英语听书《白鲸记》第830期

 Great pains, small gains for those who ask the world to solve them; it cannot solve itself. 那些想请求世界给解决大灾小利的人，世界却连它自己也闹不清。

Methinks now this coined sun wears a ruddy face; but see! aye, he enters the sign of storms, the equinox! 现在，我倒认为这只铸在金币上的太阳，面孔红彤彤；不信，请看呀！喂，它走进那大风暴的信号，那昼夜平分点里去了！

and but six months before he wheeled out of a former equinox at Aries! From storm to storm! So be it, then. 它只在六个月前，才从先前的白羊宫的昼夜平分点里滚出来！从风暴到风暴！这真不错。

Born in throes, 't is fit that man should live in pains and die in pangs¹! So be it, then! 来自痛苦的深渊，因此，人类必须生于苦痛，死于剧痛！哼，真不错！

Here's stout² stuff for woe³ to work on. So be it, then. 这就是悲痛大可活动的阵地呀。哼，真不错。

No fairy fingers can have pressed the gold, but devil's claws must have left their mouldings there since yesterday,  仙女的指头也揿不扁这块金币，但是，打昨天起，魔爪一定留下了爪印了，

murmured Starbuck to himself, leaning against the bulwarks⁴. 斯达巴克倚在舷墙上，暗自嘀咕道。

"The old man seems to read Belshazzar's awful writing. "这老头倒象在读伯沙撒那令人心慌意乱的文字。

I have never marked the coin inspectingly. He goes below; let me read. 我从来没有仔细察看过那块金币。他下舱里去了，我不妨去看一看。

A dark valley between three mighty⁵, heaven-abiding peaks, that almost seem the Trinity, in some faint earthly symbol. 啊，在这三座天长地久的高峰间，还有一道阴森的山谷，简直有点象尘世的三位一体的符号。

So in this vale of Death, God girds us round; and over all our gloom, the sun of Righteousness still shines a beacon⁶ and a hope. 所以在这条死谷里，上帝把我们箍住了。可是，那个公正的太阳，仍对着我们这种忧郁的生活，投射出一个警标和一种希望。

If we bend down our eyes, the dark vale shows her mouldy soil; but if we lift them, the bright sun meets our glance half way, to cheer. 如果我们低眼一看，就看到暗谷里那发了霉的泥土；可是，如果我们抬起双眼，那只辉煌的太阳就打半路里跟我们的眼睛相逢，叫我们兴奋一番。

1 pangs   

突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛

参考例句：

• She felt sudden pangs of regret. 她突然感到痛悔不已。
• With touching pathos he described the pangs of hunger. 他以极具感伤力的笔触描述了饥饿的痛苦。

2 stout   

adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的

参考例句：

• He cut a stout stick to help him walk.他砍了一根结实的枝条用来拄着走路。
• The stout old man waddled across the road.那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。

3 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

4 bulwarks   

n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙

参考例句：

• The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty. 新闻自由是自由最大的保障之一。 来自辞典例句
• Surgery and X-irradiation nevertheless remain the bulwarks of cancer treatment throughout the world. 外科手术和X射线疗法依然是全世界治疗癌症的主要方法。 来自辞典例句

5 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

6 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。