英語聽書《白鯨記》 第347期

　　Stubb was the second mate. He was a native of CapeCod; and hence, according to local usage, was calleda Cape-Cod-man. A happy-go-lucky; neither cravennor valiant; taking perils as they came with anindifferent air; and while engaged in the mostimminent crisis of the chase, toiling away, calm andcollected as a journeyman joiner engaged for theyear. Good-humored, easy, and careless, hepresided over his whaleboat as if the most deadlyencounter were but a dinner, and his crew allinvited guests. He was as particular about thecomfortable arrangements of his part of the boat, as an old stage-driver is about the snugnessof his box. When close to the whale, in the very death-lock of the fight, he handled hisunpitying lance coolly and off-handedly, as a whistling tinker his hammer. He would hum overhis old rigadig tunes while flank and flank with the most exasperated monster. Long usage had,for this Stubb, converted the jaws of death into an easy chair. What he thought of death itself,there is no telling. Whether he ever thought of it at all, might be a question; but, if he ever didchance to cast his mind that way after a comfortable dinner, no doubt, like a good sailor, hetook it to be a sort of call of the watch to tumble aloft, and bestir themselves there, aboutsomething which he would find out when he obeyed the order, and not sooner.

　　斯塔布是二副。他是科德角人;因此,按照當(dāng)?shù)氐牧?xí)慣,人家都管他叫科德角佬。這個無憂無慮的人,既不畏葸,也不驍勇;面臨危急,絕不改色;他在從事最危急的追擊時,總是鎮(zhèn)定自若地干下去,象個長年辛勞的小木匠一樣。他心情愉快,灑灑落落,隨遇而安,駕馭起他的捕鯨小艇來,仿佛把最可怕的遭遇戰(zhàn)看成是吃頓晚餐,他的水手全是應(yīng)邀而來的賓客。他很講究于把他的小艇布置得舒舒適適,猶如一個老車夫很講究于把他的車座弄得舒舒服服一樣。每當(dāng)迫近大鯨,進(jìn)行生死關(guān)頭的決斗時,他毫不在意地。隨隨便便地拿起他那支無情的魚槍,賽似一個嘴里一邊吹著唿哨,一邊舉起錘子的修補(bǔ)匠。到了跟那只憤怒已極的巨獸并攏的時候,他還會哼起他那流行的老調(diào)。這個斯塔布,已經(jīng)是積久成習(xí)地把鬼門關(guān)看做一只安樂椅了。他對于死亡這回事究竟是怎么個看法,那可不好講。他是否想到過這回事,也許還是個問題;但是,如果他吃過一頓舒服的晚餐后,心里會偶然閃上這個問題的話,那無疑地,他準(zhǔn)會象一個好水手那樣,把它看成是一種叫人連忙爬上桅頂?shù)氖虑?一聲遵命,他就趕緊找人上去,去找他所能發(fā)現(xiàn)的東西了。

　　What, perhaps, with other things, made Stubb such an easy-going, unfearing man, so cheerilytrudging off with the burden of life in a world full of grave peddlers, all bowed to the groundwith their packs; what helped to bring about that almost impious good-humor of his; that thingmust have been his pipe.

　　斯塔布為什么會這樣事事處之泰然,無所畏懼,在一個到處盡是死亡關(guān)頭的世間,大家都讓包袱壓得趴在地上,他卻能這樣逍遙自在地挑起生的重?fù)?dān)走去;究竟是什么東西使他會有這種簡直是大不韙的高高興興的態(tài)度;那東西一定就是他的煙斗。

　　For, like his nose, his short, black little pipe was one of the regular features of his face.

　　因為,他那根短小的黑煙斗就象他的鼻子一樣,是他臉上的固定特征之一。