英语听书《白鲸记》第1010期

 

And now, while both elastic¹ gunwales were springing in and out, as the whale dallied² with the doomed³ craft in this devilish way; and from his body being submerged beneath the boat, he could not be darted⁴ at from the bows, for the bows were almost inside of him, as it were; and while the other boats involuntarily paused, as before a quick crisis impossible to withstand, then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious with this tantalizing⁵ vicinity of his foe⁶, which placed him all alive and helpless in the very jaws⁸ he hated; frenzied⁹ with all this, he seized the long bone with his naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench¹⁰ it from its gripe. As now he thus vainly strove, the jaw⁷ slipped from him; the frail¹¹ gunwales bent¹² in, collapsed¹³, and snapped, as both jaws, like an enormous shears¹⁴, sliding further aft, bit the craft completely in twain, and locked themselves fast again in the sea, midway between the two floating wrecks¹⁵. These floated aside, the broken ends drooping¹⁶, the crew at the stern-wreck clinging to the gunwales, and striving to hold fast to the oars¹⁷ to lash¹⁸ them across.

且说在大鲸这样可怕地逗弄这只命数已定的小艇的同时，那有弹性的艇舷便不住地弹进弹出；可是，因为大鲸的身体还在艇底下，无法在艇头用标枪刺它，因为艇头可说是差不多都在它嘴巴里，而其它小艇则因突然碰上一种无法对付的巨变，都不期而然地停了下来。正是这个偏热狂的亚哈，眼看如此迫近自己的宿仇，却硬是无可奈何地身陷在他所痛恨的这个仇敌的嘴巴里，不禁愤怒万分。这一切使他一阵狂乱，光着双手，抓住那只长长的下颚，发狂似地想把它揪住，免得被它卡在里面。正当他此时在这样自负地奋斗时，那下颚打他手里一滑，滑脱了，那只嘴巴象一把巨剪似的，往后一闪，把这只小艇咬成两段，脆薄的船舷顿时弯卷起来，豁地一声断了，那只鲸却把嘴巴一闭，闭得紧紧地打两片漂浮的残艇中间游去了。残板在旁边漂，残破的零星东西也下沉了，在破艇梢上的水手，都紧扳着艇舷，设法抓住桨子，用绳子把桨子横缚在艇舷上。

At that preluding moment, ere the boat was yet snapped, Ahab, the first to perceive the whale's intent, by the crafty¹⁹ upraising of his head, a movement that loosed his hold for the time; at that moment his hand had made one final effort to push the boat out of the bite. But only slipping further into the whale's mouth, and tilting²⁰ over sideways as it slipped, the boat had shaken off his hold on the jaw; spilled him out of it, as he leaned to the push; and so he fell flat-faced upon the sea.

就在这只小艇将断未断、眼看就要出事的时分，亚哈第一个看出了这条大鲸的意图，他灵巧地把头往上一腾，这个动作使他暂时把手一松；就在这时，他一只手使起最后一把劲，想把小艇从它口里给推出来。不料却使小艇更往鲸嘴滑了进去，而且这一滑，小艇也斜倒了，小艇把他揪着鲸嘴的手给震脱了；他连忙俯身想再推一下，却一下子教他从那嘴里给喷了出来，仰面跌在海上。

1 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

2 dallied   

v.随随便便地对待( dally的过去式和过去分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情

参考例句：

• He dallied with the idea of becoming an actor. 他对当演员一事考虑过，但并不认真。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He dallied in the stores. 他在商店里闲逛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

4 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》

5 tantalizing   

adj.逗人的；惹弄人的；撩人的；煽情的v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This was my first tantalizing glimpse of the islands. 这是我第一眼看见的这些岛屿的动人美景。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have only vague and tantalizing glimpses of his power. 我们只能隐隐约约地领略他的威力，的确有一种可望不可及的感觉。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

6 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

7 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

8 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

9 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

10 wrench   

v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受

参考例句：

• He gave a wrench to his ankle when he jumped down.他跳下去的时候扭伤了足踝。
• It was a wrench to leave the old home.离开这个老家非常痛苦。

11 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

12 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 shears   

n.大剪刀

参考例句：

• These garden shears are lightweight and easy to use.这些园丁剪刀又轻又好用。
• With a few quick snips of the shears he pruned the bush.他用大剪刀几下子就把灌木给修剪好了。

15 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

16 drooping   

adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词

参考例句：

• The drooping willows are waving gently in the morning breeze. 晨风中垂柳袅袅。
• The branches of the drooping willows were swaying lightly. 垂柳轻飘飘地摆动。

17 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

19 crafty   

adj.狡猾的，诡诈的

参考例句：

• He admired the old man for his crafty plan.他敬佩老者的神机妙算。
• He was an accomplished politician and a crafty autocrat.他是个有造诣的政治家，也是个狡黠的独裁者。

20 tilting   

倾斜，倾卸

参考例句：

• For some reason he thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's really just tilting at windmills. 不知为什么他觉得每个人都想害他，但其实他不过是在庸人自扰。
• So let us stop bickering within our ranks.Stop tilting at windmills. 所以，让我们结束内部间的争吵吧！再也不要去做同风车作战的蠢事了。