英语听书《白鲸记》第409期

 Why, thou monkey, said a harpooneer to one of these lads, we've been cruising now hard upon three years, and thou hast not raised a whale yet.  怎么,你这猴子,一个标枪手对这样一个小伙子说,我们到现在已经巡游了快三年,你却还没有叫出一只鲸来。

Whales are scarce as hen's teeth whenever thou art up here.  只要你在那上面,鲸简直就跟母鸡的牙齿一样稀罕了。

Perhaps they were; or perhaps there might have been shoals of them in the far horizon;  他们也许是这样;也许在老远的地方可能有一群群的鲸;

but lulled¹ into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence² of waves with thoughts, that at last he loses his identity;  但是,这个心不在焉的小伙子已让浪潮与思潮的混合韵律,催眠得六神无主,想入非非,象吸鸦片似的没精打采,以致终于失去识别力;

takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading³ mankind and nature;  把他脚下的神秘的海洋,当成一幅明显的画像,其中有渗透了人类与自然的。

and every strange, half-seen, gliding⁴, beautiful thing that eludes⁵ him;  深蓝无底的灵魂;而每一种把他弄胡涂了的奇特的。

every dimly-discovered, uprising fin⁶ of some undiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive⁷ thoughts that only people the soul by continually flitting through it.  半隐半现的。滑滑闪闪的美丽的东西;每一种有闹不清的形体的时隐时现。时升时沉的鳍类,在他看来,只是人的心灵在不断想来想去的那种无从捉摸的思想的化身。

In this enchanted⁸ mood, thy spirit ebbs⁹ away to whence it came; becomes diffused¹⁰ through time and space;  在这种受蛊惑的心情中,你的生命就会向着它来的地方逐渐衰退,变成时空不明,

like Crammer's sprinkled Pantheistic ashes, forming at last a part of every shore the round globe over. 象克兰默这个泛神论者撒在海里的骨灰一样,终于弄得到处是岸了。

There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea;  这时,你已失去了生命,有的只是靠这艘徐徐滚动的船所赐予的摇晃不停的生气,而船只却是靠着海洋;

by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God. But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move your foot or hand an inch;  海洋又是靠着上帝那费解的潮汐才有生气的。但是,这个睡魔,这个梦神一经附在你的身上,你的手足只消挪移一英寸,双手完全放松;

slip your hold at all; and your identity comes back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover¹¹.  那么你的本体就在恐怖中回来。你就翱翔在笛卡儿旋风运动的影响下,最初的物质浑沌状态渐次有了秩序的旋风上了。

And perhaps, at midday, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek¹² you drop through that transparent¹³ air into the summer sea, no more to rise for ever.  也许正是天气最晴朗的正午,你带着一声半闷半响的尖叫,穿过透明的太空,直落进了夏天的海洋,再也爬不起来了。

Heed¹⁴ it well, ye Pantheists! 好好地留心呀,你们这些泛神论者。

1 lulled   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They lulled her into a false sense of security. 他们哄骗她，使她产生一种虚假的安全感。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The movement of the train lulled me to sleep. 火车轻微的震动催我进入梦乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cadence   

n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫

参考例句：

• He delivered his words in slow,measured cadences.他讲话缓慢而抑扬顿挫、把握有度。
• He liked the relaxed cadence of his retired life.他喜欢退休生活的悠闲的节奏。

3 pervading   

v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• an all-pervading sense of gloom 无处不在的沮丧感
• a pervading mood of fear 普遍的恐惧情绪

4 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

5 eludes   

v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的第三人称单数 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到

参考例句：

• His name eludes me for the moment. 他的名字我一时想不起来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But philosophers seek a special sort of knowledge that eludes exact definition. 但是，哲学家所追求的是一种难以精确定义的特殊知识。 来自哲学部分

6 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

7 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

8 enchanted   

adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She was enchanted by the flowers you sent her. 她非常喜欢你送给她的花。
• He was enchanted by the idea. 他为这个主意而欣喜若狂。

9 ebbs   

退潮( ebb的名词复数 )； 落潮； 衰退

参考例句：

• When the tide ebbs it's a rock pool inhabited by crustaceans. 退潮时，它便成为甲壳动物居住的岩石区潮水潭。
• The new Russia steadily ebbs away drive out of Moscow. 驶离莫斯科愈来愈远以后，俄罗斯崭新的景象也逐渐消失。

10 diffused   

散布的，普及的，扩散的

参考例句：

• A drop of milk diffused in the water. 一滴牛奶在水中扩散开来。
• Gases and liquids diffused. 气体和液体慢慢混合了。

11 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

12 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

13 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

14 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。