英语听书《白鲸记》第817期

Would that he consumed his own smoke! for his smoke is horrible to inhale, and inhale it you must, and not only that, but you must live in it for the time. It has an unspeakable, wild, Hindoo odor about it, such as may lurk in the vicinity of funereal pyres. It smells like the left wing of the day of judgment; it is an argument for the pit.

它要是能够吸收自己的烟气，岂不更好！因为它那烟气真是难闻，可你又非闻不可，不只如此，你还得暂时在烟气里生活一会儿。它有一种难以言喻的、刺鼻的印度味道，有如火葬堆附近隐约飘来的那股气味一样。它闻起来象是末日审判的左边（左边——左边一般即等于西边，西边即为落日的意思，据说在末日审判时，罪人是在左边执行的。）那股气味一样；这就是肯定有地狱的一个论据。

By midnight the works were in full operation. We were clear from the carcass; sail had been made; the wind was freshening; the wild ocean darkness was intense. But that darkness was licked up by the fierce flames, which at intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and illuminated every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire. The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned to some vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs of the bold Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors, with broad sheets of flame for sails, bore down upon the Turkish frigates, and folded them in conflagrations.

到了午夜，炼油间的操作可说是达到了高潮。我们已经把死尸出清了；风帆也扯起了，风势变强，茫茫的海洋越来越昏黑。可是，那片黑暗却被猛烈的火舌舔光了，火舌时不时地从烟焰里窜出来。象是一种著名的希腊火（希腊火——以硝石硫磺挥发油相合而成的燃烧物，在水中也不熄灭。），把索具里每根高高的绳索都照得通亮。这艘着了火似的大船继续向前驶去，仿佛毫无悔恨地衔命去报一件不共戴天的大仇。这就象那两艘载足了松脂和硫磺的勇敢的海特里沃特和卡那利斯（在一八二二年希土战争时，希腊的爱国者以火船攻击土耳其军，1824—1825年更大规模地击溃土耳其舰队，希腊终于战胜土耳其，获得独立。）的二桅船，深更半夜驶离了他们的港埠，用阵阵的大火焰做风帆，去冲击土耳其人的巡洋舰，把他们都卷进了大火里。

The hatch, removed from the top of the works, now afforded a wide hearth in front of them. Standing on this were the Tartarean shapes of the pagan harpooneers, always the whale-ship's stokers. With huge pronged poles they pitched hissing masses of blubber into the scalding pots, or stirred up the fires beneath, till the snaky flames darted, curling, out of the doors to catch them by the feet.

打开炼油间顶，舱口就成了一个大火炉。站在大火炉旁的，总是那些捕鲸船的火夫，也就是那些个阴差鬼神似的异教徒的标枪手。他们拿着粗大的铁叉柄，一会儿把那些咝咝发响的鲸脂块戳到滚烫的炼锅里，一会儿搅动一下下边的炉火，直搅得那蛇舌似的火焰一阵卷旋，径从灶门冲了出来，碰上他们双脚。

查看有声读物更多精彩内容