英语听书《白鲸记》第496期

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The bearer looked nobler than the rider. 背负者看来比骑者还更显得高贵。

Though truly vivacious², tumultuous, ostentatious little Flask would now and then stamp with impatience³; 虽然这个着实显得很快活、激昂和自负的矮小的弗拉斯克会不时焦躁地顿着脚，

but not one added heave did he thereby⁴ give to the negro's lordly chest. 却没有叫这个黑人的堂堂的胸口多透出一口气来。

So have I seen Passion and Vanity stamping the living magnanimous earth, 我就这样看到了“苦难”和“浮华”在践踏着气量宏大的大地，

but the earth did not alter her tides and her seasons for that. 大地却并不因此而改变它的潮汐和季节

Meanwhile Stubb, the third mate, betrayed no such far-gazing solicitudes⁵. 这时，那个三副斯塔布并没有流露出远眺景致的要求。

The whales might have made one of their regular soundings, not a temporary dive from mere⁶ fright; 大鲸也许是在做一种有规律的潜水，而不是纯然由于恐惧而暂时沉下去的；

and if that were the case, Stubb, as his wont⁷ in such cases, it seems, 如果是这样的话，看来斯塔布就要按照他在这种场合的老习惯，

was resolved to solace⁸ the languishing⁹ interval¹⁰ with his pipe. 决定先吸一筒烟来提提神再说。

He withdrew it from his hatband, where he always wore it aslant¹¹ like a feather. 他从帽带上抽出烟斗来，他始终把烟斗象插一片羽毛似的斜插在那里。

He loaded it, and rammed¹² home the loading with his thumb-end; 他装上烟叶，又用大拇指把斗里的烟叶揿揿紧。

but hardly had he ignited his match across the rough sandpaper of his hand,  但是，他刚在他那粗得象沙皮纸的手上擦亮了火柴棒，

when Tashtego, his harpooneer, whose eyes had been setting to windward like two fixed¹³ stars, 他的标枪手塔斯蒂哥（他那双眼睛一直就象两颗固定的星星似的直瞪着上风）

suddenly dropped like light from his erect¹⁴ attitude to his seat, 突然从他那坐得笔挺的座位上，象火光一般落下来，

crying out in a quick phrensy of hurry, "Down, down all, and give way!--there they are!" 叫出一阵狂急的喊声来，“下去啦，都下去啦，加紧划呀！大鲸就在那边啦！”

To a landsman, no whale, nor any sign of a herring, would have been visible at that moment; 这时，在陆地人看来，既没有大鲸，连一条青鱼的影子也看不到，

nothing but a troubled bit of greenish white water, and thin scattered¹⁵ puffs¹⁶ of vapor¹⁷ hovering¹⁸ over it,  只不过是一片搅浊了的青白色的海水，上面漂泛着四散的阵阵水雾，

and suffusingly blowing off to leeward¹⁹, like the confused scud²⁰ from white rolling billows. 向下风弥漫开去，有如滔天白浪里迸射出来的飞沫。

The air around suddenly vibrated and tingled²¹, as it were, like the air over intensely heated plates of iron. 可是，周遭的天空突然沸腾骚动起来了，仿佛天空是搁在一块炽热的烙铁上。

Beneath this atmospheric²² waving and curling, and partially²³ beneath a thin layer of water, also, the whales were swimming. 在这种起伏打旋的大气下面，有一块地方在一层薄薄的水面下，大鲸也正在游着。

Seen in advance of all the other indications, the puffs of vapor they spouted²⁴,  从各种征象，从它们所喷出来的阵阵水雾看来，

seemed their forerunning couriers and detached flying outriders. 它们似乎正在派出先头的信使和先遣的快马侍从。

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