英语听书《白鲸记》第745期

 On more accounts than one, a pity it is that the whale does not possess this prehensile¹ virtue² in his tail; 总之，从许多方面说来，可惜大鲸的尾巴没有这种抓握力；

for I have heard of yet another elephant, that when wounded in the fight, curved round his trunk and extracted the dart³. 因为我还听到有另一只象，说是当它在战斗中受伤时，它的鼻子一弯，就把那支戳在身上的枪矛给拔了出来。

Fourth: Stealing unawares upon the whale in the fancied security of the middle of solitary⁴ seas, 第四，趁大鲸一无戒备地在它那自认为安全地带的孤洋中时，

you find him unbent from the vast corpulence of his dignity, and kitten-like, he plays on the ocean as if it were a hearth⁵. 你不妨去悄悄地瞧它一瞧，就可以看到它一卸它那伟大的雄姿，象一只躺在火炉旁的小猫似的在大洋里嬉戏。

But still you see his power in his play. 然而，在它嬉戏中，你还是可以看到它的威力。

The broad palms of his tail are flirted⁶ high into the air! 它那平坦的大尾巴倏地向空一耸，

Then smiting⁷ the surface, the thunderous concussion⁸ resounds⁹ for miles. 然后砰地一声落在水面上，雷鸣似的激荡声，回旋好几英里远，

You would almost think a great gun had been discharged; 简直教人以为放了大炮。

and if you noticed the light wreath of vapor¹⁰ from the spiracle at his other extremity¹¹, you would think that that was the smoke from the touch-hole. 如果你同时再看一看它另一端的喷水孔里所迸射出来的闪亮而雾气重重的圈圈的话，你准会认为那是火门迸射出来的火药烟。

Fifth: As in the ordinary floating posture¹² of the leviathan the flukes lies considerably¹³ below the level of his back, 第五，大鲸在通常的游姿中，总是先把裂片深埋在它屁股下面，

they are then completely out of sight beneath the surface; 接着就沉在水里，完全看不见了；

but when he is about to plunge¹⁴ into the deeps, his entire flukes with at least thirty feet of his body are tossed erect¹⁵ in the air, 不过，在它要猛地潜到海底去时，它整个裂片就会连同它的部分身躯（至少有三十英尺）腾空耸起，

and so remain vibrating a moment, till they downwards¹⁶ shoot out of view. 晃动一会儿，这才向下一潜不见了。

Excepting the sublime¹⁷ breach— somewhere else to be described, 除了那种雄壮的鲸跳——这将在另外的地方谈到，

this peaking of the whale's flukes is perhaps the grandest sight to be seen in all animated¹⁸ nature.  大鲸的竖尾也许应该算是一切生物中仅有的最壮丽的景象。

1 prehensile   

adj.（足等）适于抓握的

参考例句：

• Poets are those strangely prehensile men.诗人是那些具有深刻洞察力的人们。
• A monkey has a prehensile tail.猴子有能盘卷住东西的尾巴。

2 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

3 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

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 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

6 flirted   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She flirted her fan. 她急速挥动着扇子。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• During his four months in Egypt he flirted with religious emotions. 在埃及逗留的这四个月期间，他又玩弄起宗教情绪来了。 来自辞典例句

7 smiting   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He set to smiting and overthrowing. 他马上就动手殴打和破坏。 来自辞典例句

8 concussion   

n.脑震荡；震动

参考例句：

• He was carried off the field with slight concussion.他因轻微脑震荡给抬离了现场。
• She suffers from brain concussion.她得了脑震荡。

9 resounds   

v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音

参考例句：

• When the Christmas musical box, music resounds, Christmas old man swinging. 圣诞音乐盒，音乐响起时，圣诞老人会摆动。 来自互联网
• In the epilogue, the Silk Road resounds with the song of friendship. 尾声：丝绸之路上洋溢着友谊之歌。 来自互联网

10 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

11 extremity   

n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度

参考例句：

• I hope you will help them in their extremity.我希望你能帮助在穷途末路的他们。
• What shall we do in this extremity?在这种极其困难的情况下我们该怎么办呢？

12 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

13 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

14 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

15 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

16 downwards   

adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地）

参考例句：

• He lay face downwards on his bed.他脸向下伏在床上。
• As the river flows downwards,it widens.这条河愈到下游愈宽。

17 sublime   

adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的

参考例句：

• We should take some time to enjoy the sublime beauty of nature.我们应该花些时间去欣赏大自然的壮丽景象。
• Olympic games play as an important arena to exhibit the sublime idea.奥运会，就是展示此崇高理念的重要舞台。

18 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。