🔊 I, Ishmael, was one of that crew; my shouts had gone up with the rest; my oath had been welded with theirs; and stronger I shouted, and more did I hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab's quenchless feud seemed mine. With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and revenge.

我,以实玛利,身列船员之中；我的呐喊与众人齐鸣；我的誓言同他们的熔铸一体。因灵魂战栗,我呐喊更烈,誓言捶打更坚。一股狂野、神秘、交感共鸣的情绪在我心中涌起；亚哈那永不熄灭的仇雠,仿佛成了我的仇雠。我以贪婪的双耳,汲取那嗜血巨兽的史传--面对它,我与众人皆已立下暴戾复仇的誓约。

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mystical /ˈmɪstɪkəl/

adj. 神秘的；玄妙的➕

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feud /fjuːd/

n. 世仇；长期不和➕

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murderous /ˈmɜːrdərəs/

adj. 凶残的；蓄意谋杀的➕

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revenge /rɪˈvendʒ/

n. 复仇；报复➕

🔊 For some time past, though at intervals only, the unaccompanied, secluded White Whale had haunted those uncivilized seas mostly frequented by the Sperm Whale fishermen. But not all of them knew of his existence; only a few of them, comparatively, had knowingly seen him; while the number who as yet had actually and knowingly given battle to him, was small indeed. For, owing to the large number of whale-cruisers; the disorderly way they were sprinkled over the entire watery circumference, many of them adventurously pushing their quest along solitary latitudes, so as seldom or never for a whole twelvemonth or more on a stretch, to encounter a single news-telling sail of any sort; the inordinate length of each separate voyage; the irregularity of the times of sailing from home; all these, with other circumstances, direct and indirect, long obstructed the spread through the whole world-wide whaling-fleet of the special individualizing tidings concerning Moby Dick. It was hardly to be doubted, that several vessels reported to have encountered, at such or such a time, or on such or such a meridian, a Sperm Whale of uncommon magnitude and malignity, which whale, after doing great mischief to his assailants, had completely escaped them; to some minds it was not an unfair presumption, I say, that the whale in question must have been no other than Moby Dick. Yet as of late the Sperm Whale fishery had been marked by various and not unfrequent instances of great ferocity, cunning, and malice in the monster attacked; therefore it was, that those who by accident ignorantly gave battle to Moby Dick; such hunters, perhaps, for the most part, were content to ascribe the peculiar terror he bred, more, as it were, to the perils of the Sperm Whale fishery at large, than to the individual cause. In that way, mostly, the disastrous encounter between Ahab and the whale had hitherto been popularly regarded.

曾有一段时日,那头孤绝的白鲸虽仅间歇现身,却时常出没于抹香鲸渔夫惯常涉足的蛮荒海域。然知其存在者寥寥；亲眼目睹者更少；而确曾有意与之交锋者,委实屈指可数。缘由纷杂:捕鲸船队浩荡；船只星散于茫茫海面,无序可循；多有冒险深入孤寂纬度寻猎者,以至整年乃至更久,难遇一片传信帆影；每次航程旷日持久；离港时节亦无定规--凡此种种,兼及其他直接间接情由,长久阻滞了那关乎莫比·迪克之特异消息在全球捕鲸船队间的流布。诚然,数艘船只曾报称于某时某地遭遇一头体量非凡、性情凶暴的抹香鲸,逞凶后遁迹无踪；在有心人看来,此鲸非莫比·迪克莫属,此想并非无理。然近来抹香鲸渔事中,被猎巨兽凶悍、狡黠、歹毒之例频仍,故那些偶然无知间与莫比·迪克交手者,多半宁将所历恐怖归咎于抹香鲸渔猎之常险,而非此一独体。亚哈与鲸那场灾厄遭遇,世人多作如是观。

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haunted /ˈhɔːntɪd/

adj. 闹鬼的；萦绕心头的➕

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uncivilized /ʌnˈsɪvəlaɪzd/

adj. 未开化的；不文明的➕

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knowingly /ˈnoʊɪŋli/

adv. 故意地；知情地➕

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quest /kwest/

n. 寻求；探索➕

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inordinate /ɪnˈɔːrdɪnət/

adj. 过度的；无节制的➕

🔊 And as for those who, previously hearing of the White Whale, by chance caught sight of him; in the beginning of the thing they had every one of them, almost, as boldly and fearlessly lowered for him, as for any other whale of that species. But at length, such calamities did ensue in these assaults-not restricted to sprained wrists and ankles, broken limbs, or devouring amputations-but fatal to the last degree of fatality; those repeated disastrous repulses, all accumulating and piling their terrors upon Moby Dick; those things had gone far to shake the fortitude of many brave hunters, to whom the story of the White Whale had eventually come.

至于那些早闻白鲸之名、偶见其形者；起初,他们几乎人人皆如猎常鲸般,无畏降艇追击。然此类攻势终招致惨祸--非止扭伤折骨、肢残躯裂--而是毙命,毙命至极。屡番灾挫迭加,恐怖尽聚于莫比·迪克一身；诸般事端,终令诸多勇毅猎手胆寒,白鲸之传闻亦遂入其耳。

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calamities /kəˈlæmətiz/

n. 灾难；不幸事件➕

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ensue /ɪnˈsuː/

v. 接着发生；因而产生➕

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assaults /əˈsɔːlts/

n. 攻击；袭击➕

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fatality /fəˈtæləti/

n. 死亡；致命性➕

🔊 Nor did wild rumors of all sorts fail to exaggerate, and still the more horrify the true histories of these deadly encounters. For not only do fabulous rumors naturally grow out of the very body of all surprising terrible events,-as the smitten tree gives birth to its fungi; but, in maritime life, far more than in that of terra firma, wild rumors abound, wherever there is any adequate reality for them to cling to. And as the sea surpasses the land in this matter, so the whale fishery surpasses every other sort of maritime life, in the wonderfulness and fearfulness of the rumors which sometimes circulate there. For not only are whalemen as a body unexempt from that ignorance and superstitiousness hereditary to all sailors; but of all sailors, they are by all odds the most directly brought into contact with whatever is appallingly astonishing in the sea; face to face they not only eye its greatest marvels, but, hand to jaw, give battle to them. Alone, in such remotest waters, that though you sailed a thousand miles, and passed a thousand shores, you would not come to any chiselled hearthstone, or aught hospitable beneath that part of the sun; in such latitudes and longitudes, pursuing too such a calling as he does, the whaleman is wrapped by influences all tending to make his fancy pregnant with many a mighty birth.

种种狂言妄语非但未曾收敛,反更变本加厉,骇人听闻地歪曲了那些死生搏斗的真史。盖因一切惊怖之事,本自滋生荒诞谣传--如雷殛之木必生菌蕈；而海上生涯,尤甚陆上,但有实据可依,野谚便蔓生滋长。海之于陆,既胜于此；捕鲸业之于他种海事,亦复如是,其间流传之奇谈,时有诡谲可怖至不可名状者。盖捕鲸人众,未尝脱尽水手世代相承之蒙昧迷信；且众水手间,彼辈最是直面海上种种骇异绝伦之物；不惟亲睹汪洋至伟奇观,更须手搏其颚,舍命相拼。孤悬天涯海角,纵航程千里、过岸千重,亦难觅一爿雕琢炉石,或那片天光下任何殷勤款待；处此经纬,营此生计,捕鲸人周身浸染诸般势力,皆催生其幻想,使之胎孕无数雄奇诞妄。

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exaggerate /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/

v. 夸大；夸张➕

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horrify /ˈhɔːrɪfaɪ/

v. 使恐惧；使震惊➕

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fabulous /ˈfæbjələs/

adj. 神话般的；极好的➕

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maritime /ˈmærɪtaɪm/

adj. 海事的；沿海的➕

🔊 No wonder, then, that ever gathering volume from the mere transit over the widest watery spaces, the outblown rumors of the White Whale did in the end incorporate with themselves all manner of morbid hints, and half-formed foetal suggestions of supernatural agencies, which eventually invested Moby Dick with new terrors unborrowed from anything that visibly appears. So that in many cases such a panic did he finally strike, that few who by those rumors, at least, had heard of the White Whale, few of those hunters were willing to encounter the perils of his jaw.

无怪乎,白鲸之谣言随浩渺烟波远播,终至吸纳诸般病态影射与未成形的超自然臆想,为莫比·迪克平添一层非目力可及的崭新恐怖。故而,诸多情状下,其所散播之惶惧如此深重,以至仅凭风闻知白鲸者,鲜有愿冒其颚下之险。

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transit /ˈtrænzɪt/

n. 运输；通过➕

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incorporate /ɪnˈkɔːrpəreɪt/

v. 合并；包含➕

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morbid /ˈmɔːrbɪd/

adj. 病态的； morbid➕

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supernatural /ˌsuːpərˈnætʃrəl/

adj. 超自然的；神奇的➕

🔊 But there were still other and more vital practical influences at work. Not even at the present day has the original prestige of the Sperm Whale, as fearfully distinguished from all other species of the leviathan, died out of the minds of the whalemen as a body. There are those this day among them, who, though intelligent and courageous enough in offering battle to the Greenland or Right whale, would perhaps-either from professional inexperience, or incompetency, or timidity, decline a contest with the Sperm Whale; at any rate, there are plenty of whalemen, especially among those whaling nations not sailing under the American flag, who have never hostilely encountered the Sperm Whale, but whose sole knowledge of the leviathan is restricted to the ignoble monster primitively pursued in the North; seated on their hatches, these men will hearken with a childish fire-side interest and awe, to the wild, strange tales of the South Pacific Sperm Whale fisheries. This is especially true of the English whalemen, who long cherished a superstitious belief in the invincibility of their own particular Right whales, to which, for all their magnitude, the spermacetti of the Sperm Whale was declared by some of them to be but the lighter froth. And as for the former ships, the 'Samuel Enderby' of London, and the 'Unicorn' of Hull, they were two of the best known whalers afloat; and both of them had encountered the White Whale, but they had escaped without fatal disaster. So that, taking all things together, the White Whale's presence in those waters was far from being regarded with complete terror by all the whaling captains.

然尚有其他更为关键的实情在焉。即便今时,抹香鲸较诸他种海中巨兽的原始威名,仍未从捕鲸人心中全然消弭。其中不乏这样的猎手:与格陵兰鲸或露脊鲸搏杀时智勇双全,却或因经验未足、能力不济、胆气稍逊,而逡巡于同抹香鲸较量；总之,众多捕鲸人--尤以非美旗船只为甚--从未与抹香鲸敌对相向,其对海中巨兽之识见,仅囿于北方原始猎逐的卑琐怪物；坐于舱口,彼等常怀稚童炉畔之趣与敬畏,聆听南太平洋抹香鲸渔事的狂野奇谭。英国捕鲸人尤甚,彼辈久执迷信,自恃其露脊鲸无敌于世,纵使体巨,抹香鲸之脑脂,据称不过轻浮泡沫耳。至于前文提及之船,伦敦的“塞缪尔·恩德比号”与赫尔的“独角兽号”,皆属当世翘楚；二者俱曾邂逅白鲸,然皆侥幸脱险,未遭灭顶。是故,统而观之,白鲸现身彼域,并未令所有捕鲸船长尽皆魂飞魄散。

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prestige /preˈstiːʒ/

n. 声望；威望➕

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leviathan /lɪˈvaɪəθən/

n. 庞然大物；巨兽➕

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inexperience /ˌɪnɪkˈspɪəriəns/

n. 缺乏经验；不熟练➕

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timidity /tɪˈmɪdəti/

n. 胆怯；羞怯➕

🔊 Still, the reports of the White Whale's fierceness and invincibility grew; and many were the hunters who, after having lowered for him, declared that they had seen enough of him, and would never again attempt his capture. And among these was a certain Captain, a New Englander, who, after having been stove and disabled by the whale, and narrowly escaping with his life, returned home to Nantucket, vowing that he would never again put to sea. But after a year or two of shore-life, the old man's resolution began to slacken; and at length, by the persuasions of his friends, and the prospect of gain, he was induced to fit out another ship, and once more embark in the business. He sailed for the Pacific; and there, after a long and successful cruise, he again encountered the White Whale. And again he was vanquished; but this time he did not escape; he and all his crew were destroyed. And from that day to this, the fate of that ship has remained a mystery.

然白鲸凶暴难敌之传闻日盛；诸多猎手降艇追击后,皆言已饱览其威,永不再图擒获。中有船长一人,新英格兰籍,船毁身残,仅以身免,归返楠塔基特,立誓永绝海洋。然岸居一二载,老翁心志渐懈；终为友侪劝诱、利欲驱策,另备舟楫,重操旧业。航向太平洋；经久巡猎,收获颇丰,竟再逢白鲸。再战再败；此番未得幸免；船长并全员俱殁。自彼时以降,该船命运永成悬谜。

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fierceness /ˈfɪərsnəs/

n. 凶猛；猛烈➕

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invincibility /ɪnˌvɪnsəˈbɪləti/

n. 无敌；不可战胜➕

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narrowly /ˈnæroʊli/

adv. 勉强地； narrowly➕

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vanquished /ˈvæŋkwɪʃt/

v. 征服；击败➕

🔊 Yet, in spite of all these things, the number of those who, either by design or accident, were led to seek an encounter with the White Whale, was not small. Some were drawn by the mere love of adventure; some by the hope of gain; and some by a strange, irresistible fascination, which the very name of Moby Dick seemed to possess. And of these last was Ahab. To him, the White Whale was not so much a physical as a metaphysical foe. He had lost his leg in a previous encounter with him; and from that hour, the thought of revenge had taken complete possession of his soul. He saw in Moby Dick not merely a whale, but the embodiment of all the malignant agencies of the universe. He hated him with a hatred that was more than human; and he swore that he would pursue him, though he sailed through hell itself.

然则,纵有诸般怖畏,或有意或偶然寻衅白鲸者,仍不在少数。或为冒险之心所引；或为渔利之望所驱；更有为一种诡谲难拒之魅惑所摄--莫比·迪克此名,似具此般魔力。亚哈即属后者。于彼,白鲸非仅血肉之敌,更是形上之雠。昔次遭遇,彼失一腿；自彼一刻,复仇之念尽据其魂。彼视莫比·迪克,不啻一鲸,乃宇宙万恶之化身。彼怀超人之憎恨,誓将追猎到底,纵入地狱,亦不回头。

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fascination /ˌfæsɪˈneɪʃn/

n. 迷恋； fascination➕

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irresistible /ˌɪrɪˈzɪstəbl/

adj. 不可抗拒的；极具吸引力的➕

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metaphysical /ˌmetəˈfɪzɪkl/

adj. 形而上学的；抽象的➕

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embodiment /ɪmˈbɑːdimənt/

n. 体现；化身➕

Chapter forty-one: Moby Dick (第四十一章:莫比·迪克)

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