英语听书《白鲸记》第363期

When Stubb had departed, Ahab stood for a whileleaning over the bulwarks; and then, as had beenusual with him of late, calling a sailor of the watch,he sent him below for his ivory stool, and also hispipe. Lighting the pipe at the binnacle lamp andplanting the stool on the weather side of the deck, hesat and smoked.

斯塔布走后,亚哈靠着舷墙,站了一会儿;接着,按照他近来的习惯,叫来一个值班的水手,要他到下面去拿他那只牙凳子和烟斗。他凑着罗盘灯点燃起烟斗,把凳子放在甲板的向风地方,坐在那里抽烟。

In old Norse times, the thrones of the sea-loving Danish kings were fabricated, saith tradition,of the tusks of the narwhale. How could one look at Ahab then, seated on that tripod of bones,without bethinking him of the royalty it symbolized? For a Khan of the plank, and a king of thesea and a great lord of Leviathans was Ahab.

在古挪威时代,据说,那些热爱航海的丹麦皇帝的宝座都是用独角鲸的牙齿做的。那么,看到亚哈坐在那只用牙骨做成的三脚凳上,怎不叫人想到那就是象征着他的王位呢?因为亚哈就是船上的可汗,海中之王,也是大海兽的太君。

Some moments passed, during which the thick vapor came from his mouth in quick andconstant puffs, which blew back again into his face. "How now," he soliloquized at last,withdrawing the tube, "this smoking no longer soothes. Oh, my pipe! hard must it go with me ifthy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring-- aye, andignorantly smoking to windward all the while; to windward, and with such nervous whiffs, as if,like the dying whale, my final jets were the strongest and fullest of trouble. What businesshave I with this pipe? This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vaporsamong mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I'll smoke no more-"

过了一会儿,他嘴里就不住迅速地喷出阵阵浓烟来,浓烟又直飘回到他脸上。"这是怎么一回事,"他终于一边自言自语,一边拿掉烟斗,"吸烟也不再会减轻痛苦了。我的烟斗呵!如果连你都失却了魔力,那我一定是弄不好喽!我一直在这里不知不觉地苦干着,不是为了享乐,不错,而且一直没有注意到是在当风抽烟;当着风,而且这样一个劲儿吹吹喷喷,仿佛就象条垂死的大鲸,我这最后的喷射,都是充满着最强烈的苦恼。我还要跟这支烟斗打什么交道?这东西本来就是意味着宁静,把柔和的白烟吹进柔和的白发里,而不是吹进我这样蓬乱的铁灰色的发绺里。我再也不吸它了..."

He tossed the still lighted pipe into the sea. The fire hissed in the waves; the same instant theship shot by the bubble the sinking pipe made. With slouched hat, Ahab lurchingly paced theplanks.

他把那支还燃点着的烟斗扔到海里去了。烟火在浪里咝的一声;同时,船只掠过那下沉的烟斗冒起的泡泡,飕地往前驶去。亚哈戴着垂边帽,在甲板上蹒蹒跚跚地踱来踱去。