英语听书《白鲸记》第1032期

And yet, I've sometimes thought my brain was very calm — frozen calm, this old skull¹ cracks so, like a glass in which the contents turned to ice, and shiver it. And still this hair is growing now; this moment growing, and heat must breed it; but no, it's like that sort of common grass that will grow anywhere, between the earthy clefts² of Greenland ice or in Vesuvius lava³. How the wild winds blow it; they whip it about me as the torn shreds⁴ of split sails lash⁵ the tossed ship they cling to. A vile⁶ wind that has no doubt blown ere this through prison corridors and cells, and wards⁷ of hospitals, and ventilated them, and now comes blowing hither as innocent as fleeces. Out upon it! — it's tainted⁸. Were I the wind, I'd blow no more on such a wicked, miserable⁹ world. I'd crawl somewhere to a cave, and slink there. And yet, 'tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! who ever conquered it? In every fight it has the last and bitterest blow. Run tilting¹⁰ at it, and you but run through it. Ha! a coward wind that strikes stark¹¹ naked men, but will not stand to receive a single blow. Even Ahab is a braver thing — a nobler thing than that. Would now the wind but had a body; but all the things that most exasperate¹² and outrage¹³ mortal man, all these things are bodiless, but only bodiless as objects, not as agents.

然而，我有时候倒认为我的脑子是十分镇静的——静得像冻结了，这只老脑壳就这么格格发响，直象一只玻璃杯里的东西结了冰，里头还在哆嗦那样。可是，这顶头发这会儿还在不断地长出来，此刻就在长出来，这准是热气使它长出来的；可是，不，它也许象是一种到处都会生长的杂草那样，不管是在格陵兰那种冰天雪地的土缝里，还是在维苏威的熔岩里都长得出来。狂风可把它刮得多厉害呀；风呼呼地刮着我的头发，就象是刮着紧缚在复船上的支离破碎的篷帆。这股邪风，肯定是要先刮进牢狱的走廊。死牢。医院的病房，把那些地方都刮遍后，这才刮到这里，刮得象飞雪一样清白。滚，给我滚！——这是有毒的风。如果我是风呀，我可就不再刮这样一个邪气十足。卑鄙无耻的世界。我宁可悄悄地爬到什么地方的一个洞穴里，偷偷地在那里躲起来。不过话得说回来，风呀，它可是一种高贵而英勇的东西！谁曾征服过风来着？在每次的交手中，它最后总会使出最最厉害的绝招来。如果你去攻击它，你也不过是直穿过去，准扑个空。哈！那种吹打赤身裸体的人们的怯懦的风，一拳都也吃不消。哪怕亚哈，也比它勇敢——比它高贵。要是这会儿风有个形体可多好；不过，一切最会对人类施行暴行而使人最为愤怒的东西，所有这些东西都是没有形体的，而且都是象怪异的东西一样，而不是象神明那样的没有形体。

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1 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。

2 clefts   

n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷

参考例句：

• Clefts are often associated with other more serious congenital defects. 裂口常与其他更严重的先天性异常并发。 来自辞典例句
• Correction of palate clefts is much more difficult and usually not as satisfactory. 硬腭裂的矫正更为困难，且常不理想。 来自辞典例句

3 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

4 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

5 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

6 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

7 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。

8 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

10 tilting   

倾斜，倾卸

参考例句：

• For some reason he thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's really just tilting at windmills. 不知为什么他觉得每个人都想害他，但其实他不过是在庸人自扰。
• So let us stop bickering within our ranks.Stop tilting at windmills. 所以，让我们结束内部间的争吵吧！再也不要去做同风车作战的蠢事了。

11 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

12 exasperate   

v.激怒，使（疾病）加剧，使恶化

参考例句：

• He shouted in an exasperate voice.他以愤怒的声音嚷着。
• The sheer futility of it all exasperates her.它毫无用处，这让她很生气。

13 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。