英语听书《白鲸记》第593期

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　and some ten or twenty fathoms¹ (called box-line) being coiled upon the box in the bows,  在艇头的索桶上绕它六十或者一百二十英尺，

　　it continues its way to the gunwale still a little further aft,  再把它继续绕过艇舷，直拉到艇尾后头，

　　and is then attached to the short-warp-- the rope which is immediately connected with the harpoon²;  这才接在那根短绞船索上——也就是同标枪的绳子紧接在一起；

　　but previous to that connexion, the short-warp goes through sundry³ mystifications too tedious to detail. 不过，把它接上去之先，还得在那根短绞船索上做完各式各样叫人看得眼花缭乱的动作，这些动作细叙起来，未免过于噜苏。

　　Thus the whale-line folds the whole boat in its complicated coils, twisting and writhing⁴ around it in almost every direction.  捕鲸索就这样错综复杂地把整只小艇都绕住了，几乎打四面八方把这只小艇给纠缠住。

　　All the oarsmen are involved in its perilous⁶ contortions⁷; so that to the timid eye of the landsman, 所有的桨手都被卷在它这种危险的迷阵里，所以，在胆怯的陆地人看来，

　　they seem as Indian jugglers, with the deadliest snakes sportively festooning their limbs. 这些桨手就象是一群印第安的耍戏法者，让那些最可怕的毒蛇巨蟒兴致勃勃地绕着他们的四肢。

　　Nor can any son of mortal woman, for the first time, seat himself amid those hempen⁸ intricacies,  任何一个是爹娘养出来的人，初次置身在这种大麻绳的天罗地网里，

　　and while straining his utmost at the oar⁵, bethink him that at any unknown instant the harpoon may be darted⁹, 总是一边在死劲扳桨，一边在担心那支不知何时就要抛出去的标枪，

　　and all these horrible contortions be put in play like ringed lightnings; 在担心所有这些可怖的罗网，不知什么时候会象雷霹一般发作起来。

　　he cannot be thus circumstanced without a shudder¹⁰ that makes the very marrow¹¹ in his bones to quiver in him like a shaken jelly.  他在这种情况下，当然免不了要抖得骨子里也象冻肉一般在打颤。

分享到：