英语听书《白鲸记》第730期

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the staff is much slighter than that of the harpoon², and also of a lighter¹ material—pine. 捏柄比标枪的柄子轻一点，也是用较轻的木料——松木做成的。

It is furnished with a small rope called a warp³, of considerable length, by which it can be hauled back to the hand after darting⁴. 它系有一根叫做纤的细绳子，相当长，有了这样的绳子，枪投出去后，又能收得回来。

But before going further, it is important to mention here, that though the harpoon may be pitchpoled in the same way with the lance, 在这里，得先说明一下后，再说下去，那就是，标枪虽然也可以象捕鲸枪一样投出去，

yet it is seldom done; and when done, is still less frequently successful, 然而，人们却不大使用它，即使偶尔使用了，也还是不大会一枪中的，

on account of the greater weight and inferior length of the harpoon as compared with the lance, which in effect become serious drawbacks. 因为跟捕鲸枪比起来，标枪很重，又不够长，实际上反而会成为严重的阻碍。

As a general thing, therefore, you must first get fast to a whale, before any pitchpoling comes into play. 因此，一般说来，一定要先拴住一条鲸，这才可以投出捕鲸枪。

Look now at Stubb; a man who from his humorous, deliberate coolness and equanimity⁵ in the direst emergencies, was specially⁶ qualified⁷ to excel in pitchpoling. 现在请瞧斯塔布吧，象他这样在最危急关头而能诙谐百出、胸有成竹、泰然镇定的人，是特别适宜于投杆而胜人一筹的。

Look at him; he stands upright in the tossed bow of the flying boat; wrapt in fleecy foam⁸, the towing whale is forty feet ahead. 瞧他！他站在那只如飞的小艇的摇摆不定的船头上，腰板笔直，四下尽是毛绒似的泡沫，那条拖着绳索的鲸就在前面四十英尺的地方。

Handling the long lance lightly, glancing twice or thrice along its length to see if it be exactly straight, 他轻轻地抓起那支长长的捕鲸枪，眼睛瞥了枪身两三下，看它是否笔直，

Stubb whistlingly gathers up the coil of the warp in one hand, so as to secure its free end in his grasp, leaving the rest unobstructed. 飒飒地把一卷纤子收拢在手里，以便抓住纤头，不跟整条纤子缠在一起。

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