英语听书《白鲸记》第773期

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　　Almost universally, a lone⁴ whale— as a solitary⁵ Leviathan is called—proves an ancient one. 差不多人人都知道，一条孤鲸——这是人们对一只孤寂的大海兽的叫法——总是上了年纪的老鲸。

　　Like venerable moss-bearded Daniel Boone, he will have no one near him but Nature herself; 它象那个颇有来历、满脸胡须的丹尼尔·布恩一样，除了大自然而外，谁都不能接近它；

　　and her he takes to wife in the wilderness⁶ of waters, and the best of wives she is, though she keeps so many moody⁷ secrets. 它就在茫茫的大海中，以大自然为妻，而大自然是最贤良的妻室，虽然她拥有许多喜怒无常的秘密。

　　The schools composing none but young and vigorous males, previously⁸ mentioned, offer a strong contrast to the harem schools. 上文所提到的。那种光是一些年富力强、气概昂昂的雄鲸所组成的鲸队，却是跟那种闺秀鲸队截然不同的。

　　For while those female whales are characteristically timid, the young males, or forty-barrel-bulls, as they call them, 因为雌鲸是以胆小害臊为特点，而这些青年雄鲸，或者一般所谓四十大桶的雄鲸，

　　are by far the most pugnacious⁹ of all Leviathans, and proverbially the most dangerous to encounter; 其英勇好斗却是一切鲸类之冠；而且也是尽人皆知，一碰上它是最危险的；

　　excepting those wondrous¹⁰ grey-headed, grizzled whales, sometimes met, and these will fight you like grim fiends exasperated¹¹ by a penal¹² gout. 不过，有时碰上那种满头斑白得出奇的老鲸，这种老鲸也会象那被该死的痛风症惹得怒不可遏的恶魔一般跟你决斗一番的。

　　The Forty-barrel-bull schools are larger than the harem schools. 四十大桶雄鲸的鲸队也远较那些闺秀鲸队气势浩大。

　　Like a mob of young collegians, they are full of fight, fun, and wickedness, tumbling round the world at such a reckless, rollicking rate, 它们象一群年青的大学生那样，爱好打架，兴致勃勃，顽皮淘气，满不在乎而嘻嘻哈哈地东冲西撞，

　　that no prudent¹³ underwriter would insure them any more than he would a riotous¹⁴ lad at Yale or Harvard. 因此，谨慎的保险掮客都宁可去找那些耶鲁或者哈佛的放荡吵闹的小伙子，而不高兴去找它们兜保险生意。

　　They soon relinquish¹⁵ this turbulence¹⁶ though, and when about three-fourths grown, break up, and separately go about in quest of settlements, that is, harems. 不过，它们不久也要放弃这种吵吵闹闹的生活，而且，等到它们成长到四分之三时，大家也就散伙，各奔前程，去找各人的落脚地，也就是说，去找闺秀们去了。

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