Sailors often speak of an “ugly” sea, but the adjective has quite another meaning to that usually attached to it. They do not mean that it is ugly in appearance, for they well know that the beauty of a wave is as much a part of it as is the water—it cannot be otherwise than beautiful, as it cannot cease to be wet. What they mean is a dangerous sea. And by “sea” they always mean wave. A sailor never speaks of a “high wave,” “cross waves,” “heavy waves”; in fact, on board ship, except when passengers are getting information from officers, you will not hear the word “wave” mentioned at all.[192] It is necessary to mention this purely7 nautical8 detail to save constant explanation and digression. To return, then, to the sailor’s “ugly” sea. Its ugliness may be due to many different causes, but in the result the waves do not run truly with the wind; they rise unexpectedly and confusedly, changing the natural motion of the ship into a bewildered stagger, such as one will sometimes see in a horse when a brutal9, foolish driver is beating him over the head and wrenching10 first at one rein11 and then the other without knowing himself what he wants the poor brute12 to do. It is very pitiful, too, to watch a gallant13 ship being pressed through an ugly, untrue sea—such, for instance, as may be met with in the North Atlantic with a south-west gale14 blowing, and the vessel15 in the midst of the Gulf16 Stream. The conflict between wind and current, all the more terrible for its invisibility, is deep-reaching, so deep that every excuse must be found for those who have spoken of seas running mountains high. As the steady, implacable thrust of the storm booms forth17, the black breadths of water rise rebellious18; they would fain flow in the face of the wind, but that cannot be. So they rise, sullenly19 rise, peak-like, against their persecutor20, until his might compels them forward against the mighty21 stream beneath, and their shattered crags and pinnacles22 tumble in ruinous heaps around.
Even this, however, is less dangerous than that time—to be spoken of by those who have seen it, and live, with bated breath—when, rotating like some wheel of the gods, the tropical cyclone23 whirls across the Indian seas. Round and round blow the incredibly furious winds, having a centrifugal direction withal, and yet the whole mighty system progresses in some given direction, until towards its centre there is a Maelstrom24 indeed—a space where the wind hath left, as it were, a funnel25 of calm in the world-tumult. And there the waves hold high revel26. Heap upon heap the waters rise, without direction, without shape, save that of fortuitous blocks hurled27 skyward and falling again in ruin. The fountains of the great deep appear to be broken up, and woe28 to man’s handiwork found straying there in that black hour.
All those who have ever “run the Easting down” will remember, but not all pleasurably, the great true sea of the roaring “forties” or “fifties.” How, unhindered in its world-encircling sweep, the premier29 wind of all comes joyously30, unwaveringly, for many a day without a pause, while the good ship flies before it with every wing bearing its utmost strain. In keeping with the wind, the wave—the long, true wave of the Southern Seas, spreading to infinity31 on either hand, a gorgeous concave of blue, with its direction as straightly at right angles to the ship’s track as if laid by line, and its ridge32 all glistening33 like a wreath of new-fallen snow under silver moon or golden sun. It pursues, it overtakes, rises astern with majestic34 sound as of all the war-chariots of Neptune35; then, easily passing beneath the buoyant keel, it is gone on ahead, has joined its fellows in their stately progress to the East. Adown its far-spreading shoulders stream pennons of white; in the[194] broad valley between it and the next wave the same bright foam36 creams and hisses37 until wherever the eye can rest is no longer blue but white—a wilderness38 of curdling39 snow just bepatched with azure40.
The strong, exultant41 ship may rejoice in such a scene as this, but it is far otherwise with the weakling. Caught up in this irresistible42 march of wind and wave, she feels that her place is otherwhere; it is not hers to strive with giants, but to abide43 by the stuff. Then do the hapless mariners44 in charge watch carefully for a time when they may lay her to, watch the waves’ sequence, knowing that every third wave is greater, and leaves a broader valley of smooth behind it than its fellows; while some say that with the third sequence of three—the ninth wave—these differences are at their maximum. Why? Who knows? Certain it is that some waves are heavier than others, and equally certain it is that in the case of a truly running sea these heavier seas appear at regularly recurrent intervals45 of three. And that is all sailors know. Sufficient too, perhaps, as with their weak and overladen ship they watch the smooth, to swing her up between two rolling ranges of water, and without shipping46 more than thirty or forty tons or so, heave her to, her head just quartering the oncoming waves, and all danger of being overwhelmed by them removed.
Curious indeed are the waves to be found over uneven47 bottoms with strong undercurrents—as, for instance, on the coast of Nova Scotia—and known as “overfalls.” Sufficiently48 annoying to vessels49 of large size that get among them, they are most dangerous to small craft. The water rises in masses perpendicularly50, and falls a dead weight without apparent forward motion—a puzzling, deadly sea to meet when a howling gale is driving your small vessel across those angry waters. But the overfall character is common to nearly all waves raised in shallow seas and tidal streams. It adds to the dangers of navigation immensely, and although the eye must be charmed when from the lofty cliff we see the green-bosomed, hoary-shouldered wave come thundering shoreward, we need not expect those to greet him lovingly who must do so in weakness and undefended.
What of the tidal wave; that mysterious indispensable swelling51 of the waters that, following the “pull” of the moon, rolls round this globe of ours twice in each twenty-four hours, stemming the outflow of mighty rivers, penetrating52 far inland wherever access is available, and doing within its short lease of life an amount of beneficent work freely that would beggar the wealthiest Monarchy53 of the world to undertake if it must needs be paid for? Mysterious it may well be called, since, though its passage from zone to zone be so swift, it is, like all other waves, but an undulatory movement of that portion of the sea momentarily influenced by the suasion of the planet—not, as is vulgarly supposed, the same mass of water vehemently54 carried onward55 for thousands of miles. No; just as a tightly stretched sheet of calico shows an undulation if the point of a stick be[196] passed along beneath its surface and pressed upward against it, an undulation which leaves every fibre where it was originally, so does the whole surface remain in its place while the long, long wave rolls round the world carrying up to their moorings the homeward-bound ships, sweetening mud-befouled tidal harbours, and giving to forlorn breadths of deserted56 shallows all the glory and vitality57 of the youthful sea.
To meet a tidal wave at sea is in some parts of the watery58 world a grim and unforgettable experience. Floating upon the shining blue plain, with an indolent swelling of the surface just giving a cosy59 roll to your ship now and then, you suddenly see in the distance a ridge, a knoll60 of water that advances vast, silent, menacing. Nearer and nearer it comes, rearing its apparently endless curve higher and higher. There is no place to flee from before its face. Neither is there much suspense61. For its pace is swift, although it appears so deliberate, from the illimitable grandeur62 of its extent. It is upon the ship. She behaves in accordance with the way she has been caught and her innate63 peculiarities64. In any case, whatever her bulk, she is hurled forward, upward, backward, downward, as if never again could she regain65 an even keel, while her crew cling desperately66 to whatever holding-place they may have reached, lest they should be dashed into dead pieces.
Some will have it that these marvellous upliftings of the sea-bosom are not tidal waves at all—that they do not belong to that normal ebb67 and flow of the ocean that owns the sway of the moon. If so, they would be met with more frequently than they are at sea, and far more disasters would be placed to their account. This contention68 seems reasonable, because it is well known that lonely islets such as St. Helena, Tristan d’Acunha, and Ascension are visited at irregular intervals by a succession of appalling69 waves (rollers) that deal havoc70 among the smaller shipping, and look as if they would overwhelm the land. The suggestion is that these stupendous waves are due to cosmic disturbance71, to submarine earthquakes upheaving the ocean-bed and causing so vast a displacement72 of the ocean that its undulations extend for several thousands of miles.
As to the speed of waves, judging from all experience, they would seem never to exceed sixteen to eighteen knots an hour in their hugest forms. And yet it is well known that they will often outstrip73 the gale that gave them birth, let it rage never so furiously. Lying peacefully rolling upon the smoothest of summer seas, you shall presently find, without any alteration74 in the weather, the vessel’s motion change from its soothing75 roll to a sharp, irritable76, and irritating movement. And, looking overside, there may be seen the forerunners77 of the storm that is raging hundreds of miles away, the hurrying waves that it has driven in its path. So likewise, long hours after a gale is over, the waves it has raised roll on, still reluctant to resume their levelled peace, and should a new gale arise in some contrary direction, the “old” sea, as the sailor calls it, will persist, making the striving ship’s progress full of weariness and unease to those on board. Of the energy of waves, of the lessons they teach, their immutable78 mutability, and other things concerning them that leap to the mind, no word can now be spoken, for space is spent.
点击收听单词发音
1 marvel | |
vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异;n.令人惊异的事 | |
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2 ruffled | |
adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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4 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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5 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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6 subside | |
vi.平静,平息;下沉,塌陷,沉降 | |
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7 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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8 nautical | |
adj.海上的,航海的,船员的 | |
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9 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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10 wrenching | |
n.修截苗根,苗木铲根(铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土)v.(猛力地)扭( wrench的现在分词 );扭伤;使感到痛苦;使悲痛 | |
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11 rein | |
n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治 | |
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12 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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13 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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14 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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15 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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16 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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17 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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18 rebellious | |
adj.造反的,反抗的,难控制的 | |
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19 sullenly | |
不高兴地,绷着脸,忧郁地 | |
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20 persecutor | |
n. 迫害者 | |
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21 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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22 pinnacles | |
顶峰( pinnacle的名词复数 ); 顶点; 尖顶; 小尖塔 | |
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23 cyclone | |
n.旋风,龙卷风 | |
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24 maelstrom | |
n.大乱动;大漩涡 | |
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25 funnel | |
n.漏斗;烟囱;v.汇集 | |
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26 revel | |
vi.狂欢作乐,陶醉;n.作乐,狂欢 | |
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27 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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28 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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29 premier | |
adj.首要的;n.总理,首相 | |
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30 joyously | |
ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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31 infinity | |
n.无限,无穷,大量 | |
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32 ridge | |
n.山脊;鼻梁;分水岭 | |
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33 glistening | |
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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34 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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35 Neptune | |
n.海王星 | |
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36 foam | |
v./n.泡沫,起泡沫 | |
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37 hisses | |
嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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38 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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39 curdling | |
n.凝化v.(使)凝结( curdle的现在分词 ) | |
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40 azure | |
adj.天蓝色的,蔚蓝色的 | |
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41 exultant | |
adj.欢腾的,狂欢的,大喜的 | |
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42 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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43 abide | |
vi.遵守;坚持;vt.忍受 | |
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44 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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45 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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46 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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47 uneven | |
adj.不平坦的,不规则的,不均匀的 | |
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48 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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49 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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50 perpendicularly | |
adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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51 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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52 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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53 monarchy | |
n.君主,最高统治者;君主政体,君主国 | |
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54 vehemently | |
adv. 热烈地 | |
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55 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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56 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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57 vitality | |
n.活力,生命力,效力 | |
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58 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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59 cosy | |
adj.温暖而舒适的,安逸的 | |
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60 knoll | |
n.小山,小丘 | |
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61 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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62 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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63 innate | |
adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的 | |
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64 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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65 regain | |
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复 | |
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66 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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67 ebb | |
vi.衰退,减退;n.处于低潮,处于衰退状态 | |
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68 contention | |
n.争论,争辩,论战;论点,主张 | |
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69 appalling | |
adj.骇人听闻的,令人震惊的,可怕的 | |
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70 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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71 disturbance | |
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调 | |
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72 displacement | |
n.移置,取代,位移,排水量 | |
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73 outstrip | |
v.超过,跑过 | |
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74 alteration | |
n.变更,改变;蚀变 | |
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75 soothing | |
adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的 | |
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76 irritable | |
adj.急躁的;过敏的;易怒的 | |
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77 forerunners | |
n.先驱( forerunner的名词复数 );开路人;先兆;前兆 | |
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78 immutable | |
adj.不可改变的,永恒的 | |
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