英语听书《白鲸记》第978期

 Chapter 128 The Pequod Meets The Rachel 第一百二十八章"裴廓德号"遇到"拉吉号"

Next day, a large ship, the Rachel, was descried¹, bearing directly down upon the Pequod, all her spars thickly clustering with men. 第二天，发现了一艘叫"拉吉号"的大船，直朝"裴廓德号"驶过来，它所有的圆材上都密集着许多水手。

At the time the Pequod was making good speed through the water; 这时，"裴廓德号"正在乘风破浪，向前急驶；

but as the broad-winged windward stranger shot nigh to her, 可是，当那艘上风的、象宽大的翅膀似的陌生船一驶拢来的时候，

the boastful sails all fell together as blank bladders that are burst, and all life fled from the smitten² hull³. 它那些鼓胀胀的篷帆都一下子象是炸了的气球，纠缩在一起了，好象一切的生气都从这艘遭到打击的船消失了。

Bad news; she brings bad news, muttered the old Manxman. 坏消息；它一定带来了坏消息，那个人岛老头喃喃道。

But ere her commander, who, with trumpet⁴ to mouth, stood up in his boat; ere he could hopefully hail, Ahab's voice was heard. 但是，对方那个把号筒凑在嘴边的船长，还没有在他的小艇里站起来，还没有来得及打招呼，却已听到亚哈的声音了。

Hast seen the White Whale? 看到过白鲸嘛？

Aye, yesterday. Have ye seen a whale-boat adrift? 看到的，昨天。你们可看到一只失散的捕鲸小艇吗？

Throttling⁵ his joy, Ahab negatively answered this unexpected question; 亚哈抑制着他的快乐的心情，对这个出人意料的问题给个否定的回答后，

and would then have fain boarded the stranger, when the stranger captain himself, having stopped his vessel's way, was seen descending⁶ her side. 真想马上就叫这个陌生人上船来，可是，这时，那艘陌生船的船长，已自己把船停下来，从他的船舷上下来了。

A few keen pulls, and his boat-hook soon clinched⁷ the Pequod's main-chains, and he sprang to the deck. 猛划了几下，他的艇钩就搭住了"裴廓德号"的大锚链，他一纵身就上了甲板。

Immediately he was recognized by Ahab for a Nantucketer he knew. 亚哈立即认出来，原来是他熟悉的一个南塔开特人。

But no formal salutation was exchanged. 彼此并没有作什么形式上的寒暄。

Where was he? — not killed! — not killed! cried Ahab, closely advancing. "How was it?" 它在哪里？——没把它打死吧！——没把它打死吧！亚哈迫上前去，叫道。"它究竟怎样啦？"

 

1 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

2 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

3 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

4 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

5 throttling   

v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制

参考例句：

• This fight scarf is throttling me. 这条束得紧紧的围巾快要把我窒息死了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The latter may be used with bypass or throttling valves in the tower water pipework circuit. 近来，可采用在冷却塔的水管系统中设置旁通阀或节流阀。 来自辞典例句

6 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

7 clinched   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• The two businessmen clinched the deal quickly. 两位生意人很快达成了协议。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Evidently this information clinched the matter. 显然，这一消息使问题得以最终解决。 来自辞典例句