英语听书《白鲸记》第637期

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　　Haul in the chains! Let the carcase go astern! 把锚链拖进来！让尸体往后漂去！

　　The vast tackles have now done their duty. 这会儿，那两只大复滑车已经完成它们的职责了。

　　The peeled white body of the beheaded whale flashes like a marble sepulchre; 这条被砍了头。身体剥得雪白的鲸，象座大理石墓似的闪着光，

　　though changed in hue¹, it has not perceptibly lost anything in bulk. It is still colossal².  虽然变了颜色，可是，就大小说来，却一点也看不出有什么消缩。它还是硕大无朋。

　　Slowly it floats more and more away, the water round it torn and splashed by the insatiate sharks, 它慢慢地越漂越远了，它四周的海水，被那些贪得无厌的鲨鱼穿跃得浪花四溅，

　　and the air above vexed³ with rapacious⁴ flights of screaming fowls⁵, whose beaks⁶ are like so many insulting poniards in the whale. 上空又激荡着贪婪的鸟群的尖叫声，它们的嘴喙有如许多匕首，在无礼地戳这条鲸。

　　The vast white headless phantom⁷ floats further and further from the ship, 这条无头的白色大妖怪越漂越远离大船，

　　and every rod that it so floats, what seem square roods of sharks and cubic roods of fowls, augment⁸ the murderous din⁹. 而且好象它每漂一步，鲨鱼群便前进一尺，禽鸟群则前进一丈，四下尽是一片杀气腾腾的喧闹声。

　　For hours and hours from the almost stationary¹⁰ ship that hideous¹¹ sight is seen. 从那只差不多是静止着的船上看去，还时时可以望到这个可怕的场面。

　　Beneath the unclouded and mild azure¹² sky, upon the fair face of the pleasant sea,  在柔和明朗的苍空下，在平静鲜明的海洋上，

　　wafted¹³ by the joyous¹⁴ breezes, that great mass of death floats on and on, till lost in infinite perspectives. 快意的和风在飘拂着，吹得那只庞大的尸体不住向前漂去，最后，消失在眼力望不到的地方。

　　There's a most doleful and most mocking funeral! 这真是一个最悲哀而又最富有讽刺意味的葬礼！

　　The sea-vultures all in pious¹⁵ mourning, the air-sharks all punctiliously¹⁶ in black or speckled. 海上的贪心汉都在虔诚地祭吊着，空中的骗子也都拘泥形式地穿黑戴孝。

　　In life but few of them would have helped the whale, I ween, if peradventure he had needed it; 在鲸活着的时候，如果万一它真需要帮助的话，我相信，它们肯来帮助的，实在为数不多。

　　but upon the banquet of his funeral they most piously¹⁷ do pounce¹⁸. 但是，在吃它的出丧酒时，它们却都顶虔诚地穷扑猛抓了。

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