The Battle / The Forest - Rick Wakeman.mp3

[00:16.619]［读白］
[00:16.619]Having made a raft from wood taken from the giant mushroom forest with rigging consisting of a mast made of two staves lashed together,
[00:24.208]a yard made of a third, and a sail borrowed from their stock of rugs,
[00:27.836]they set sail from the harbor, Port Gräuben, named after Axel's fiance.
[00:32.656]With a northwesterly wind propelling them along at about three miled an hour,
[00:37.116]silvery beams of light reflected here and there by drops of spray,
[00:41.482]produced luminous points in the eddy created by the raft.
[00:45.671]Soon all land was lost to view.
[00:48.773]Five days out to sea they witnessed a terrifying battle between two sea monsters,
[00:53.802]one having the snout of a porpoise, the head of a lizard, and the teeth of a crocodile: an ichthyosaurs,
[00:59.668]and the other, the mortal enemy of the first, a serpent with a turtle's shell: a plesiosaurus.
[01:07.058]THE BATTLE
[02:13.633]Five days out on an infinite sea, they prayed for calm on an ocean free,
[02:19.197]But the surface of the water was indicating some disturbance.
[02:25.457]The raft was hurled by an unseen source, two hundred feet, with frightening force
[02:31.398]And a dark mass rising showed to be a giant porpoise
[02:37.625]Rising out of the angry sea, towered the creatures' enemy,
[02:43.211]And so the two sea monsters closed for battle
[02:49.397]CHOIR : Crocodile teeth, lizard's head, bloodshot eye, stained ocean red
[02:55.199]Moving close to their raft's side, the two men prayed as one and cried
[03:01.417]'Save me, save me, save me, save me'
[03:54.145]The serpents' fight went on for hours, two monsters soaring up like towers
[03:59.653]And diving down to the depths in a single motion
[04:05.744]Suddenly, the serpent's head, shot out of the water bathed in red
[04:11.292]And the serpentine form lay lifeless on the ocean
[04:17.494]CHOIR: Crocodile teeth, lizard's head, bloodshot eye stained ocean red
[04:23.246]Battle won a victor's pride, the three men thanked the Lord and cried
[04:28.805]'Praise God, praise God, praise God, praise God'
[05:25.575]［读白］
[05:25.575]Cumulous clowds fromed heavily in the south like huge wool packs heaped up in picturesque disorder.
[05:33.320]Under the influence of the breeze they merged together,
[05:36.501]growing darker, forming a single menacing mass.
[05:41.214]The raft lay motionless on the sluggish wavelsss sea,
[05:45.799]and in silence they waited for the storm.
[07:28.471]［读白］
[07:28.471]For four days the storm had raged as they clung to the mast of their raft for safety.
[07:33.577]Finally, their raft wrecked after being bashed against the reefs,
[07:37.584]they lay sheltered from the pouring rain beneath a few overhanging rocks,
[07:40.910]where they eat and slept.
[07:43.198]The next day, all trace of the storm had disappeared and what remained of their stock seemed intact.
[07:49.084]But checking the compass brought heart break as it showed that a change of wind during the storm had returned them to just a few miles north of Port Gräuben.
[07:58.292]Deciding to try and find the original route, they advanced with dificulty,
[08:03.084]through the granite fragments mingled with flint, quartz, and alluvial deposits,
[08:07.462]eventually reaching a plain covered with bones, like a huge cemetry.
[08:12.460]A mile further on they reached the edge of a huge forest made up of vegetation of the Tertiary Period:
[08:18.347]Tall palms were linked by a network of inextricable creepers a carpet of moss covered the ground and the leaves were colorless,
[08:27.109]everything having a brownish hue.
[08:29.918]Exploring the forest they discovered a herd of gigantic animals, mastodons,
[08:34.615]which were being marshalled by a primitive human being: a Proteus.
[08:39.126]He stood over 12 feet high, and brandished an enormous bough, a crook worthy of this anti-alluvian shepherd.
[08:48.547]THE FOREST
[09:21.159]Journey on through ages gone, to the centre of the earth
[09:26.532]Past rocks of quartz and granite, which gave mother nature birth
[09:33.194]Burial ground of ancient man, his life no more is seen,
[09:38.624]A journey through his time unknown, I wonder where he's been
[09:45.285]CHOIR: Wonder where he's been, wonder where he's been, wonder where he's been
[09:59.699]The shore now gone behind the hills, a forest in our sight,
[10:05.880]Rocks and distant mountains, bathed in waves of blinding light
[10:11.901]Forests from a far gone time, no living man has seen,
[10:17.703]A private prehistoric world, for you and I a dream
[10:35.259]Brownish hue dictates my eye, no colour hides their fear,
[10:41.102]Flowers faded, dull and cold, now bleached by atmosphere
[10:46.846]Creatures twisting under trees, huge monsters soaked with rage
[10:52.455]Hidden deep below our earth, a frightening, by gone age
[10:58.264]Their shepherd came, now long extinct, a huge primeval man
[11:03.758]The three men filled with disbelief, just turned as one and ran
[11:17.520]［读白］
[11:17.520]Dumb with astonishment and amazement which bordered on stupification, they fled the forest.
[11:23.981]Instinctively they made towards the Lidenbrock sea.
[11:27.332]Discovering a rusty dagger on the beach, and the carved initials of the explorer before them on a slab of granite they realized that they were once again treading the route of Arn Saknussemm.
[11:37.356]Following a short sea journey around a cape they came ashore where a dark tunnel plunged deep into rock,
[11:44.149]and venturing down their progress was halted by a piece of rock blocking their way.
[11:49.018]After deciding to blow their way through and setting the charge,
[11:52.330]they put out to sea for safety.
[11:54.974]With the explosion the rocks before them opened like a curtain and a bottomless pit appeared in the shore.
[12:01.002]The explosion had caused an earthquake, the abyss had opened up and the sea was pouring into it.
[12:07.700]Down and down they plunged into the huge gallery,
[12:10.251]but on regaining their senses they found their raft rising at tremendous speed.
[12:14.965]Trapped in the shaft of an active volcano they rose through the ages of man to be finally expelled out on a mountain side riddled with tiny lava streams.
[12:25.726]Their journey was completed,
[12:27.695]and they found themselves three thousand miles from their original starting point in Iceland.
[12:32.577]They had entered by one volcano and they had come out by another.
[12:36.724]With the blue mountains of Calabria in the east they walked away from the mountain that has returned them, the frightening Mt. Etna.