英语听书《白鲸记》第803期

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　　他从刀鞘里拉出了船刀，一边把刀锋搁在捕鲸索上，一边掉头对着斯塔布，探问地嚷道，"割吗？"这时，比普那只给窒息得铁青的面孔，很清楚地表示出：看在上帝的份上，请割吧！整个事情，发生在不满半分钟里，真是倏忽而逝。

　　Damn him, cut! roared Stubb; and so the whale was lost and Pip was saved.

　　该死的东西，割！斯塔布咆哮道；于是，失了大鲸，救了比普。

　　So soon as he recovered himself, the poor little negro was assailed¹ by yells and execrations from the crew. Tranquilly² permitting these irregular cursings to evaporate, Stubb then in a plain, business-like, but still half humorous manner, cursed Pip officially; and that done, unofficially gave him much wholesome³ advice. The substance was, Never jump from a boat, Pip, except—but all the rest was indefinite, as the soundest advice ever is. Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still better. Moreover, as if perceiving at last that if he should give undiluted conscientious⁴ advice to Pip, he would be leaving him too wide a margin⁵ to jump in for the future; Stubb suddenly dropped all advice, and concluded with a peremptory⁶ command "Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the Lord, I won't pick you up if you jump; mind that.

　　这个可怜的小黑人刚一恢复神志，就给水手们叫骂得要死。斯塔布安静地让他们把这种不正常的咒骂发泄过后，就以一种简单明了的。然而不免半含幽默的态度，正式地骂起比普来；这样骂过了后，又非正式地给他很多有益的教言。那大意是：比普啊，千万别跳出小艇，除非是——不过，其余的可就含含糊糊了。最精采的教言总是这样，总之，总起来说就是："千万不要离开小艇"，是捕鲸业中的真正的座右铭；不过，有时也会有不得不跳出小艇才比较妥当的情况发生。而且，仿佛他最后又预见到，如果教他对比普说出真正出自良心的教言来，那就未免使比普将来可以有过多的跳出去的机会了；于是，斯塔布突然煞住了一切的教言，而以一种断然的命令口吻为结束："千万不要离开小艇，比普，否则，老实说，如果你跳下去，我就不捞你起来喽；记住。

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