英语听书《白鲸记》第1010期

（单词翻译）

And now, while both elastic¹ gunwales were springing in and out, as the whale dallied² with the doomed³ craft in this devilish way; and from his body being submerged beneath the boat, he could not be darted⁴ at from the bows, for the bows were almost inside of him, as it were; and while the other boats involuntarily paused, as before a quick crisis impossible to withstand, then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious with this tantalizing⁵ vicinity of his foe⁶, which placed him all alive and helpless in the very jaws⁸ he hated; frenzied⁹ with all this, he seized the long bone with his naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench¹⁰ it from its gripe. As now he thus vainly strove, the jaw⁷ slipped from him; the frail¹¹ gunwales bent¹² in, collapsed¹³, and snapped, as both jaws, like an enormous shears¹⁴, sliding further aft, bit the craft completely in twain, and locked themselves fast again in the sea, midway between the two floating wrecks¹⁵. These floated aside, the broken ends drooping¹⁶, the crew at the stern-wreck clinging to the gunwales, and striving to hold fast to the oars¹⁷ to lash¹⁸ them across.

且说在大鲸这样可怕地逗弄这只命数已定的小艇的同时，那有弹性的艇舷便不住地弹进弹出；可是，因为大鲸的身体还在艇底下，无法在艇头用标枪刺它，因为艇头可说是差不多都在它嘴巴里，而其它小艇则因突然碰上一种无法对付的巨变，都不期而然地停了下来。正是这个偏热狂的亚哈，眼看如此迫近自己的宿仇，却硬是无可奈何地身陷在他所痛恨的这个仇敌的嘴巴里，不禁愤怒万分。这一切使他一阵狂乱，光着双手，抓住那只长长的下颚，发狂似地想把它揪住，免得被它卡在里面。正当他此时在这样自负地奋斗时，那下颚打他手里一滑，滑脱了，那只嘴巴象一把巨剪似的，往后一闪，把这只小艇咬成两段，脆薄的船舷顿时弯卷起来，豁地一声断了，那只鲸却把嘴巴一闭，闭得紧紧地打两片漂浮的残艇中间游去了。残板在旁边漂，残破的零星东西也下沉了，在破艇梢上的水手，都紧扳着艇舷，设法抓住桨子，用绳子把桨子横缚在艇舷上。

At that preluding moment, ere the boat was yet snapped, Ahab, the first to perceive the whale's intent, by the crafty¹⁹ upraising of his head, a movement that loosed his hold for the time; at that moment his hand had made one final effort to push the boat out of the bite. But only slipping further into the whale's mouth, and tilting²⁰ over sideways as it slipped, the boat had shaken off his hold on the jaw; spilled him out of it, as he leaned to the push; and so he fell flat-faced upon the sea.

就在这只小艇将断未断、眼看就要出事的时分，亚哈第一个看出了这条大鲸的意图，他灵巧地把头往上一腾，这个动作使他暂时把手一松；就在这时，他一只手使起最后一把劲，想把小艇从它口里给推出来。不料却使小艇更往鲸嘴滑了进去，而且这一滑，小艇也斜倒了，小艇把他揪着鲸嘴的手给震脱了；他连忙俯身想再推一下，却一下子教他从那嘴里给喷了出来，仰面跌在海上。