英语听书《白鲸记》第999期

away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded¹ past fifty, and sailed for Cape² Horn the next day, leaving but one dent³ in my marriage pillow — wife? wife? — rather a widow with her husband alive? Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy⁴, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey⁵ — more a demon⁶ than a man! — aye, aye! what a forty years' fool — fool — old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife⁷ of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar⁸, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? Behold⁹. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God! — crack my heart! — stave my brain! — mockery! mockery!

走了，远走重洋，离开我那过了五十岁才结婚的年轻妻子，第二天出发到合恩角去，只在我结婚的枕头上留下了一个凹痕——妻子？妻子？——还不如说是在守活寡！唉，斯达巴克，我一跟她结婚，就叫那个可怜的姑娘守寡；于是，疯呀，狂呀，热血呀，汗水直冒的额头呀，亚哈老头就这样放下了无数次的小艇，愤怒凶狂地去追击他的猎物——简直不是个人，而是个恶魔！——唉，唉！亚哈老头可过了四十年多么傻瓜——傻瓜——老傻瓜的生活呀！干吗要这样拚命的追击？又干吗要这样不怕疲累，不怕双手发麻地扳桨？拿标枪，拿捕鲸枪呢？亚哈现在可发了财，可过得好些？斯达巴克啊，你瞧！我背着这么个发腻的包袱，可怜一条腿又给搞掉了，这不艰苦吗？喏，给我把这簇老发撩开吧；它弄得我看不见了，弄得我象是要哭了。这么灰白的头发，决不是长出来的，而是打什么灰堆里出来的！可是，斯达巴克，我可显得很老，非常非常的老了吗？我觉得极其乏力，腰弯，背曲，好象我是打乐园时代起便蹒蹒跚跚地走了不知多少年代的亚当。天啊！天啊！天啊！——费尽我的心机，——绞尽我的脑汁！——滑稽！滑稽！

1 wedded   

adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's wedded to her job. 她专心致志于工作。
• I was invited over by the newly wedded couple for a meal. 我被那对新婚夫妇请去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

4 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

5 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

6 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

7 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

8 oar   

n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行

参考例句：

• The sailors oar slowly across the river.水手们慢慢地划过河去。
• The blade of the oar was bitten off by a shark.浆叶被一条鲨鱼咬掉了。

9 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。