英语听书《白鲸记》第746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。

So in dreams, have I seen majestic² Satan thrusting forth³ his tormented⁴ colossal⁵ claw from the flame Baltic of Hell. 这就象我曾经在梦中看见威风凛凛的撒旦，从地狱的大火海里猛地抽出他那痛苦难挨的巨爪。

But in gazing at such scenes, it is all in all what mood you are in; 不过，在凝望这种景致的时候，你尽可以有各式各样的心情；

if in the Dantean, the devils will occur to you; if in that of Isaiah, the archangels. 如果你是但丁式的人物，你就会想到许多恶魔；如果你是以赛亚的信徒，就会想到许多天使。

Standing⁶ at the mast-head of my ship during a sunrise that crimsoned⁷ sky and sea, 有一回，在朝暾初动，海天一抹鲜红的时候，

I once saw a large herd⁸ of whales in the east, all heading towards the sun, and for a moment vibrating in concert with peaked flukes. 我站在我这艘船的桅顶上，看到东方有一大群鲸，全都向着太阳前进，一齐竖起裂片闪动了一会儿。

As it seemed to me at the time, such a grand embodiment of adoration⁹ of the gods was never beheld¹⁰, even in Persia, the home of the fire worshippers. 当时我觉得，这样崇拜神明的庄严的场面，哪怕在拜火者的发源地——波斯，也从来没有见到过。

As Ptolemy Philopater testified of the African elephant, I then testified of the whale, pronouncing him the most devout¹¹ of all beings. 如同托雷密·非罗派德（埃及的马其顿王）为亚洲的大象作证一样，我也要为大鲸作证，宣称它是万物中最虔诚的动物。

For according to King Juba, the military elephants of antiquity¹² often hailed the morning with their trunks uplifted in the profoundest silence. 因为根据朱巴王（非洲古国的努米底亚王）的说法，古代那些战象总是在万籁俱寂中高举它们的大鼻子欢迎早晨。

The chance comparison in this chapter, between the whale and the elephant, 在这一章中，偶然把大鲸拿来跟大象比较，

so far as some aspects of the tail of the one and the trunk of the other are concerned, 不过，就大鲸的尾巴与大象的鼻子的某些形状说来，

should not tend to place those two opposite organs on an equality, much less the creatures to which they respectively belong.  的确不应该把这两种位置相反的器官一视同仁，何况这两种动物还各有所宗。

分享到：