英语听书《白鲸记》第786期

 　　As we glided¹ nearer, the stranger showed French colors from his peak; and by the eddying² cloud of vulture sea-fowl that circled, and hovered³, and swooped⁴ around him, it was plain that the whale alongside must be what the fishermen call a blasted whale, that is, a whale that has died unmolested on the sea, and so floated an unappropriated corpse⁵. It may well be conceived, what an unsavory odor such a mass must exhale⁶; worse than an Assyrian city in the plague, when the living are incompetent⁷ to bury the departed. So intolerable indeed is it regarded by some, that no cupidity⁸ could persuade them to moor⁹ alongside of it. Yet are there those who will still do it; notwithstanding the fact that the oil obtained from such subjects is of a very inferior quality, and by no means of the nature of attar-of-rose.

　　一等我们慢慢驶得更近时，就看到那艘陌生船的斜桁尖顶上挂有一面法国旗，同时从一群流云似的兀鹰直绕着它打旋、翱翔、猛扑的现象看来，船边拖着的那条鲸显然一定就是捕鲸人管它叫瘟鲸的东西，就是说，是一条未遭任何伤害而自己死在海里的鲸，所以那尸体也漂浮得跟一般死鲸不一样。可想而知，这么一条庞然大物一定会发出多么难闻的臭味，比遭瘟疫的亚述城还要难闻（因为当时城里的活人都无法把死者埋葬）。这样难受的气味，难怪有些人以为，随你怎样劝，连贪心汉都也不愿意跟它停泊在一起。然而，居然还有人愿意这样做；甚至不顾从这种鲸身上得来的油，质地十分差，毫无玫瑰油气的香味。

　　Coming still nearer with the expiring breeze, we saw that the Frenchman had a second whale alongside; and this second whale seemed even more of a nosegay than the first. In truth, it turned out to be one of those problematical whales that seem to dry up and die with a sort of prodigious¹⁰ dyspepsia, or indigestion; leaving their defunct¹¹ bodies almost entirely¹² bankrupt of anything like oil. Nevertheless, in the proper place we shall see that no knowing fisherman will ever turn up his nose at such a whale as this, however much he may shun¹³ blasted whales in general.

　　随着一阵有气无力的微风，我们又驶得更近些了，我们看到那艘法国船边还有第二条鲸，而这第二条鲸的味道，似乎比第一条还更不堪入鼻。实际上，这两条成问题的鲸中，原来有一条似乎是患了一种非常厉害的胃弱症，或者消化不良症而枯死的。因此，那两个死尸简直已经毫无油气、显得干瘪瘪了。然而，说正经话，任何一个老练的捕鲸人，不管他看见一般瘟鲸，会怎么唯恐避之不及，可是，对这样一条鲸，却决不会稍加鄙视。

1 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

4 swooped   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来，并把它杀死。

5 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

6 exhale   

v.呼气，散出，吐出，蒸发

参考例句：

• Sweet odours exhale from flowers.花儿散发出花香。
• Wade exhaled a cloud of smoke and coughed.韦德吐出一口烟，然后咳嗽起来。

7 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

8 cupidity   

n.贪心，贪财

参考例句：

• Her cupidity is well known.她的贪婪尽人皆知。
• His eyes gave him away,shining with cupidity.他的眼里闪着贪婪的光芒，使他暴露无遗。

9 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

10 prodigious   

adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• This business generates cash in prodigious amounts.这种业务收益丰厚。
• He impressed all who met him with his prodigious memory.他惊人的记忆力让所有见过他的人都印象深刻。

11 defunct   

adj.死亡的；已倒闭的

参考例句：

• The scheme for building an airport seems to be completely defunct now.建造新机场的计划看来整个完蛋了。
• This schema object is defunct.No modifications are allowed until it is made active again.此架构对象不起作用。在重新激活之前，不能进行任何改动。

12 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

13 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。