英语听书《白鲸记》第15期

  I 'll break it for him,said I,now flying into a passion again at this unaccountable farrago of the landlord's. 

 It's broke a'ready,said he. 

 Broke,said IBROKE,do you mean? 

 Sartain,and that's the very reason he can not sell it,I guess. 

 Landlord,said I,going up to him as cool as Mt. Hecla in a snow stormlandlord,stop whittling¹. 

 You and I must understand one another,and that too without delay.I come to your house and want a bed; 

 you tell me you can only give me half a one;that the other half belongs to a certain harpooneer. 

 And about this harpooneer, 

 whom I have not yet seen, 

 you persist in telling me the most mystifying and exasperating² stories tending to beget³ in me an uncomfortable feeling towards the man whom you design for my bedfellowa sort of connexion,landlord, 

 which is an intimate and confidential⁴ one in the highest degree. 

 I now demand of you to speak out and tell me who and what this harpooneer is,and whether I shall be in all respects safe to spend the night with him. 

 And in the first place,you will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, 

 which if true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark⁵ mad,and I've no idea of sleeping with a madman; 

 and you,sir,YOU I mean,landlord,YOU,sir,by trying to induce me to do so knowingly,would thereby⁶ render yourself liable to a criminal prosecution⁷. 

 Wall,said the landlord,fetching a long breath,that's a purty long sarmon for a chap that rips a little now and then. 

 But be easy,be easy,this here harpooneer I have been tellin ' you of has just arrived from the south seas, 

 where he bought up a lot of ' balmed New Zealand heads(great curios,you know),and he's sold all on ' em but one, 

 and that one he's trying to sell to night,cause to morrow's Sunday, 

 and it would not do to be sellin ' human heads about the streets when folks is goin ' to churches.He wanted to,last Sunday, 

 but I stopped him just as he was goin ' out of the door with four heads strung on a string,for all the airth like a string of inions. 

 This account cleared up the otherwise unaccountable mystery,and showed that the landlord, 

 after all,had had no idea of fooling mebut at the same time what could I think of a harpooneer who stayed out of a Saturday night clean into the holy Sabbath, 

 engaged in such a cannibal business as selling the heads of dead idolators? 

 Depend upon it,landlord,that harpooneer is a dangerous man. 

 He pays reg'lar,was the rejoinder.But come,it's getting dreadful late,you had better be turning flukesit's a nice bed; 

 Sal and me slept in that ere bed the night we were spliced⁸.There's plenty of room for two to kick about in that bed; 

 it's an almighty⁹ big bed that.Why,afore we give it up,Sal used to put our Sam and little Johnny in the foot of it. 

 But I got a dreaming and sprawling¹⁰ about one night,and somehow,Sam got pitched on the floor,and came near breaking his arm. 

1 whittling   

v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Inflation has been whittling away their savings. 通货膨胀使他们的积蓄不断减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is whittling down the branch with a knife to make a handle for his hoe. 他在用刀削树枝做一把锄头柄。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 exasperating   

adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Our team's failure is very exasperating. 我们队失败了，真是气死人。
• It is really exasperating that he has not turned up when the train is about to leave. 火车快开了， 他还不来，实在急人。

3 beget   

v.引起；产生

参考例句：

• Dragons beget dragons,phoenixes beget phoenixes.龙生龙，凤生凤。
• Economic tensions beget political ones.经济紧张导致政治紧张。

4 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

5 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

6 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

7 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

8 spliced   

adj.（针织品）加固的n.叠接v.绞接( splice的过去式和过去分词 )；捻接（两段绳子）；胶接；粘接（胶片、磁带等）

参考例句：

• He spliced the two lengths of film together. 他把两段胶卷粘接起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Have you heard?John's just got spliced. 听说了吗？约翰刚结了婚。 来自辞典例句

9 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

10 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇