Upon those who do there grows steadily14 a sense of the most complete privacy, a solemn aloofness15 belonging to the seas. The infrequent vessel16, gentle though her progress may be through the calm waters of the tropics, still strikes them as an intruder upon this realm of silence and loneliness. The voices of the crew grate harshly upon the ear as with a sense of desecration17 such as one feels upon hearing loud conversation in the sacred peace of some huge cathedral. And when a vessel heaves in sight, a tiny mark against the skyline, she but punctuates18 the loneliness, as it were—affords a point from which the eye can faintly calculate the immensity of her surroundings.
Quite differently, yet with its own distinctive19 privacy, do the stormy regions of the ocean impress the beholder20. In the fine zones the wind’s presence is suggested rather than felt, so quiet and placid21 are its manifestations22. Its majestic23 voice is hushed[286] into a murmur24 undistinguishable from the musical rippling25 of the wavelets into which it ruffles26 the shining sea-surface. But when beyond those regions of perpetual summer the great giant Boreas asserts himself and challenges his ancient colleague and competitor to a renewal27 of the eternal conflict for supremacy28, there is an overwhelming sense of duality which is entirely29 absent in calmer seas. As the furious tempest rages unappeasable, and the solemn ocean wakes in mighty30 wrath31, men must feel that to be present at such a quarrel is to be like some puny32 mortal eavesdropping33 in full Sanhedrim of the High Gods. Apart altogether from the imminent34 danger of annihilation, there is that sense of intrusion which is almost sacrilege, of daring thus to witness what should surely be hidden from the profane35 eyes of the sons of men. All thoughtful minds are thus impressed by the combat of gale36 and sea, although their impressions are for the most part so elusive37 and shadowy that any definite fixing thereof is hopeless. Especially is this form of the solemn privacy of the sea noticeable in the Southern Ocean. Along the line, untraced by mortal hand except upon a Mercator’s Chart, favoured by the swift sailing ships between South America and Australasia, the vastest stretch of ocean known is dotted only at enormous intervals38 by the fleets of civilisation39. Day succeeds day, lengthening40 into weeks, during which the brave intruder is hurled41 upon her headlong way at the rate of eight or nine degrees of longitude42 in the twenty-four hours[287] without a companion, with no visible environment but sea and sky. And do what the intelligent novice43 will, he cannot divest44 himself of the notion, when drawing near the confines of New Zealand, seeing how minute that beautiful cluster of islands appears upon the chart, that it would be so easy to miss them altogether, to rush past them under compulsion of the mighty west wind, and waste long painful days struggling against its power to get back again to the overrun port.
Once in the writer’s own experience an incident occurred that seemed almost to justify45 such a fear. Only sixty days had elapsed since leaving Plymouth with four hundred emigrants46 on board, and during the last fortnight the west wind had blown with terrific violence (to a landsman). But the master, in calmest satisfaction, with fullest confidence in the power of his ship, had steadfastly47 refused to shorten sail. He seldom left the deck, the spectacle of his beautiful command in her maddened rush to the east being to him apparently48 sufficient recompense for loss of rest. At last we flew past the Snares49, those grim outliers of the Britain of the South, and it became necessary to “haul up” for Port Lyttelton. To do this we must needs bring that great wind full upon our broadside, and that, with the canvas we were carrying, would have meant instant destruction. So all hands were called, and the work of shortening her down commenced. Several of the lighter50 sails, at the first slackening from their previously51 rigid52 tension, gave one despairing flap[288] and vanished to join the clouds. But furious toil53 and careful skill through long hours of that dense54 night succeeded in reducing the previously great sail area down to three lower-topsails, reefed fore-sail, and fore-topmast staysail. Then after much careful watching of the waves that came fatefully thundering on astern until a lull56 momentarily intervened, the helm was suddenly put down, and the gallant57 vessel swung up into the wind. Nobly done, but as she wheeled there arose out of the blackness ahead a mountainous shape with a voice that made itself heard above the gale. Higher and higher it soared until smiting58 the bluff59 of the bow it broke on board, a wave hundreds of tons in solid weight. The stout60 steel ship trembled to her keelson, but she rose a conqueror61, while the avalanche62 of white-topped water rushed aft dismantling63 the decks, and leaving them, when it had subsided64, in forlorn ruin. But she was safe. Justifying65 the faithfulness and skill of her builders, she had survived where a weaker ship would have disappeared, beaten out of the upper air like a paper boat under a stone flung from the bank. Slowly and laboriously66 we fore-reached to the northward67, until under the lee of the land the wind changed, and we entered port in triumph.
This sense of solitude68 induced by contemplation of the ocean is exceedingly marked even on the best frequented routes and the most crowded (?) waters. To enter into it fully55, however, it is necessary to sail either in a cable ship, a whaler, or an old slow-going merchant sailor that gets drifted out of the[289] track of vessels69. Even in the English Channel one cannot but feel how much room there is. In spite of our knowledge of the numbers of ships that pass and repass without ceasing along what may truthfully be termed the most frequented highway in the watery70 world, there is an undoubtedly71 reasonable sense induced by its contemplation that however much the dry land may become overcrowded the sea will always be equal to whatever demands may be made upon it for space. There are many harbours in the world, at any rate landlocked bays that may rightly be called harbours, wherein the fleets of all the nations might lie in comfort. And their disappearance72 from the open sea would leave no sense of loss. So wide is Old Ocean’s bosom73. Perhaps this is even now more strongly marked than it was fifty years ago. The wonderful exactitude with which the steam fleets of the world keep to certain well-defined tracks leaves the intermediate breadths unvisited from year to year. They are private places whither he who should desire to hide himself from the eyes of men might hie and be certain that but for the host of heaven, the viewless wind, and the silent myriads74 beneath, he would indeed be alone. They are of the secret places of the Almighty75.
Occasionally the great steamships76 that lay for us the connecting nerves of civilisation penetrate77 these arcana, for their path must be made on the shortest line between two continents, heedless of surface tracks. And the wise men who handle these wonderful handmaids of science know how private are[290] the realms through which they steadily steam, leaving behind them the thin black line along which shall presently flash at lightning speed the thought-essence of mankind. The whaler, alas5! is gone; the old leisurely South Seaman78 to whom time was a thing of no moment. Her ruler knew that his best prospect79 of finding the prey80 he sought was where no keel disturbed the sensitive natural vibrations81 of the wave. So these vessels saw more of sea solitude than any others. Saw those weird82 spaces unvisited even by wind, great areas of silky surface into whose peaceful glades83 hardly rolled a gently undulating swell84 bearing silent evidence of storms raging half a world away. So too upon occasion did, and does, a belated sailing-ship, such as one we met in the Southern Seas bound from the United Kingdom to Auckland, that had been then nine months on her passage. Into what dread85 sea-solitudes she had intruded86. How many, many days had elapsed during which she was the solitary87 point rising from the shining plain into the upper air. Her crew had a wistful look upon their faces, as of men whose contact with the world they dimly remembered had been effectually cut off. And truly to many, news of her safety came in the nature of a message of resurrection. Books of account concerning her had to be reopened, mourning garments laid aside. She had returned from the silences, had rejoined the world of men.
All the tracks along which ships travel are but threads traversing these private waters, just little[291] spaces like a trail across an illimitable desert. And even there the simile88 fails because the track across the ocean plain is imaginary. It is traced by the passing keel and immediately it is gone. And the tiny portion of the sea-surface thus furrowed89 is but the minutest fraction of the immeasurable spaces wherein is enthroned the privacy of the sea.
点击收听单词发音
1 smear | |
v.涂抹;诽谤,玷污;n.污点;诽谤,污蔑 | |
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2 mightily | |
ad.强烈地;非常地 | |
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3 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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4 maritime | |
adj.海的,海事的,航海的,近海的,沿海的 | |
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5 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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6 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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7 inclination | |
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好 | |
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8 boredom | |
n.厌烦,厌倦,乏味,无聊 | |
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9 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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10 glides | |
n.滑行( glide的名词复数 );滑音;音渡;过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 );掠过;(鸟或飞机 ) 滑翔 | |
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11 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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12 impatience | |
n.不耐烦,急躁 | |
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13 favourable | |
adj.赞成的,称赞的,有利的,良好的,顺利的 | |
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14 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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15 aloofness | |
超然态度 | |
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16 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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17 desecration | |
n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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18 punctuates | |
v.(在文字中)加标点符号,加标点( punctuate的第三人称单数 );不时打断某事物 | |
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19 distinctive | |
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
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20 beholder | |
n.观看者,旁观者 | |
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21 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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22 manifestations | |
n.表示,显示(manifestation的复数形式) | |
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23 majestic | |
adj.雄伟的,壮丽的,庄严的,威严的,崇高的 | |
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24 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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25 rippling | |
起涟漪的,潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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26 ruffles | |
褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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27 renewal | |
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来 | |
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28 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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29 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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30 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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31 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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32 puny | |
adj.微不足道的,弱小的 | |
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33 eavesdropping | |
n. 偷听 | |
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34 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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35 profane | |
adj.亵神的,亵渎的;vt.亵渎,玷污 | |
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36 gale | |
n.大风,强风,一阵闹声(尤指笑声等) | |
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37 elusive | |
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的 | |
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38 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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39 civilisation | |
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
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40 lengthening | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的现在分词 ); 加长 | |
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41 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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42 longitude | |
n.经线,经度 | |
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43 novice | |
adj.新手的,生手的 | |
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44 divest | |
v.脱去,剥除 | |
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45 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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46 emigrants | |
n.(从本国移往他国的)移民( emigrant的名词复数 ) | |
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47 steadfastly | |
adv.踏实地,不变地;岿然;坚定不渝 | |
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48 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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49 snares | |
n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 );圈套;诱人遭受失败(丢脸、损失等)的东西;诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉,诱陷,陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
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51 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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52 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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53 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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54 dense | |
a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 | |
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55 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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56 lull | |
v.使安静,使入睡,缓和,哄骗;n.暂停,间歇 | |
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57 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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58 smiting | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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59 bluff | |
v.虚张声势,用假象骗人;n.虚张声势,欺骗 | |
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61 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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62 avalanche | |
n.雪崩,大量涌来 | |
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63 dismantling | |
(枪支)分解 | |
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64 subsided | |
v.(土地)下陷(因在地下采矿)( subside的过去式和过去分词 );减弱;下降至较低或正常水平;一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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65 justifying | |
证明…有理( justify的现在分词 ); 为…辩护; 对…作出解释; 为…辩解(或辩护) | |
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66 laboriously | |
adv.艰苦地;费力地;辛勤地;(文体等)佶屈聱牙地 | |
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67 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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68 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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69 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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70 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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71 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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72 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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73 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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74 myriads | |
n.无数,极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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75 almighty | |
adj.全能的,万能的;很大的,很强的 | |
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76 steamships | |
n.汽船,大轮船( steamship的名词复数 ) | |
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77 penetrate | |
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
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78 seaman | |
n.海员,水手,水兵 | |
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79 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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80 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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81 vibrations | |
n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动 | |
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82 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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83 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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84 swell | |
vi.膨胀,肿胀;增长,增强 | |
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85 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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86 intruded | |
n.侵入的,推进的v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 );把…强加于 | |
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87 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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88 simile | |
n.直喻,明喻 | |
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89 furrowed | |
v.犁田,开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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