英语听书《白鲸记》第83期

 CHAPTER 17.The Ramadan.  第17章 斋戒

As Queequeg's Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation¹, was to continue all day, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall;  魁魁格的“斋戒”大概要做一天，所以我不急于回旅店。

for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody's religious obligations, never mind how comical,  我尊重每一个人的宗教信仰，

and could not find it in my heart to undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool;  哪怕他的信仰有点像蚂蚁向毒蘑菇行礼似的可笑。 

or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented² in other planets,  其实，我们的星球上不是还有那些以一种其他星球所未见

bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor³ merely on account of the inordinate⁴ possessions yet owned and rented in his name.  的卑躬屈膝匍匐在一具尸体前的景象吗？只因为那具尸体活着的时候有大片的土地，死后的遗产中也有大片土地。

I say, we good Presbyterian Christians⁵ should be charitable in these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits⁶ on these subjects.  即使如此，我也找不到蔑视他们的理由。 善良的基督徒们啊，我们应该慈悲为怀，不要因为人类成员中的一些人有些别的什么想法，我们就自以为高人一等。 

There was Queequeg, now, certainly entertaining the most absurd notions about Yojo and his Ramadan;but what of that?  魁魁格对约约的斋戒也许在你看来不乏可笑之处，可那又有什么呢？

Queequeg thought he knew what he was about, I suppose; he seemed to be content; and there let him rest.  只要他本人做得自然和谐、心安理得，那就够了！ 

1 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 proprietor   

n.所有人；业主；经营者

参考例句：

• The proprietor was an old acquaintance of his.业主是他的一位旧相识。
• The proprietor of the corner grocery was a strange thing in my life.拐角杂货店店主是我生活中的一个怪物。

4 inordinate   

adj.无节制的；过度的

参考例句：

• The idea of this gave me inordinate pleasure.我想到这一点感到非常高兴。
• James hints that his heroine's demands on life are inordinate.詹姆斯暗示他的女主人公对于人生过于苛求。

5 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

6 conceits   

高傲( conceit的名词复数 )； 自以为； 巧妙的词语； 别出心裁的比喻

参考例句：

• He jotted down the conceits of his idle hours. 他记下了闲暇时想到的一些看法。
• The most grotesque fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. 夜晚躺在床上的时候，各种离奇怪诞的幻想纷至沓来。