英语听书《白鲸记》第992期

and when the deck-ends of these ropes are being every few minutes cast down from the fastenings, it would be but a natural fatality¹, if, unprovided with a constant watchman, the hoisted² sailor should by some carelessness of the crew be cast adrift and fall all swooping³ to the sea. So Ahab's proceedings⁴ in this matter were not unusual; the only strange thing about them seemed to be, that Starbuck, almost the one only man who had ever ventured to oppose him with anything in the slightest degree approaching to decision — one of those too, whose faithfulness on the look-out he had seemed to doubt somewhat; it was strange, that this was the very man he should select for his watchman; freely giving his whole life into such an otherwise distrusted person's hands.

而且那头缚在甲板上的绳子，随时都在松动，如果不配备一个固定的看守人，那个高高挂起的水手，可能会让甲板上哪个粗心大意的水手一撞而撞松绳结，扑咚跌进海里，那自然是件性命交关的事情。因此，亚哈在这方面的一切部署并不是平白无故的。只是有一件事大家都觉得奇怪，这就是那个至少有点儿决心，可说是敢于反对亚哈的唯一人物——斯达巴克（在瞭望方面是否忠诚，亚哈对之有所怀疑的，斯达巴克也算得上一个），大家都觉得奇怪，亚哈竟会挑上斯达巴克这样一个人来做他的看守人，随便把他自己的生命全都交在这样一个不可靠的人的手里。

Now, the first time Ahab was perched aloft; ere he had been there ten minutes; one of those red-billed savage⁵ sea-hawks which so often fly incommodiously close round the manned mast-heads of whalemen in these latitudes⁶; one of these birds came wheeling and screaming round his head in a maze⁷ of untrackably swift circlings. Then it darted⁸ a thousand feet straight up into the air; then spiralized downwards⁹, and went eddying¹⁰ again round his head.

且说亚哈初次让人家吊到那个高高的岗位上后，在那里还待不上十分钟，就有一只红喙的凶残的海鹰出现了，这种鸟老爱在这一带的捕鲸船的桅顶看守人四周、令人不快地飞来飞去；有一只海鹰迅疾地乱旋乱转，在他头顶兜来兜去，尖声狂叫。它一会儿直冲向天际有一千英尺高，一会儿又旋了下来，在他头顶旋来旋去。

But with his gaze fixed¹¹ upon the dim and distant horizon, Ahab seemed not to mark this wild bird; nor, indeed, would any one else have marked it much, it being no uncommon¹² circumstance; only now almost the least heedful eye seemed to see some sort of cunning meaning in almost every sight.

可是，亚哈因为全神贯注地瞪着那迷蒙的远方，似乎没有注意到这只野鸟；而且，老实说，因为这并不是什么希罕的情况，谁也不会很注意它；不过，现在差不多最粗心的人也好象几乎一张开眼来，就会看到一种奸诈的用意了。

1 fatality   

n.不幸，灾祸，天命

参考例句：

• She struggle against fatality in vain.她徒然奋斗反抗宿命。
• He began to have a growing sense of fatality.他开始有一种越来越强烈的宿命感。

2 hoisted   

把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He hoisted himself onto a high stool. 他抬身坐上了一张高凳子。
• The sailors hoisted the cargo onto the deck. 水手们把货物吊到甲板上。

3 swooping   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The wind were swooping down to tease the waves. 大风猛扑到海面上戏弄着浪涛。
• And she was talking so well-swooping with swift wing this way and that. 而她却是那样健谈--一下子谈到东，一下子谈到西。

4 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 latitudes   

纬度

参考例句：

• Latitudes are the lines that go from east to west. 纬线是从东到西的线。
• It was the brief Indian Summer of the high latitudes. 这是高纬度地方的那种短暂的晚秋。

7 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

8 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 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。

10 eddying   

涡流，涡流的形成

参考例句：

• The Rhine flowed on, swirling and eddying, at six or seven miles an hour. 莱茵河不断以每小时六、七哩的速度，滔滔滚流，波涛起伏。

11 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。

12 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。