英語聽書《白鯨記》 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.

現(xiàn)在,說來抱歉,比勒達卻有一個難望更正的老守財奴的聲名,在他航海的時候,他就是一個刻薄的。不好應(yīng)付的工頭。據(jù)南塔開特的人告訴我,說是在他當(dāng)時行駛那艘叫做"卡脫古號"的老捕鯨船的時候,他的水手們一回到家鄉(xiāng),大多是從岸上直接抬到醫(yī)院去的,個個精疲力竭,軟弱無力。作為一個虔誠的人物,尤其是作為一個桂克說來,說得客氣一點,他的心腸一定相當(dāng)硬。雖則據(jù)說他從來不大咒罵他的船員,但是,不知怎地,他卻總要迫使他們做過分辛勞。十足艱難的工作。在比勒達做大副的時候,他那雙淡褐色的眼睛只消朝你一瞪,準教你渾身哆嗦,直教你會不由自主地抓起什么東西...一只錘子或者一只穿索針,發(fā)狂似地去做這做那,做不管是什么工作。貪吃懶做一碰到他是不打自垮的。他本人就是他那種功利主義性格的精確的化身。在他那瘦長的身軀上,并沒有一片多余的肉,也沒有一根多余的胡須,他的下巴上長著一根柔軟的。恰到好處的毛,跟他那頂闊邊帽子的舊毛絨一樣。

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.

我跟著法勒船長下了甲板走進艙房的時候,看到坐在船尾橫木上的就是這樣一個人物。艙房里的面積很小;比勒達老頭就筆直地坐在那里,他總是這般坐法,從來不稍側(cè)斜,為的是不致壓壞他的衣裾。他那頂闊邊帽子放在身邊;雙腿硬挺挺地交叉著;那件淡褐色的上衣扣子直扣到下巴根;鼻梁上架著一副眼鏡,似乎正在全神貫注地念著一本笨重的書。