英语听书《白鲸记》第507期

 　　and also the anxiety he evinced in exactly shaping the thigh¹ board,or clumsy cleat, as it is sometimes called, 人们还看到他急切地在纠正那大腿板(有时也叫系缆粗板，

　　the horizontal piece in the boat's bow for bracing² the knee against in darting³ or stabbing at the whale; 是一种安在船头的横式平板，在对大鲸投射鱼枪或者标枪时用来撑牢膝头的)的式样，

　　when it was observed how often he stood up in that boat with his solitary⁴ knee fixed⁵ in the semi-circular depression in the cleat, 也看到他老是站在那只艇里，曲起仅有的一只膝头，跪在系缆板的半圆形的凹凹里，

　　and with the carpenter's chisel⁶ gouged⁷ out a little here and straightened it a little there; 手里拿着一支木匠的凿子，这边凿掉一点，那边凿平一些，

　　all these things,I say, had awakened⁸ much interest and curiosity at the time. 我说，所有这些事情，在当时都是教大家很感兴趣，又感到奇怪的。

　　But almost everybody supposed that this particular preparative heedfulness in Ahab must only be with a view to the ultimate chase of Moby Dick;  不过，几乎每一个人都认为，亚哈之所以准备得如此小心道地，一定只是为了指望最后追击到莫比－迪克而已，

　　for he had already revealed his intention to hunt that mortal monster in person. 因为他早已透露出他要亲自猎击那巨兽的意图。

　　But such a supposition did by no means involve the remotest suspicion as to any boat's crew being assigned to that boat. 但是，这样的推测，可一点也没有联系到已经派定水手在那小艇上的这种不着边际的疑惑上去。

　　Now, with the subordinate phantoms⁹, what wonder remained soon waned¹¹ away; for in a whaler wonders soon wane¹⁰. 现在，随着那几个鬼怪似的部下的出现，什么怪事都一下子消散了；因为在捕鲸船上，怪事总是一下子就消散的。

　　Besides, now and then such unaccountable odds¹² and ends of strange nations come up from the unknown nooks and ash-holes of the earth to man these floating outlaws¹³ of whalers; 再说，时时就有这么一些不知是从什么角落里和垃圾坑里爬出来的、来路不明的异邦的残渣余滓来做这种漂泊的歹徒似的捕鲸船的水手，

　　and the ships themselves often pick up such queer castaway creatures found tossing about the open sea on planks¹⁴, bits of wreck¹⁵, oars¹⁶, whaleboats, canoes, blown-off Japanese junks, and what not; 而捕鲸船本身也经常把那些漂泛在大海里的船板上，攀在一片破船上，桨子上，小艇上，独木舟上，攀在被刮散了的日本舢舨上的这种希奇古怪的遭难者收罗了下来；

　　that Beelzebub himself might climb up the side and step down into the cabin to chat with the captain, 因此，如果魔王本人也会亲自爬上船舷，走到船长室里去跟船长聊天，

　　and it would not create any unsubduable excitement in the forecastle. 也决不会引起船头楼里什么压制不住的激动。

1 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。

2 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

3 darting   

v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• Swallows were darting through the clouds. 燕子穿云急飞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Swallows were darting through the air. 燕子在空中掠过。 来自辞典例句

4 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

5 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。

6 chisel   

n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿

参考例句：

• This chisel is useful for getting into awkward spaces.这凿子在要伸入到犄角儿里时十分有用。
• Camille used a hammer and chisel to carve out a figure from the marble.卡米尔用锤子和凿子将大理石雕刻出一个人像。

7 gouged   

v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…

参考例句：

• The lion's claws had gouged a wound in the horse's side. 狮爪在马身一侧抓了一道深口。
• The lovers gouged out their names on the tree. 情人们把他们的名字刻在树上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 phantoms   

n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They vanished down the stairs like two phantoms. 他们像两个幽灵似的消失在了楼下。 来自辞典例句
• The horrible night that he had passed had left phantoms behind it. 他刚才度过的恐布之夜留下了种种错觉。 来自辞典例句

10 wane   

n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦

参考例句：

• The moon is on the wane.月亮渐亏。
• Her enthusiasm for him was beginning to wane.她对他的热情在开始减退。

11 waned   

v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而，我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
• The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

13 outlaws   

歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯

参考例句：

• During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年，罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
• I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家，也不必与不法分子斗争。

14 planks   

（厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点

参考例句：

• The house was built solidly of rough wooden planks. 这房子是用粗木板牢固地建造的。
• We sawed the log into planks. 我们把木头锯成了木板。

15 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

16 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》