英語聽書《白鯨記》第361期

Yes, that was the thought coming up in me; but itwould be the first time I ever did pray. It's queer;very queer; and he's queer too; aye, take him foreand aft, he's about the queerest old man Stubb eversailed with. How he flashed at me!--his eyes likepowder-pans! is he mad! Anyway there'ssomething's on his mind, as sure as there must besomething on a deck when it cracks. He aint in hisbed now, either, more than three hours out of thetwenty-four; and he don't sleep then. Didn't thatDough-Boy, the steward, tell me that of a morninghe always finds the old man's hammock clothes all rumpled and tumbled, and the sheets downat the foot, and the coverlid almost tied into knots, and the pillow a sort of frightful hot, asthough a baked brick had been on it? A hot old man! I guess he's got what some folks ashorecall a conscience; it's a kind of Tic-Dolly-row they say-- worse nor a toothache. Well, well; Idon't know what it is, but the Lord keep me from catching it. He's full of riddles; I wonder whathe goes into the after hold for, every night, as Dough-Boy tells me he suspects; what's that for,I should like to know? Who's made appointments with him in the hold? Ain't that queer, now?But there's no telling, it's the old game-- Here goes for a snooze. Damn me, it's worth a fellow'swhile to be born into the world, if only to fall right asleep. And now that I think of it, that'sabout the first thing babies do, and that's a sort of queer, too.

不錯,這倒是我剛想到的辦法;不過,這將是我生平第一遭的禱告。這真古怪;真正古怪;他也古怪;噫,算來算去,他該算是斯塔布生平一起出航的最古怪的老頭兒。他對我發(fā)了多大的脾氣啊!那雙眼睛活脫是兩只火藥桶!他瘋了嗎?總之,他一定是有什么心事,正如甲板上一有響動就必定有什么事情一樣。他現(xiàn)在一天二十四小時,躺在床上只有三個鐘頭,就是躺在床上也不睡覺。那個名叫湯團(tuán)的茶房有一天早晨不就告訴我說,他始終看到這老頭兒吊鋪上的被褥老是弄得亂七八糟,被單縮到床腳跟,床單簡直打成許多個結(jié)頭,枕頭可以說是熱得怕人,仿佛擱過一塊火磚么?這個激烈的老頭兒!我猜想他一定是患了岸上人所說的什么心病了,據(jù)說那是一種顏面痙攣癥...比牙痛還要難受。唔,唔;我不知道那究竟是什么毛病,但愿上帝別讓我染上這毛病。他渾身是謎;我不知道他每天晚上都要到后艙去干什么,那個湯團(tuán)也對我說,他很懷疑。那究竟是怎么一回事呀?我倒要弄個明白,究竟是誰跟他在后艙里有約會呀?這不古怪嗎,那么?但是,這很難說,又是老把戲...就在這里打個盹吧。該死的,人投胎到世間來,即使一生下來就馬上睡覺,也是劃算的。現(xiàn)在我倒想起睡覺這事情來了,這是小娃娃生下來的第一樁事情,這又是古怪的事。