英语听书《白鲸记》第393期

 But the third Emir, now seeing himself all alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint;  但是,这位三王子,现在看到只有他一个人在后甲板上,似乎觉得已从某种奇怪的拘束里获得了解脱;

for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks¹ in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right over the Grand Turk's head;  因为他一边对前后左右暗丢各种灵敏的眼色,一边踢掉他的鞋子后,突然在太君的头顶直跳起迅捷无声,有如狂风的水手舞来;

and then, by a dexterous² sleight³, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes down rollicking so far at least as he remains⁴ visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the rear with music. But ere stepping into the cabin doorway⁵ below,  接着,又以一种灵巧的手法,把他的帽子扔进后桅楼里,当它是只架子,这才高高兴兴地走下去,至少当他还未完全走下舱口的时候,他还是用音乐做殿后变换起其他各种节目来。但是,在他跨进下边的船长室的门口之前,

he pauses, ships a new face altogether, and, then, independent, hilarious⁶ little Flask⁷ enters King Ahab's presence, in the character of Abjectus, or the Slave. 他却歇了一下,又装出一副面孔来,于是,这位自食其力的。愉愉快快的小弗拉斯克便以一种贱民或者奴隶的身份走到亚哈王跟前去了。

It is not the least among the strange things bred by the intense artificialness of sea-usages, that while in the open air of the deck some officers will, upon provocation⁸, bear themselves boldly and defyingly enough towards their commander;  许多由强烈的人为的海上习惯所产生出来的怪事真是无奇不有,比如说,在露天甲板上,有些头目偶然火性一发,也会冒失得敢于冲犯一下他的上司;

yet, ten to one, let those very officers the next moment go down to their customary dinner in that same commander's cabin, and straightway their inoffensive, not to say deprecatory and humble⁹ air towards him, as he sits at the head of the table;  然而,再隔一会,一下到舱里,走进这个上司的舱室里去吃那例常便饭时,对着那个坐在上席的首长,刚才那个发了火的头目,十个倒有九个就立刻循规蹈矩起来,至于唯唯诺诺和卑躬屈膝的态度那就更甭提了;

this is marvellous, sometimes most comical. Wherefore this difference? A problem? Perhaps not.  这是颇难置信的,往往也是挺滑稽的。为什么会有这种截然不同的情形呢?是个问题吗?也许不是。

To have been Belshazzar, King of Babylon; and to have been Belshazzar, not haughtily¹⁰ but courteously¹¹, therein certainly must have been some touch of mundane¹² grandeur¹³.  世上既然有过巴比伦王伯沙撒;且又是态度不是傲慢而是礼仪十足的伯沙撒;其中一定就有一种世俗的气概了。

1 winks   

v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• I'll feel much better when I've had forty winks. 我打个盹就会感到好得多。
• The planes were little silver winks way out to the west. 飞机在西边老远的地方，看上去只是些很小的银色光点。 来自辞典例句

2 dexterous   

adj.灵敏的；灵巧的

参考例句：

• As people grow older they generally become less dexterous.随着年龄的增长，人通常会变得不再那么手巧。
• The manager was dexterous in handling his staff.那位经理善于运用他属下的职员。

3 sleight   

n.技巧，花招

参考例句：

• With a little statistical sleight of hand they could make things look all right.只要在统计上耍些小小的花招，他们就能瞒天过海。
• In the theater of the media there is an economic sleight of hand.传播媒介在经济上耍了一个大花招。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

6 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

7 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

8 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

9 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

10 haughtily   

adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地

参考例句：

• She carries herself haughtily. 她举止傲慢。
• Haughtily, he stalked out onto the second floor where I was standing. 他傲然跨出电梯，走到二楼，我刚好站在那儿。

11 courteously   

adv.有礼貌地，亲切地

参考例句：

• He courteously opened the door for me.他谦恭有礼地为我开门。
• Presently he rose courteously and released her.过了一会，他就很客气地站起来，让她走开。

12 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

13 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。