英語聽書《白鯨記》第880期
第一百零六章 亞哈的腿
The precipitating manner in which Captain Ahab had quitted the Samuel Enderby of London, had not been unattended with some small violence to his own person. He had lighted with such energy upon a thwart of his boat that his ivory leg had received a half-splintering shock. And when after gaining his own deck, and his own pivot-hole there, he so vehemently wheeled round with an urgent command to the steersman (it was, as ever, something about his not steering inflexibly enough); then, the already shaken ivory received such an additional twist and wrench, that though it still remained entire, and to all appearances lusty, yet Ahab did not deem it entirely trustworthy.
亞哈船長那么慌慌張張地離開了倫敦的"撒姆耳·恩德比號"，對他本人說來，并不是一點也沒遭到什么損傷。他那么用勁地落到他小艇的坐板上，弄得他那只牙腿受到了象要坼裂似的一陣震動。而且，等他攀上自己船上的甲板，牙腿插進那只鏇孔時，又是那么猛烈地把腳一轉(zhuǎn)，對舵手下緊急命令（這個舵手，掌起舵來，好象始終掌不穩(wěn)）；這樣一來，那只本來已經(jīng)蹩傷了的牙腿，又經(jīng)過這樣一陣扭傷，以致它雖然還似乎完好如初，且也顯得很是靈活，然而，亞哈卻對它很不放心。
And, indeed, it seemed small matter for wonder, that for all his pervading, mad recklessness, Ahab, did at times give careful heed to the condition of that dead bone upon which he partly stood. For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod's sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing wound was entirely cured.
老實說，盡管亞哈始終是滿懷狂熱，粗心大意，他卻時刻小心注意他那多少要靠它站立的死骨頭的情況，這是沒有什么可以大驚小怪的。因為，在"裴廓德號"離開南塔開特的不很久前，有一天晚上，人們曾經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)他斜躺在地上，人事不省；當(dāng)時大概是出了某種既弄不明白，又似乎叫人說不出、猜不透的事故，他那只牙腿很厲害地脫了臼，弄得象是給碰斷了的樹樁一般，差不多都戳進了他的大腿窩里；那個苦惱的傷口，花了好大的工夫才完全治愈。
