英语听书《白鲸记》第594期

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　　what cannot habit accomplish? 有什么是习惯所克服不了的？

　　Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees,  人们所听到的那种快活的俏皮话，愉快的打趣，尽情的开玩笑，和伶俐的应对，

　　you never heard over your mahogany, than you will hear over the half-inch white cedar¹ of the whaleboat, 坐在半英寸厚的白杉木的捕鲸艇上，是在一般餐桌上从来听不到的，

　　when thus hung in hangman's nooses²; and, like the six burghers of Calais before King Edward, 象这样给吊在绞架的套索上，就跟那六个站在爱德华国王面前的卡勒斯市民一样，

　　the six men composing the crew pull into the jaws³ of death, with a halter around every neck, as you may say. 你不妨这么说，这只小艇上那六个划到鬼门关去的水手，每个人的颈脖子上都套有一根绞索。

　　Perhaps a very little thought will now enable you to account for those repeated whaling disasters, 这会儿，你也许不大会想到那些一再发生的捕鲸业的灾难，

　　some few of which are casually⁴ chronicled—of this man or that man being taken out of the boat by the line, and lost.  虽说偶尔也有一些记载——不大会想到有这个或者那个人让捕鲸索给摔出了小艇而完了蛋。

　　For, when the line is darting⁵ out, to be seated then in the boat,  因为捕鲸索一经抛了出去，坐在小艇上，

　　is like being seated in the midst of the manifold whizzings of a steam-engine in full play, 就如置身在开足马力的蒸汽机的大闹声里，

　　when every flying beam, and shaft⁶, and wheel, is grazing you.  这时候每一支飞滚的杠杆呀，轴呀，轮盘呀，都在摩擦着你。

　　It is worse; for you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils⁷,  最糟糕的是，坐在这种危险的中心里，却不能坐在那里，一动不动，

　　because the boat is rocking like a cradle, and you are pitched one way and the other, without the slightest warning; 因为那只小艇本身就摇簸得象只摇篮，你只能毫无防备地听其摇来摆去；

　　and only by a certain self-adjusting buoyancy and simultaneousness of volition⁸ and action, 只有靠着一阵自动调节的弹力，和同时发生的意志力与活动力，

　　can you escape being made a Mazeppa of, and run away with where the all-seeing sun himself could never pierce you out. 才不至于做麦齐巴，不至于飞奔而去，飞奔到那个始终张开眼睛的太阳也看不见你的地方去。

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