英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)書(shū)《白鯨記》 第270期

　　Nothing more happened on the passage worthy the mentioning; so, after a fine run, we safely arrived in Nantucket.

　　一路上再也沒(méi)發(fā)生什么值得一提的事;因此,在一段順利的航駛后,我們安抵南塔開(kāi)特了。

　　Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than the Eddystone lighthouse. Look at it-a mere hillock, and elbow of sand; all beach, without a background. There is more sand there than you would use in twenty years as a substitute for blotting paper. Some gamesome wights will tell you that they have to plant weeds there, they don't grow naturally; that they import Canada thistles; that they have to send beyond seas for a spile to stop a leak in an oil cask; that pieces of wood in Nantucket are carried about like bits of the true cross in Rome; that people there plant toadstools before their houses, to get under the shade in summer time; that one blade of grass makes an oasis, three blades in a day's walk a prairie; that they wear quicksand shoes, something like Laplander snow-shoes; that they are so shut up, belted about, every way inclosed, surrounded, and made an utter island of by the ocean, that to their very chairs and tables small clams will sometimes be found adhering as to the backs of sea turtles. But these extravaganzas only show that Nantucket is no Illinois.

　　南塔開(kāi)特!你不妨拿出地圖來(lái)瞧一瞧?？此烤故窃谶@世界的哪個(gè)角落里;看它是怎樣一種形勢(shì),它遠(yuǎn)離陸地,比厄梯斯通燈塔還要孤寂。你瞧。。。。。。它只不過(guò)是個(gè)小山丘,一彎沙地;全是沙灘,無(wú)依無(wú)靠。那些沙可夠你當(dāng)吸水紙用上二十年而綽有余裕。有些愛(ài)開(kāi)玩笑的家伙會(huì)對(duì)你說(shuō):南塔開(kāi)特人得在沙地上種雜草,因?yàn)槟莾簺](méi)有天生的雜草;又說(shuō)他們從加拿大運(yùn)來(lái)了薊草,他們?yōu)榱艘伦∫恢挥屯暗牧芽?得遠(yuǎn)涉重洋去找一只塞子;又說(shuō)南塔開(kāi)特人把幾片柴塊背來(lái)背去,猶如羅馬人背了幾個(gè)真正的十字架;這里的人都在屋前種菌,以便夏天在菌蔭下乘涼;又說(shuō)什么一片青草就可成為一個(gè)綠洲,三片青草就足以成為走上一天的大草原;他們都穿著流砂的鞋子,有點(diǎn)象拉伯蘭人的雪靴;最后說(shuō)是因?yàn)樗麄冞@么被海洋所困所圍,四面團(tuán)團(tuán)圍起而成為一個(gè)孤島,以致他們的臺(tái)子椅子往往都粘上了小貝殼,如同海龜?shù)谋成险持悮つ前?。總?這些夸張其詞的說(shuō)法,無(wú)非是要表示南塔開(kāi)特不能跟伊利諾斯州相提并論而已。

　　Look now at the wondrous traditional story of how this island was settled by the red-men. Thus goes the legend. In olden times an eagle swooped down upon the New England coast and carried off an infant Indian in his talons.

　　現(xiàn)在讓我們來(lái)看看紅種人怎樣在這個(gè)島上定居下來(lái)的那一奇特的傳說(shuō)吧。傳奇上是這樣說(shuō)的:古時(shí)候,有一只鷹突然猛飛下來(lái),撲落在新英格蘭的海岸上,攫走了一個(gè)印第安的嬰孩。