英语听书《白鲸记》第870期

 Among the more curious of such remains¹ is part of a skull², which in the year 1779 was disinterred in the Rue³ Dauphine in Paris, 在这些遗物中最为希奇的是，一七七九年在巴黎的多芬纳路发掘出了一块头壳；

a short street opening almost directly upon the palace of the Tuileries; （多芬纳路是一条差不多直通向杜依勒利宫的小街）

and bones disinterred in excavating⁴ the great docks of Antwerp, in Napoleon's time. 以及在拿破仑时代，在挖安特卫普大码头时所发现的骨头。

Cuvier pronounced these fragments to have belonged to some utterly⁵ unknown Leviathanic species. 居维埃宣称这些断片都应该属于一种绝对弄不清楚的鲸类。

But by far the most wonderful of all Cetacean relics⁶ was the almost complete vast skeleton of an extinct monster, found in the year 1842, on the plantation⁷ of Judge Creagh, in Alabama. 但是，在这些鲸类遗物中最为奇怪的是，一八四二年在亚拉巴马州克雷法官农场上所发现的一只远古的巨兽的差不多是完整的骷髅。

The awe-stricken credulous⁸ slaves in the vicinity took it for the bones of one of the fallen angels. 附近那些吓得要命的朴实的黑奴，竟把它当成是天上下降的天使的尸骨。

The Alabama doctors declared it a huge reptile⁹, and bestowed¹⁰ upon it the name of Basilosaurus. 亚拉巴马的医生都一致说它是一只大爬虫类，还给它取上一个名字：巴西洛梭鲁斯。

But some specimen¹¹ bones of it being taken across the sea to Owen, the English Anatomist, 但是，等到把一些骨头标本，横渡大西洋送到英国那位解剖学家欧文那里去后，

it turned out that this alleged¹² reptile was a whale, though of a departed species. 却发现这所谓爬虫的东西原来就是大鲸，虽然这是早已湮没的一种鲸类。

A significant illustration of the fact, again and again repeated in this book, 这一意义重大的例证已在本书中一再说过了，

that the skeleton of the whale furnishes but little clue to the shape of his fully¹³ invested body. 就是认为鲸骷髅是跟它原来的形体毫不相同的。

So Owen rechristened the monster Zeuglodon; and in his paper read before the London Geological Society, 因此，欧文又把这巨兽另行命名为宙格洛东，而且当他在伦敦地质学会上宣读他的论文时，

pronounced it, in substance, one of the most extraordinary creatures which the mutations of the globe have blotted¹⁴ out of existence. 还宣称它实际上就是由于地球的变化，目前已经湮没的一种最非凡的动物。

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

3 rue   

n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔

参考例句：

• You'll rue having failed in the examination.你会悔恨考试失败。
• You're going to rue this the longest day that you live.你要终身悔恨不尽呢。

4 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句

5 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

6 relics   

[pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸

参考例句：

• The area is a treasure house of archaeological relics. 这个地区是古文物遗迹的宝库。
• Xi'an is an ancient city full of treasures and saintly relics. 西安是一个有很多宝藏和神圣的遗物的古老城市。

7 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

8 credulous   

adj.轻信的，易信的

参考例句：

• You must be credulous if she fooled you with that story.连她那种话都能把你骗倒，你一定是太容易相信别人了。
• Credulous attitude will only make you take anything for granted.轻信的态度只会使你想当然。

9 reptile   

n.爬行动物；两栖动物

参考例句：

• The frog is not a true reptile.青蛙并非真正的爬行动物。
• So you should not be surprised to see someone keep a reptile as a pet.所以，你不必惊奇有人养了一只爬行动物作为宠物。

10 bestowed   

赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
• He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。

11 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

12 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 blotted   

涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干

参考例句：

• She blotted water off the table with a towel. 她用毛巾擦干桌上的水。
• The blizzard blotted out the sky and the land. 暴风雪铺天盖地而来。