英语听书《白鲸记》第563期

 　　Now, by all odds¹, the most ancient extant portrait anyways purporting² to be the whale's, is to be found in the famous cavern-pagoda³ of Elephants, in India. 总之，迄今尚存的最古的称为鲸的画像，还可以在印度象岛的著名穴塔里找到。

　　The Brahmins maintain that in the almost endless sculptures of that immemorial pagoda, all the trades and pursuits, 那些婆罗门僧都认为，在那个古塔的无数的雕刻物中，差不多早在各行各业，

　　every conceivable avocation⁴ of man, were prefigured ages before any of them actually came into being. 在人间一切所想得到的职业出现之前，就已把它们预先表现出来了。

　　No wonder then, that in some sort our noble profession of whaling should have been there shadowed forth⁵. 那么，毫不足奇地，我们这种高尚的捕鲸职业，也一定被多多少少预先表现出来了。

　　The Hindoo whale referred to, occurs in a separate department of the wall, depicting⁶ the incarnation of Vishnu in the form of leviathan, 在一块单独的内壁上，有一条以大海兽的形体来描绘毗湿奴(印度神话中三大神之一。)的化身的印度鲸，

　　learnedly known as the Matse Avatar.  学者们称之为马兹·亚瓦达(即毗湿奴的第十化身。)。

　　But though this sculpture is half man and half whale, so as only to give the tail of the latter, yet that small section of him is all wrong. 虽则这个雕刻品是半人半鲸的形体，只有尾巴有点象鲸的，可是，这一点点相象的地方还是个三不象。

　　It looks more like the tapering⁷ tail of an anaconda, than the broad palms of the true whale's majestic⁸ flukes. 它看上去倒更象是大蟒蛇的尖细的尾巴，而不象一只真正的鲸的堂皇而阔平的尾巴。

　　But go to the old Galleries, and look now at a great Christian⁹ painter's portrait of this fish; 可是，你现在不妨到一些古老的画廊去看一看一位基督教徒大画家所画的这种鱼吧，

　　for he succeeds no better than the antediluvian¹⁰ Hindoo. 他的成就也不见得比上古的印度画家高明多少。

　　It is Guido's picture of Perseus rescuing Andromeda from the sea-monster or whale.  这就是基多(累尼·基多(1575—1642)——意大利画家。)那幅珀修斯从大海兽或者鲸那里救出了安德罗墨达的名画。

　　Where did Guido get the model of such a strange creature as that? 基多从哪里弄到这样一种怪物作模特儿呢？

1 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？

2 purporting   

v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cindy Adams (Columnist) : He's purporting to be Mother Teresa. 辛迪？亚当斯（专栏作家）：他无意成为德兰修女。 来自互联网
• To prohibit certain practices purporting to be sales by auction. 本条例旨在对看来是以拍卖方式作出的售卖中某些行为予以禁止。 来自互联网

3 pagoda   

n.宝塔（尤指印度和远东的多层宝塔），（印度教或佛教的）塔式庙宇

参考例句：

• The ancient pagoda is undergoing repairs.那座古塔正在修缮中。
• The pagoda is reflected upside down in the water.宝塔影子倒立在水里。

4 avocation   

n.副业，业余爱好

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• Learning foreign languages is just an avocation with me.学习外语只不过是我的一项业余爱好。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

7 tapering   

adj.尖端细的

参考例句：

• Interest in the scandal seems to be tapering off. 人们对那件丑闻的兴趣似乎越来越小了。
• Nonproductive expenditures keep tapering down. 非生产性开支一直在下降。

8 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 antediluvian   

adj.史前的，陈旧的

参考例句：

• His ideas are positively antediluvian!他的思想是纯粹的老古董。
• This antediluvian monetary system has now been replaced by the up-to-date monetary system of Japan.这种旧式的金融体系也已经被现代化的日本系统所取代。