英語聽書《白鯨記》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.

它要是能夠吸收自己的煙氣，豈不更好！因為它那煙氣真是難聞，可你又非聞不可，不只如此，你還得暫時在煙氣里生活一會兒。它有一種難以言喻的、刺鼻的印度味道，有如火葬堆附近隱約飄來的那股氣味一樣。它聞起來象是末日審判的左邊（左邊——左邊一般即等于西邊，西邊即為落日的意思，據(jù)說在末日審判時，罪人是在左邊執(zhí)行的。）那股氣味一樣；這就是肯定有地獄的一個論據(jù)。

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，煉油間的操作可說是達到了高潮。我們已經(jīng)把死尸出清了；風帆也扯起了，風勢變強，茫茫的海洋越來越昏黑?？墒?，那片黑暗卻被猛烈的火舌舔光了，火舌時不時地從煙焰里竄出來。象是一種著名的希臘火（希臘火——以硝石硫磺揮發(fā)油相合而成的燃燒物，在水中也不熄滅。），把索具里每根高高的繩索都照得通亮。這艘著了火似的大船繼續(xù)向前駛?cè)?，仿佛毫無悔恨地銜命去報一件不共戴天的大仇。這就象那兩艘載足了松脂和硫磺的勇敢的海特里沃特和卡那利斯（在一八二二年希土戰(zhàn)爭時，希臘的愛國者以火船攻擊土耳其軍，1824—1825年更大規(guī)模地擊潰土耳其艦隊，希臘終于戰(zhàn)勝土耳其，獲得獨立。）的二桅船，深更半夜駛離了他們的港埠，用陣陣的大火焰做風帆，去沖擊土耳其人的巡洋艦，把他們都卷進了大火里。

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.

打開煉油間頂，艙口就成了一個大火爐。站在大火爐旁的，總是那些捕鯨船的火夫，也就是那些個陰差鬼神似的異教徒的標槍手。他們拿著粗大的鐵叉柄，一會兒把那些咝咝發(fā)響的鯨脂塊戳到滾燙的煉鍋里，一會兒攪動一下下邊的爐火，直攪得那蛇舌似的火焰一陣卷旋，徑從灶門沖了出來，碰上他們雙腳。

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