英语听书《白鲸记》 第289期

Now, Bildad, I am sorry to say, had the reputationof being an incorrigible old hunks, and in his sea-going days, a bitter, hard task-master. They told mein Nantucket, though it certainly seems a curiousstory, that when he sailed the old Categutwhaleman, his crew, upon arriving home, weremostly all carried ashore to the hospital, soreexhausted and worn out. For a pious man, especiallyfor a Quaker, he was certainly rather hard-hearted,to say the least. He never used to swear, though, athis men, they said; but somehow he got aninordinate quantity of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them. When Bildad was a chief-mate, to have his drab-colored eye intently looking at you, made you feel completely nervous,till you could clutch something--a hammer or a marling-spike, and go to work like mad, atsomething or other, never mind what. Indolence and idleness perished from before him. Hisown person was the exact embodiment of his utilitarian character. On his long, gaunt body, hecarried no spare flesh, no superfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it,like the worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat.

现在,说来抱歉,比勒达却有一个难望更正的老守财奴的声名,在他航海的时候,他就是一个刻薄的。不好应付的工头。据南塔开特的人告诉我,说是在他当时行驶那艘叫做"卡脱古号"的老捕鲸船的时候,他的水手们一回到家乡,大多是从岸上直接抬到医院去的,个个精疲力竭,软弱无力。作为一个虔诚的人物,尤其是作为一个桂克说来,说得客气一点,他的心肠一定相当硬。虽则据说他从来不大咒骂他的船员,但是,不知怎地,他却总要迫使他们做过分辛劳。十足艰难的工作。在比勒达做大副的时候,他那双淡褐色的眼睛只消朝你一瞪,准教你浑身哆嗦,直教你会不由自主地抓起什么东西...一只锤子或者一只穿索针,发狂似地去做这做那,做不管是什么工作。贪吃懒做一碰到他是不打自垮的。他本人就是他那种功利主义性格的精确的化身。在他那瘦长的身躯上,并没有一片多余的肉,也没有一根多余的胡须,他的下巴上长着一根柔软的。恰到好处的毛,跟他那顶阔边帽子的旧毛绒一样。

Such, then, was the person that I saw seated on the transom when I followed Captain Pelegdown into the cabin. The space between the decks was small; and there, bolt upright, sat oldBildad, who always sat so, and never leaned, and this to save his coat-tails. His broad-brim wasplaced beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was buttoned up to his chin;and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in reading from a ponderous volume.

我跟着法勒船长下了甲板走进舱房的时候,看到坐在船尾横木上的就是这样一个人物。舱房里的面积很小;比勒达老头就笔直地坐在那里,他总是这般坐法,从来不稍侧斜,为的是不致压坏他的衣裾。他那顶阔边帽子放在身边;双腿硬挺挺地交叉着;那件淡褐色的上衣扣子直扣到下巴根;鼻梁上架着一副眼镜,似乎正在全神贯注地念着一本笨重的书。