英语听书《白鲸记》第14期

  The devil fetch that harpooneer,thought I,but stop,could not I steal a march on himbolt his door inside,and jump into his bed, 

 not to be wakened by the most violent knockings?It seemed no bad idea;but upon second thoughts I dismissed it. 

 For who could tell but what the next morning,so soon as I popped out of the room, 

 the harpooneer might be standing¹ in the entry,all ready to knock me down! 

 Still,looking round me again,and seeing no possible chance of spending a sufferable night unless in some other person's bed, 

 I began to think that after all I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this unknown harpooneer. 

 Thinks I,I 'll wait awhile;he must be dropping in before long. 

 I 'll have a good look at him then,and perhaps we may become jolly good bedfellows after allthere's no telling. 

 But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones,twos,and threes,and going to bed,yet no sign of my harpooneer. 

 Landlord!said I,what sort of a chap is hedoes he always keep such late hours?It was now hard upon twelve o'clock. 

 The landlord chuckled² again with his lean chuckle,and seemed to be mightily³ tickled⁴ at something beyond my comprehension. 

 No,he answered,generally he's an early birdairley to bed and airley to riseyes,he's the bird what catches the worm. 

 But to night he went out a peddling⁵,you see,and I do not see what on airth keeps him so late,unless,may be,he can not sell his head. 

 can not sell his head?What sort of a bamboozingly story is this you are telling me?getting into a towering rage. 

 Do you pretend to say,landlord,that this harpooneer is actually engaged this blessed Saturday night, 

 or rather Sunday morning,in peddling his head around this town? 

 That's precisely⁶ it,said the landlord,and I told him he could not sell it here,the market's overstocked. 

 With what?shouted I. 

 With heads to be sure;ai not there too many heads in the world? 

 I tell you what it is,landlord,said I quite calmly,you 'd better stop spinning that yarn⁷ to meI'm not green. 

 May be not,taking out a stick and whittling⁸ a toothpick,but I rayther guess you 'll be done BROWN if that ere harpooneer hears you a slanderin ' his head. 

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

3 mightily   

ad.强烈地；非常地

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet. 他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• This seemed mightily to relieve him. 干完这件事后，他似乎轻松了许多。

4 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

5 peddling   

忙于琐事的，无关紧要的

参考例句：

• He worked as a door-to-door salesman peddling cloths and brushes. 他的工作是上门推销抹布和刷子。
• "If he doesn't like peddling, why doesn't he practice law? "要是他不高兴卖柴火，干吗不当律师呢？

6 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

7 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

8 whittling   

v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Inflation has been whittling away their savings. 通货膨胀使他们的积蓄不断减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is whittling down the branch with a knife to make a handle for his hoe. 他在用刀削树枝做一把锄头柄。 来自《简明英汉词典》