Moby Dick; Or, The Whale — Page 12
一个水手在某个夜晚坐在船索间，风儿自由地呼啸；
A mariner sat in the shrouds one night, The wind was piping free;
月光时而明亮，时而暗淡，磷光在鲸鱼翻腾的尾迹中闪烁，
Now bright, now dimmed, was the moonlight pale, And the phospher gleamed in the wake of the whale,
那鲸鱼在大海中挣扎沉浮。
As it floundered in the sea.
——伊丽莎白·奥克斯·史密斯
—Elizabeth Oakes Smith.
在捕获这头鲸鱼的过程中，各捕鲸船所放出的绳索总长度合计达10,440码，约合近六英里。
The quantity of line withdrawn from the boats engaged in the capture of this one whale, amounted altogether to 10,440 yards or nearly six English miles.
有时，鲸鱼在空中猛烈甩动其巨大的尾巴，发出如鞭裂般的爆响，声震三四英里之外。
Sometimes the whale shakes its tremendous tail in the air, which, cracking like a whip, resounds to the distance of three or four miles.
——斯科斯比
—Scoresby.
被接连不断的攻击折磨得痛苦不堪，那头被激怒的抹香鲸翻滚不止；
Mad with the agonies he endures from these fresh attacks, the infuriated Sperm Whale rolls over and over;
它昂起巨大的头颅，大张着嘴向四周一切猛咬；
he rears his enormous head, and with wide expanded jaws snaps at everything around him;
它用头猛冲捕鲸船，将那些船只以极快的速度推开，有时将其彻底撞毁。
he rushes at the boats with his head; they are propelled before him with vast swiftness, and sometimes utterly destroyed.
令人深感惊异的是，对于抹香鲸这样一种习性如此有趣、在商业上又如此重要的动物，人们竟如此彻底地忽视了对其习性的研究，
It is a matter of great astonishment that the consideration of the habits of so interesting, and, in a commercial point of view, so important an animal (as the Sperm Whale) should have been so entirely neglected,
或者说，在众多观察者当中——其中许多人颇有见识——近年来本应拥有最充足、最便利的机会亲眼目睹其习性，却对此几乎没有激起任何好奇心。
or should have excited so little curiosity among the numerous, and many of them competent observers, that of late years, must have possessed the most abundant and the most convenient opportunities of witnessing their habitudes.
——托马斯·比尔《抹香鲸史》，1839年
—Thomas Beale's History of the Sperm Whale, 1839.
Vocabulary
- mariner
- 海员；水手；在船上工作的人
- sat
- 坐；sit的过去式
- in
- 在...里面；表示位置
- the
- 定冠词；用于特指
- one
- 数字一；某一个
- night
- 夜晚；晚上
- wind
- 风；空气流动
- was
- 是；be的过去式
- piping
- 尖锐的；管道；吹奏
- free
- 自由的；免费的；不受限制
- bright
- 明亮的；聪明的；光线充足
- dimmed
- 变暗；减弱光线
- moonlight
- 月光；月亮发出的光
- pale
- 苍白的；颜色浅淡的
- gleamed
- 闪烁；发出微弱光线
- wake
- 痕迹；尾迹；醒来
- whale
- 鲸鱼；大型海洋哺乳动物
- floundered
- 跌跌撞撞；挣扎
- sea
- 大海；海洋
- quantity
- 数量；一定的分量
- line
- 线；行；绳索
- withdrawn
- 收回；退出；withdrawn的过去分词
- from
- 来自；从...出发
- boats
- 船；小船；boat的复数
- engaged
- 从事；参与；订婚
- capture
- 捕获；俘获；拍摄
- this
- 这个；这
- amounted
- 合计；总共达到
- altogether
- 总共；完全地
- to
- 到；向；表示方向
- yards
- 码；庭院；yard的复数
- or
- 或者；或许；否则
- nearly
- 几乎；接近；差不多
- six
- 数字六；六个
- English
- 英语的；英国的
- miles
- 英里；mile的复数
- Sometimes
- 有时；时而；偶尔
- shakes
- 摇晃；摇动；shake的三单
- its
- 它的；所有格代词
- tremendous
- 巨大的；了不起的
- tail
- 尾巴；尾部
- air
- 空气；空中；样子
- which
- 哪一个；关系代词
- cracking
- 裂开；爆裂声；优秀的
- like
- 喜欢；像；相似
- whip
- 鞭子；抽打；鞭打
- resounds
- 回响；响彻；resound的三单
- distance
- 距离；远处；间距
- three
- 数字三；三个
- four
- 数字四；四个
- Mad
- 疯狂的；发疯的
- with
- 用；和；伴随
- agonies
- 极端痛苦；agony的复数
- he
- 他；男性代词
- endures
- 忍受；持续；endure的三单
- these
- 这些；这个
- fresh
- 新鲜的；崭新的
- attacks
- 攻击；发病；attack的三单
- infuriated
- 激怒；使愤怒
- Sperm
- 精子；鲸油；精液
- Whale
- 鲸鱼；大型海洋动物
- rolls
- 滚动；卷；roll的三单
- over
- 越过；翻滚；在...上方
- and
- 和；与；并且
- rears
- 后部；抚养；rear的三单
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