英语听书《白鲸记》第36期

  How being an anointed pilot prophet,or speaker of true things,and bidden by the Lord to sound those unwelcome truths in the ears of a wicked Nineveh, 

 Jonah,appalled at the hostility² he should raise,fled from his mission,and sought to escape his duty and his God by taking ship at Joppa.But God is everywhere; 

 Tarshish he never reached.As we have seen,God came upon him in the whale,and swallowed him down to living gulfs of doom, 

 and with swift slantings tore him along ' into the midst of the seas,' where the eddying³ depths sucked him ten thousand fathoms⁴ down, 

 and ' the weeds were wrapped about his head,' and all the watery⁵ world of woe⁶ bowled over him. 

 Yet even then beyond the reach of any plummet⁷ ' out of the belly⁸ of hell ' when the whale grounded upon the ocean's utmost bones, 

 even then,God heard the engulphed,repenting prophet when he cried.Then God spake unto the fish;and from the shuddering⁹ cold and blackness of the sea, 

 the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun,and all the delights of air and earth;and ' vomited¹⁰ out Jonah upon the dry land;' when the word of the Lord came a second time; 

 and Jonah,bruised and beaten his ears,like two sea shells,still multitudinously murmuring of the ocean Jonah did the Almighty's bidding. 

 And what was that,shipmates?To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood!That was it! 

 This,shipmates,this is that other lesson;and woe to that pilot of the living God who slights it.Woe to him whom this world charms from Gospel duty! 

 Woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed¹¹ them into a gale¹²!Woe to him who seeks to please rather than to appal¹! 

 Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness!Woe to him who,in this world,courts not dishonour¹³!Woe to him who would not be true, 

 even though to be false were salvation¹⁴!Yea,woe to him who,as the great Pilot Paul has it,while preaching to others is himself a castaway! 

 He dropped and fell away from himself for a moment;then lifting his face to them again,showed a deep joy in his eyes, 

 as he cried out with a heavenly enthusiasm,But oh!shipmates!on the starboard hand of every woe,there is a sure delight; 

 and higher the top of that delight,than the bottom of the woe is deep.Is not the main truck higher than the kelson is low? 

 Delight is to him a far,far upward,and inward delight who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth,ever stands forth¹⁵ his own inexorable self. 

 Delight is to him whose strong arms yet support him,when the ship of this base treacherous¹⁶ world has gone down beneath him.Delight is to him,who gives no quarter in the truth, 

 and kills,burns,and destroys all sin though he pluck it out from under the robes of Senators and Judges.Delight,top gallant¹⁷ delight is to him,who acknowledges no law or lord, 

 but the Lord his God,and is only a patriot¹⁸ to heaven.Delight is to him,whom all the waves of the billows of the seas of the boisterous¹⁹ mob can never shake from this sure Keel of the Ages. 

 And eternal delight and deliciousness will be his,who coming to lay him down,can say with his final breath O Father!chiefly known to me by Thy rod mortal or immortal,here I die. 

 I have striven to be Thine,more than to be this world's,or mine own.Yet this is nothing:I leave eternity²⁰ to Thee;for what is man that he should live out the lifetime of his God? 

 He said no more,but slowly waving a benediction,covered his face with his hands,and so remained kneeling,till all the people had departed,and he was left alone in the place. 

1 appal   

vt.使胆寒，使惊骇

参考例句：

• I was appalled at the news.我被这消息吓坏了。
• This "Hamlet" will appal some for being so resolutely unclassical.新版《哈姆雷特 》如此违背经典，确实惊世骇俗。

2 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

3 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。

4 fathoms   

英寻( fathom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The harbour is four fathoms deep. 港深为四英寻。
• One bait was down forty fathoms. 有个鱼饵下沉到四十英寻的深处。

5 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

6 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。

7 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

8 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

9 shuddering   

v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• 'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕，”她发着抖，说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤，深深吸了口气。 来自飘（部分）

10 vomited   

参考例句：

• Corbett leaned against the wall and promptly vomited. 科比特倚在墙边，马上呕吐了起来。
• She leant forward and vomited copiously on the floor. 她向前一俯，哇的一声吐了一地。 来自英汉文学

11 brewed   

调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• The beer is brewed in the Czech Republic. 这种啤酒是在捷克共和国酿造的。
• The boy brewed a cup of coffee for his mother. 这男孩给他妈妈冲了一杯咖啡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

13 dishonour   

n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩

参考例句：

• There's no dishonour in losing.失败并不是耻辱。
• He would rather die than live in dishonour.他宁死不愿忍辱偷生。

14 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

15 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

16 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

17 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

18 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

19 boisterous   

adj.喧闹的，欢闹的

参考例句：

• I don't condescend to boisterous displays of it.我并不屈就于它热热闹闹的外表。
• The children tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play.孩子们经常是先静静地聚集在一起，不一会就开始吵吵嚷嚷戏耍开了。

20 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。