英语听书《白鲸记》第21期

  Instantly I felt a shock running through all my frame;nothing was to be seen,and nothing was to be heard; 

 but a supernatural hand seemed placed in mine.My arm hung over the counterpane,and the nameless,unimaginable, 

 silent form or phantom,to which the hand belonged,seemed closely seated by my bed side.For what seemed ages piled on ages, 

 I lay there,frozen with the most awful fears,not daring to drag away my hand;yet ever thinking that if I could but stir it one single inch, 

 the horrid¹ spell would be broken.I knew not how this consciousness at last glided² away from me; 

 but waking in the morning,I shudderingly³ remembered it all, 

 and for days and weeks and months afterwards I lost myself in confounding attempts to explain the mystery. 

 Nay,to this very hour,I often puzzle myself with it. 

 Now,take away the awful fear,and my sensations at feeling the supernatural hand in mine were very similar, 

 in their strangeness,to those which I experienced on waking up and seeing Queequeg's pagan arm thrown round me. 

 But at length all the past night's events soberly recurred,one by one,in fixed⁴ reality, 

 and then I lay only alive to the comical predicament.For though I tried to move his arm unlock his bridegroom clasp yet, 

 sleeping as he was,he still hugged me tightly,as though naught⁵ but death should part us twain. 

 I now strove to rouse him Queequeg!but his only answer was a snore.I then rolled over, 

 my neck feeling as if it were in a horse collar;and suddenly felt a slight scratch. 

 Throwing aside the counterpane,there lay the tomahawk sleeping by the savage's side, 

 as if it were a hatchet⁶ faced baby.A pretty pickle,truly,thought I;abed here in a strange house in the broad day, 

 with a cannibal and a tomahawk!Queequeg!in the name of goodness,Queequeg,wake!At length,by dint⁷ of much wriggling, 

 and loud and incessant⁸ expostulations upon the unbecomingness of his hugging a fellow male in that matrimonial sort of style, 

 I succeeded in extracting a grunt;and presently,he drew back his arm, 

 shook himself all over like a Newfoundland dog just from the water,and sat up in bed, 

 stiff as a pike staff,looking at me,and rubbing his eyes as if he did not altogether remember how I came to be there, 

 though a dim consciousness of knowing something about me seemed slowly dawning over him. 

 Meanwhile,I lay quietly eyeing him,having no serious misgivings⁹ now,and bent¹⁰ upon narrowly observing so curious a creature. 

 When,at last,his mind seemed made up touching¹¹ the character of his bedfellow,and he became,as it were,reconciled to the fact; 

 he jumped out upon the floor,and by certain signs and sounds gave me to understand that,if it pleased me, 

 he would dress first and then leave me to dress afterwards,leaving the whole apartment to myself. 

1 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

2 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 shudderingly   

参考例句：

• Shudderingly, she acknowledged to herself that she dared not face what lay before her. 她害怕地发抖，她承认自己不敢面对眼前的一切。 来自互联网

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 naught   

n.无，零 [=nought]

参考例句：

• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。
• I hope that all your efforts won't go for naught.我希望你的努力不会毫无结果。

6 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。

7 dint   

n.由于，靠；凹坑

参考例句：

• He succeeded by dint of hard work.他靠苦干获得成功。
• He reached the top by dint of great effort.他费了很大的劲终于爬到了顶。

8 incessant   

adj.不停的，连续的

参考例句：

• We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
• She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。

9 misgivings   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧

参考例句：

• I had grave misgivings about making the trip. 对于这次旅行我有过极大的顾虑。
• Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后， 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

11 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。