英语听书《白鲸记》第174期

 No, when I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor, right before the mast, plumb¹ down into the fore-castle, aloft there to the royal mast-head.  不,我去航海,总是当一名平平常常的水手,就站在船桅前边,钻进前甲板的船头楼,高高地爬到更上桅的桅顶去。

True, they rather order me about some, and make me jump from spar to spar, like a grasshopper² in a May meadow.  不错,他们还会把我呼来喝去,而且叫我从这支圆木跳到那支圆木,象五月里草地上的蚱蜢一样。

And at first, this sort of thing is unpleasant enough.  开头,这类事情的确叫人不痛快。

It touches one's sense of honor, particularly if you come of an old established family in the land, the Van Rensselaers, or Randolphs, or Hardicanutes.  它伤害一个人的自尊心,尤其是,如果你是个出身在陆地上的老家族的人,什么范.伦塞勒族呀,伦道夫族呀,哈狄卡纽特族呀之类的话。

And more than all, if just previous to putting your hand into the tar-pot, you have been lording it as a country schoolmaster, making the tallest boys stand in awe³ of you.  尤其是,如果你的手在伸进柏油罐子以前不久,还是乡下一个小学教师的威严的手，连个子最大的男孩子也惧怕它,那你就更加不痛快了。

The transition is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor, and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics⁴ to enable you to grin and bear it.  我老实告诉你吧,从小学教师到做水手这一转变过程是很痛切的,须得具有辛尼加和那些苦行学派的坚强道行,才能使你咬紧牙关忍受下来。

But even this wears off in time. 不过,时间一久,连这个也消失了.

1 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

2 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

3 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

4 stoics   

禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Stoics I can handle this shit. 斯多葛：我能掌握这大便。
• The most famous exercise of meditation is the premeditatio mallorum as practiced by the Stoics. 冥思最著名的练习是禁欲学派所实行的[消灾冥思]。