The West Wind keeps faith with his brother, the King of the Easterly weather. “What we have divided we have divided,” he seems to say in his gruff voice, this ruler without guile15, who hurls16 as if in sport enormous masses of cloud across the sky, and flings the great waves of the Atlantic clear across from the shores of the New World upon the hoary17 headlands of Old Europe, which harbours more kings and rulers upon its seamed and furrowed18 body than all the oceans of the world together. “What we have divided we have divided; and if no rest and peace in this world have fallen to my share, leave me alone. Let me play at quoits with cyclonic19 gales, flinging the discs of spinning cloud and whirling air from one end of my dismal20 kingdom to the other: over the Great Banks or along the edges of pack-ice — this one with true aim right into the bight of the Bay of Biscay, that other upon the fiords of Norway, across the North Sea where the fishermen of many nations look watchfully21 into my angry eye. This is the time of kingly sport.”
And the royal master of high latitudes22 sighs mightily23, with the sinking sun upon his breast and the double-edged sword upon his knees, as if wearied by the innumerable centuries of a strenuous24 rule and saddened by the unchangeable aspect of the ocean under his feet — by the endless vista25 of future ages where the work of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind shall go on and on till his realm of living waters becomes a frozen and motionless ocean. But the other, crafty26 and unmoved, nursing his shaven chin between the thumb and forefinger27 of his slim and treacherous28 hand, thinks deep within his heart full of guile: “Aha! our brother of the West has fallen into the mood of kingly melancholy29. He is tired of playing with circular gales, and blowing great guns, and unrolling thick streamers of fog in wanton sport at the cost of his own poor, miserable30 subjects. Their fate is most pitiful. Let us make a foray upon the dominions31 of that noisy barbarian, a great raid from Finisterre to Hatteras, catching32 his fishermen unawares, baffling the fleets that trust to his power, and shooting sly arrows into the livers of men who court his good graces. He is, indeed, a worthless fellow.” And forthwith, while the West Wind meditates33 upon the vanity of his irresistible34 might, the thing is done, and the Easterly weather sets in upon the North Atlantic.
The prevailing35 weather of the North Atlantic is typical of the way in which the West Wind rules his realm on which the sun never sets. North Atlantic is the heart of a great empire. It is the part of the West Wind’s dominions most thickly populated with generations of fine ships and hardy37 men. Heroic deeds and adventurous38 exploits have been performed there, within the very stronghold of his sway. The best sailors in the world have been born and bred under the shadow of his sceptre, learning to manage their ships with skill and audacity39 before the steps of his stormy throne. Reckless adventurers, toiling40 fishermen, admirals as wise and brave as the world has ever known, have waited upon the signs of his westerly sky. Fleets of victorious41 ships have hung upon his breath. He has tossed in his hand squadrons of war-scarred three-deckers, and shredded42 out in mere43 sport the bunting of flags hallowed in the traditions of honour and glory. He is a good friend and a dangerous enemy, without mercy to unseaworthy ships and faint-hearted seamen44. In his kingly way he has taken but little account of lives sacrificed to his impulsive45 policy; he is a king with a double-edged sword bared in his right hand. The East Wind, an interloper in the dominions of Westerly weather, is an impassive-faced tyrant46 with a sharp poniard held behind his back for a treacherous stab.
In his forays into the North Atlantic the East Wind behaves like a subtle and cruel adventurer without a notion of honour or fair play. Veiling his clear-cut, lean face in a thin layer of a hard, high cloud, I have seen him, like a wizened47 robber sheik of the sea, hold up large caravans48 of ships to the number of three hundred or more at the very gates of the English Channel. And the worst of it was that there was no ransom49 that we could pay to satisfy his avidity; for whatever evil is wrought50 by the raiding East Wind, it is done only to spite his kingly brother of the West. We gazed helplessly at the systematic51, cold, gray-eyed obstinacy52 of the Easterly weather, while short rations36 became the order of the day, and the pinch of hunger under the breast-bone grew familiar to every sailor in that held-up fleet. Every day added to our numbers. In knots and groups and straggling parties we flung to and fro before the closed gate. And meantime the outward-bound ships passed, running through our humiliated53 ranks under all the canvas they could show. It is my idea that the Easterly Wind helps the ships away from home in the wicked hope that they shall all come to an untimely end and be heard of no more. For six weeks did the robber sheik hold the trade route of the earth, while our liege lord, the West Wind, slept profoundly like a tired Titan, or else remained lost in a mood of idle sadness known only to frank natures. All was still to the westward54; we looked in vain towards his stronghold: the King slumbered55 on so deeply that he let his foraging56 brother steal the very mantle57 of gold-lined purple clouds from his bowed shoulders. What had become of the dazzling hoard58 of royal jewels exhibited at every close of day? Gone, disappeared, extinguished, carried off without leaving a single gold band or the flash of a single sunbeam in the evening sky! Day after day through a cold streak59 of heavens as bare and poor as the inside of a rifled safe a rayless and despoiled60 sun would slink shamefacedly, without pomp or show, to hide in haste under the waters. And still the King slept on, or mourned the vanity of his might and his power, while the thin-lipped intruder put the impress of his cold and implacable spirit upon the sky and sea. With every daybreak the rising sun had to wade61 through a crimson62 stream, luminous63 and sinister64, like the spilt blood of celestial65 bodies murdered during the night.
In this particular instance the mean interloper held the road for some six weeks on end, establishing his particular administrative66 methods over the best part of the North Atlantic. It looked as if the easterly weather had come to stay for ever, or, at least, till we had all starved to death in the held-up fleet — starved within sight, as it were, of plenty, within touch, almost, of the bountiful heart of the Empire. There we were, dotting with our white dry sails the hard blueness of the deep sea. There we were, a growing company of ships, each with her burden of grain, of timber, of wool, of hides, and even of oranges, for we had one or two belated fruit schooners67 in company. There we were, in that memorable68 spring of a certain year in the late seventies, dodging69 to and fro, baffled on every tack70, and with our stores running down to sweepings71 of bread-lockers and scrapings of sugar-casks. It was just like the East Wind’s nature to inflict72 starvation upon the bodies of unoffending sailors, while he corrupted73 their simple souls by an exasperation74 leading to outbursts of profanity as lurid75 as his blood-red sunrises. They were followed by gray days under the cover of high, motionless clouds that looked as if carved in a slab76 of ash-coloured marble. And each mean starved sunset left us calling with imprecations upon the West Wind even in its most veiled misty77 mood to wake up and give us our liberty, if only to rush on and dash the heads of our ships against the very walls of our unapproachable home.
点击收听单词发音
1 reigning | |
adj.统治的,起支配作用的 | |
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2 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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3 intrudes | |
v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的第三人称单数 );把…强加于 | |
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4 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
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5 barbarian | |
n.野蛮人;adj.野蛮(人)的;未开化的 | |
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6 craftiness | |
狡猾,狡诈 | |
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7 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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8 gilt | |
adj.镀金的;n.金边证券 | |
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9 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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10 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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11 distended | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12 gales | |
龙猫 | |
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13 wiles | |
n.(旨在欺骗或吸引人的)诡计,花招;欺骗,欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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14 meditating | |
a.沉思的,冥想的 | |
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15 guile | |
n.诈术 | |
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16 hurls | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的第三人称单数 );大声叫骂 | |
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17 hoary | |
adj.古老的;鬓发斑白的 | |
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18 furrowed | |
v.犁田,开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19 cyclonic | |
adj.气旋的,飓风的 | |
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20 dismal | |
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的 | |
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21 watchfully | |
警惕地,留心地 | |
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22 latitudes | |
纬度 | |
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23 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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24 strenuous | |
adj.奋发的,使劲的;紧张的;热烈的,狂热的 | |
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25 vista | |
n.远景,深景,展望,回想 | |
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26 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
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27 forefinger | |
n.食指 | |
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28 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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29 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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30 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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31 dominions | |
统治权( dominion的名词复数 ); 领土; 疆土; 版图 | |
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32 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
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33 meditates | |
深思,沉思,冥想( meditate的第三人称单数 ); 内心策划,考虑 | |
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34 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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35 prevailing | |
adj.盛行的;占优势的;主要的 | |
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36 rations | |
定量( ration的名词复数 ); 配给量; 正常量; 合理的量 | |
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37 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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38 adventurous | |
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 | |
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39 audacity | |
n.大胆,卤莽,无礼 | |
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40 toiling | |
长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 ); 艰难缓慢地移动,跋涉 | |
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41 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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42 shredded | |
shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
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43 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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44 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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45 impulsive | |
adj.冲动的,刺激的;有推动力的 | |
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46 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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47 wizened | |
adj.凋谢的;枯槁的 | |
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48 caravans | |
(可供居住的)拖车(通常由机动车拖行)( caravan的名词复数 ); 篷车; (穿过沙漠地带的)旅行队(如商队) | |
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49 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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50 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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51 systematic | |
adj.有系统的,有计划的,有方法的 | |
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52 obstinacy | |
n.顽固;(病痛等)难治 | |
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53 humiliated | |
感到羞愧的 | |
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54 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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55 slumbered | |
微睡,睡眠(slumber的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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56 foraging | |
v.搜寻(食物),尤指动物觅(食)( forage的现在分词 );(尤指用手)搜寻(东西) | |
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57 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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58 hoard | |
n./v.窖藏,贮存,囤积 | |
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59 streak | |
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动 | |
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60 despoiled | |
v.掠夺,抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61 wade | |
v.跋涉,涉水;n.跋涉 | |
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62 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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63 luminous | |
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的 | |
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64 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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65 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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66 administrative | |
adj.行政的,管理的 | |
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67 schooners | |
n.(有两个以上桅杆的)纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
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68 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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69 dodging | |
n.避开,闪过,音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 );回避 | |
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70 tack | |
n.大头钉;假缝,粗缝 | |
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71 sweepings | |
n.笼统的( sweeping的名词复数 );(在投票等中的)大胜;影响广泛的;包罗万象的 | |
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72 inflict | |
vt.(on)把…强加给,使遭受,使承担 | |
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73 corrupted | |
(使)败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏 | |
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74 exasperation | |
n.愤慨 | |
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75 lurid | |
adj.可怕的;血红的;苍白的 | |
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76 slab | |
n.平板,厚的切片;v.切成厚板,以平板盖上 | |
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77 misty | |
adj.雾蒙蒙的,有雾的 | |
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