英语听书《白鲸记》第435期

 It was hardly to be doubted, that several vessels¹ reported to have encountered, at such or such a time, or on such or such a meridian², a Sperm³ Whale of uncommon⁴ magnitude and malignity⁵, which whale, after doing great mischief⁶ to his assailants, has completely escaped them;  但是,也有使人难以置疑的传说,说是有若干船只在某时某地,碰到了一种非常之大。非常之凶的抹香鲸,那条鲸在对它的攻击者造成很大伤害后,便逃之夭夭;

to some minds it was not an unfair presumption⁷, I say, that the whale in question must have been no other than Moby Dick.  我认为,有些人认为那条大鲸一定就是莫比－迪克的这种想法,并不是全然无稽的。

Yet as of late the Sperm Whale fishery had been marked by various and not unfrequent instances of great ferocity, cunning, and malice⁸ in the monster attacked;  然而,因为近来捕抹香鲸业遭到这只巨兽凶残。刁滑和恶毒的袭击,已经有过各种并非罕见的实例,

therefore it was, that those who by accident ignorantly gave battle to Moby Dick;  因此,凡是向莫比－迪克挑战的人,都是偶然碰到,而且是不知内情的,

such hunters, perhaps, for the most part, were content to ascribe the peculiar⁹ terror he bred, more, as it were, to the perils¹⁰ of the Sperm Whale fishery at large, than to the individual cause.  这些捕鲸者也许可以说往往就把他们所受到的特殊恐怖,当成是一般捕抹香鲸业的大危险,而不把它看作是个别出现的情况,

In that way, mostly, the disastrous¹¹ encounter between Ahab and the whale had hitherto been popularly regarded. 于是乎,亚哈跟这大鲸的灾难性的遭遇就此被看成一般的情况。

And as for those who, previously¹² hearing of the White Whale, by chance caught sight of him;  至于那些先前曾经听到过。或者偶然看到过白鲸的人;

in the beginning of the thing they had every one of them, almost, as boldly and fearlessly lowered for him, as for any other whale of that species.  在刚一碰到这种情况时,他们差不多每一个人都会勇敢无畏地放下小艇去追击它,如同追击任何一条抹香鲸那样。

But at length, such calamities¹³ did ensue in these assaults-not restricted to sprained¹⁴ wrists and ankles, broken limbs, or devouring¹⁵ amputations-but fatal to the last degree of fatality¹⁶;  可是,到了后来,这些攻击都招致了诸如此类的不幸...不仅扭伤了肘腕和膝盖骨,折断了四肢,或者给吞噬了肢体...而且最后还要遭到杀身之祸;

those repeated disastrous repulses¹⁷, all accumulating and piling their terrors upon Moby Dick;  这样一再遭到灾难性的反击,就使得他们都把亲受的恐怖全都堆积到莫比－迪克身上;

those things had gone far to shake the fortitude¹⁸ of many brave hunters, to whom the story of the White Whale had eventually come. 于是,最后那些勇敢的捕鲸人听到了白鲸的故事,这种情况就难免要动摇他们的刚毅精神。

1 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。

3 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

4 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

5 malignity   

n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性

参考例句：

• The little witch put a mock malignity into her beautiful eyes, and Joseph, trembling with sincere horror, hurried out praying and ejaculating "wicked" as he went. 这个小女巫那双美丽的眼睛里添上一种嘲弄的恶毒神气。约瑟夫真的吓得直抖，赶紧跑出去，一边跑一边祷告，还嚷着“恶毒！” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Outside, the pitiless rain fell, fell steadily, with a fierce malignity that was all too human. 外面下着无情的雨，不断地下着，简直跟通人性那样凶狠而恶毒。 来自辞典例句

6 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

7 presumption   

n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定

参考例句：

• Please pardon my presumption in writing to you.请原谅我很冒昧地写信给你。
• I don't think that's a false presumption.我认为那并不是错误的推测。

8 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

9 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

10 perils   

极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境）

参考例句：

• The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。
• With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难？

11 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

12 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

13 calamities   

n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事

参考例句：

• They will only triumph by persevering in their struggle against natural calamities. 他们只有坚持与自然灾害搏斗，才能取得胜利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• One moment's false security can bring a century of calamities. 图一时之苟安，贻百年之大患。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 sprained   

v.&n. 扭伤

参考例句：

• I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤，把脚脖子扭了。
• When Mary sprained her ankles, John carried her piggyback to the doctors. 玛丽扭伤了足踝，约翰驮她去看医生。

15 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

16 fatality   

n.不幸，灾祸，天命

参考例句：

• She struggle against fatality in vain.她徒然奋斗反抗宿命。
• He began to have a growing sense of fatality.他开始有一种越来越强烈的宿命感。

17 repulses   

v.击退( repulse的第三人称单数 )；驳斥；拒绝

参考例句：

18 fortitude   

n.坚忍不拔；刚毅

参考例句：

• His dauntless fortitude makes him absolutely fearless.他不屈不挠的坚韧让他绝无恐惧。
• He bore the pain with great fortitude.他以极大的毅力忍受了痛苦。