英语听书《白鲸记》第866期

 How vain and foolish, then, thought I,  于是，我心里想，

for timid untravelled man to try to comprehend aright this wondrous¹ whale, by merely poring over his dead attenuated² skeleton, stretched in this peaceful wood. 那些足不出户的胆小鬼，只是对着这架躺在平静的树林里的干枯的死尸瞄了一眼，就想正确了解这条惊人的大鲸，是多么枉费而愚蠢。

No. Only in the heart of quickest perils³; only when within the eddyings of his angry flukes; 不，只有在最危急的关头；只有在它那怒冲冲的裂尾的大涡流里；

only on the profound unbounded sea, can the fully⁴ invested whale be truly and livingly found out. 只有在无涯无底的大海上，才能真切而逼真地看到这条充满生气的大鲸的雄姿。

But the spine⁵. For that, the best way we can consider it is, with a crane, to pile its bones high up on end. 但是，关于那脊骨，现在我们所想得出的最好的办法，就是用一架起重机，把它的骨胳高高地堆起。

No speedy enterprise. But now it's done, it looks much like Pompey's Pillar. 这可不是一下子就办得到的。不过，一经堆了起来，它可就活象庞彼的大柱了。

There are forty and odd vertebrae in all, which in the skeleton are not locked together. 脊椎骨一共约有四十多根，它可不是一起放在骷髅里的。

They mostly lie like the great knobbed blocks on a Gothic spire⁶, forming solid courses of heavy masonry⁷. 它们大多象峨特式塔尖上的大瘤木头，结结实实地堆得象一排排笨重的泥水作物。

The largest, a middle one, is in width something less than three feet, and in depth more than four.  中间那根最大的脊椎骨，大约还不到三英尺阔，厚薄却有四英尺多。

The smallest, where the spine tapers⁸ away into the tail, is only two inches in width, and looks something like a white billiard-ball. 那根尖端接着尾巴的最小椎骨，只不过有两英寸阔，样子有点象只白色的台球。

I was told that there were still smaller ones, 据说还有比这更小的东西，

but they had been lost by some little cannibal urchins⁹, the priest's children, who had stolen them to play marbles with. 可惜，它们已被许多小野人，那些僧人的孩子们偷去玩打弹子游戏了。

Thus we see how that the spine of even the hugest of living things tapers off at last into simple child's play. 这样，我们就看到，甚至最为魁梧的生物的脊骨，到头来也会缩成无知的小孩的玩物了。

1 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

2 attenuated   

v.（使）变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）变薄；（使）变小；减弱

参考例句：

• an attenuated form of the virus 毒性已衰减的病毒
• You're a seraphic suggestion of attenuated thought . 你的思想是轻灵得如同天使一般的。 来自辞典例句

3 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？

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

6 spire   

n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点

参考例句：

• The church spire was struck by lightning.教堂的尖顶遭到了雷击。
• They could just make out the spire of the church in the distance.他们只能辨认出远处教堂的尖塔。

7 masonry   

n.砖土建筑；砖石

参考例句：

• Masonry is a careful skill.砖石工艺是一种精心的技艺。
• The masonry of the old building began to crumble.旧楼房的砖石结构开始崩落。

8 tapers   

（长形物体的）逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 )； 微弱的光； 极细的蜡烛

参考例句：

• The pencil tapers to a sharp point. 铅笔的一段细成笔尖。
• She put five tapers on the cake. 她在蛋糕上放了五只小蜡烛。

9 urchins   

n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆

参考例句：

• Some dozen barefooted urchins ganged in from the riverside. 几十个赤足的顽童从河边成群结队而来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• People said that he had jaundice and urchins nicknamed him "Yellow Fellow." 别人说他是黄胆病，孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说