单明了的。然而不免半含幽默的态度，正式地骂起比普来；这样骂过了后，又非正式地给他很多有益的教言。那大意是：比普啊，千万别跳出小艇，除非是——不过，其余的可就含含糊糊了。最精采的教言总是这样，总之，总起来说就是："千万不要离开小艇"，是捕鲸业中的真正的座右铭；不过，有时也会有不得不跳出小艇才比较妥当的情况发生。而且，仿佛他最后又预见到，如果教他对比普说出真正出自良心的教言来，那就未免使比普将来可以有过多的跳出去的机会了；于是，斯塔布突然煞住了一切的教言，而以一种断然的命令口吻为结束："千万不要离开小艇，比普，否则，老实说，如果你跳下去，我就不捞你起来喽；记住。

1 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》

2 tranquilly   

adv. 宁静地

参考例句：

• He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work. 他拿起刷子，一声不响地干了起来。
• The evening was closing down tranquilly. 暮色正在静悄悄地笼罩下来。

3 wholesome   

adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的

参考例句：

• In actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.实际上我喜欢做的事大都是有助于增进身体健康的。
• It is not wholesome to eat without washing your hands.不洗手吃饭是不卫生的。

4 conscientious   

adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的

参考例句：

• He is a conscientious man and knows his job.他很认真负责，也很懂行。
• He is very conscientious in the performance of his duties.他非常认真地履行职责。

5 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。

6 peremptory   

adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的

参考例句：

• The officer issued peremptory commands.军官发出了不容许辩驳的命令。
• There was a peremptory note in his voice.他说话的声音里有一种不容置辩的口气。