🔊 In this same New Bedford there stands a Whaleman’s Chapel, and few are the moody fishermen, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail to make a Sunday visit to the spot. I am sure that I did not.

在这个同样的新贝德福德,矗立着一座捕鲸人小教堂,那些即将前往印度洋或太平洋的忧郁渔夫们,很少有人不在周日前往此地。我确信我也不是例外。

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moody /ˈmuːdi/

adj. 情绪化的；忧郁的➕

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bound for /baʊnd fɔːr/

phrase. 前往➕

🔊 Returning from my first morning stroll, I again sallied out upon this special errand. The sky had changed from clear, sunny cold, to driving sleet and mist. Wrapping myself in my shaggy jacket of the cloth called bearskin, I fought my way against the stubborn storm. Entering, I found a small scattered congregation of sailors, and sailors’ wives and widows. A muffled silence reigned, only broken at times by the shrieks of the storm. Each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as if each silent grief were insular and incommunicable. The chaplain had not yet arrived; and there these silent islands of men and women sat steadfastly eyeing several marble tablets, with black borders, masoned into the wall on either side the pulpit. Three of them ran something like the following, but I do not pretend to quote:-

从我第一次晨间散步回来,我又出门去办这件特殊的事。天空从晴朗、阳光明媚的寒冷变成了雨夹雪和雾气。我裹着那件被称为熊皮的粗糙外套,在顽固的风暴中奋力前行。进入教堂,我发现一小群分散的水手、水手的妻子和寡妇。一片压抑的寂静笼罩着,只有风暴的尖啸偶尔打破。每个沉默的礼拜者似乎故意彼此分开坐着,仿佛每个无声的悲伤都是孤岛般无法沟通。牧师还未到来；这些沉默的男男女女孤岛般坐着,坚定地盯着讲坛两侧墙上镶嵌的几块镶黑边的大理石碑。其中三块内容大致如下,但我不妄加引述:-

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insular /ˈɪnsjʊlər/

adj. 孤立的；岛国的➕

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incommunicable /ˌɪnkəˈmjuːnɪkəbl/

adj. 无法表达的；不能沟通的➕

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steadfastly /ˈstedfəstli/

adv. 坚定地；不动摇地➕

🔊 SACRED To the Memory of JOHN TALBOT, Who, at the age of eighteen, was lost overboard, Near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia, November 1st, 1836. THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS SISTER. ****************************************** SACRED To the Memory of ROBERT LONG, WILLIS ELLERY, NATHAN COLEMAN, WALTER CANNY, SETH MACY, AND SAMUEL GLEIG, Forming one of the boats’ crews OF THE SHIP ELIZA, Who were towed out of sight by a Whale, On the Off-shore Ground in the PACIFIC, December 31st, 1839. THIS MARBLE Is here placed by their surviving Shipmates. ****************************************** SACRED To the Memory of The late CAPTAIN EZEKIEL HARDY, Who in the bows of his boat was killed by a Sperm Whale on the coast of Japan, August 3d, 1833. THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS WIDOW.

神圣纪念约翰·塔尔博特,他于十八岁时在巴塔哥尼亚近海的荒凉岛附近落水失踪,1836年11月1日。此碑由其姊妹立以纪念。****************************************** 神圣纪念罗伯特·朗、威利斯·埃勒里、内森·科尔曼、沃尔特·坎尼、塞思·梅西和塞缪尔·格莱格,组成伊丽莎号船的一支小艇船员,他们于1839年12月31日在太平洋近海被一头鲸鱼拖曳消失。此大理石碑由他们幸存的船友立此。****************************************** 神圣纪念已故船长以西结·哈迪,他于1833年8月3日在日本海岸被一头抹香鲸杀死于船首。此碑由其遗孀立以纪念。

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overboard /ˈəʊvəbɔːd/

adv. 从船上落水；过度地➕

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Off-shore /ˈɒfʃɔːr/

adj. 离岸的；近海的➕

🔊 Shaking off the sleet from my ice-glazed hat and jacket, I seated myself near the door, and turning sideways was surprised to see Queequeg near me. Affected by the solemnity of the scene, there was a wondering gaze of incredulous curiosity in his countenance. This savage was the only person present who seemed to notice my entrance; because he was the only one who could not read, and, therefore, was not reading those frigid inscriptions on the wall. Whether any of the relatives of the seamen whose names appeared there were now among the congregation, I knew not; but so many are the unrecorded accidents in the fishery, and so plainly did several women present wear the countenance if not the trappings of some unceasing grief, that I feel sure that here before me were assembled those, in whose unhealing hearts the sight of those bleak tablets sympathetically caused the old wounds to bleed afresh.

抖落冰封帽子和外套上的雨夹雪,我在门边坐下,侧身转头惊讶地看到魁魁格在我附近。受这庄严场景的影响,他脸上有一种难以置信的好奇目光。这个野人是唯一似乎注意到我进来的人；因为他是唯一不识字的人,因此没有在读墙上那些冰冷的铭文。我不知道那些名字出现在碑上的水手的亲属是否在座；但捕鲸业中有那么多未记录的意外,而且几位在场的妇女即使没有穿戴哀悼的服饰,也明显流露出某种持续的悲伤面容,我确信在我面前聚集的这些人,他们未愈的心中,看到这些凄凉的碑文,同情地让旧伤口重新流血。

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incredulous /ɪnˈkredjʊləs/

adj. 怀疑的；不轻信的➕

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countenance /ˈkaʊntɪnəns/

n. 面容；表情➕

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frigid /ˈfrɪdʒɪd/

adj. 寒冷的；冷淡的➕

🔊 Oh! ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing among flowers can say-here, here lies my beloved; ye know not the desolation that broods in bosoms like these. What bitter blanks in those black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes! What despair in those immovable inscriptions! What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the lines that seem to gnaw upon all Faith, and refuse resurrections to the beings who have placelessly perished without a grave. As well might those tablets stand in the cave of Elephanta as here.

哦！你们那些死者安葬在绿草之下的人；你们站在花丛中可以说--这里,这里躺着我爱的人；你们不知道像这些人胸中酝酿的荒凉。那些镶黑边的大理石碑覆盖的不是骨灰,却是何等苦涩的空白！那些固定的铭文中是何等的绝望！那些似乎啃噬一切信仰、拒绝给无墓可归的死者复活的字行中,是何等致命的空虚和非自愿的背信。这些碑文放在这里,与放在象岛洞穴中无异。

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desolation /ˌdesəˈleɪʃn/

n. 荒凉；凄凉➕

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immovable /ɪˈmuːvəbl/

adj. 不可移动的；固定的➕

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infidelities /ˌɪnfɪˈdelɪtiz/

n. 不忠；背信（复数）➕

🔊 In what census of living creatures, the dead of mankind are included; why it is that a universal proverb says of them, that they tell no tales, though containing more secrets than the Goodwin Sands; how it is that to his name who yesterday departed for the other world, we prefix so significant and infidel a word, and yet do not thus entitle him, if he but embarks for the remotest Indies of this living earth; why the Life Insurance Companies pay death-forfeitures upon immortals; in what eternal, unstirring paralysis, and deadly, hopeless trance, yet lies antique Adam who died sixty round centuries ago; how it is that we still refuse to be comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in unspeakable bliss; why all the living so strive to hush all the dead; wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city. All these things are not without their meanings.

在何种生物的普查中,人类的死者被包括；为何一个普遍谚语说他们不吐露秘密,尽管藏着比古德温沙洲更多的秘密；为何对昨日前往另一个世界的人,我们在他的名字前加上如此重要且不敬的词,而如果他只是出发去这活生生地球上最遥远的印度群岛,我们却不这样称呼他；为何人寿保险公司对不朽者支付死亡罚金；在何种永恒、不动的瘫痪和致命、无望的恍惚中,古老的亚当仍躺着,他死于六十个世纪前；为何我们仍拒绝为那些我们声称居住在无可言喻的极乐中的人感到安慰；为何所有生者如此努力让死者噤声；为何仅仅墓中敲击的谣言就能吓坏整个城市。所有这一切并非没有意义。

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census /ˈsensəs/

n. 人口普查➕

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universal /ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsl/

adj. 普遍的；全体的➕

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paralysis /pəˈræləsɪs/

n. 瘫痪；麻痹➕

🔊 But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.

但信仰,如同豺狼,在坟墓间觅食,甚至从这些死寂的怀疑中,她汲取最至关重要的希望。

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jackal /ˈdʒækɔːl/

n. 豺狼➕

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vital /ˈvaɪtl/

adj. 至关重要的；充满活力的➕

🔊 It needs scarcely to be told, with what feelings, on the eve of a Nantucket voyage, I regarded those marble tablets, and by the murky light of that darkened, doleful day read the fate of the whalemen who had gone before me. Yes, Ishmael, the same fate may be thine. But somehow I grew merry again. Delightful inducements to embark, fine chance for promotion, it seems-aye, a stove boat will make me an immortal by brevet. Yes, there is death in this business of whaling-a speechlessly quick chaotic bundling of a man into Eternity. But what then? Methinks we have hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me. And therefore three cheers for Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave my soul, Jove himself cannot.

几乎无需述说,在楠塔基特航行的前夕,我怀着怎样的心情看待那些大理石碑,在那昏暗、哀伤的日子里,借着阴郁的光线阅读那些先我而去的捕鲸人的命运。是的,以实玛利,同样的命运可能属于你。但不知怎的,我又变得快活起来。启航的诱人前景,晋升的好机会,似乎--是啊,一艘破损的船会让我成为名誉不朽者。是的,捕鲸这行当中有死亡--一种无声、迅速、混乱地将人打包送入永恒。但那又怎样？我想我们大大误解了生死之事。我想他们所谓我在地上的影子才是我真正的实体。我想在看待灵性事物时,我们太像透过水观察太阳的牡蛎,以为那厚水是最薄的空气。我想我的身体不过是我更好存在的渣滓。事实上,谁要就拿走我的身体,我说,那不是我。因此,为楠塔基特欢呼三声；让破损的船和破损的身体随时来吧,因为要打碎我的灵魂,朱庇特自己也做不到。

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scarcely /ˈskeəsli/

adv. 几乎不；简直不➕

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murky /ˈmɜːki/

adj. 昏暗的；朦胧的➕

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chaotic /keɪˈɒtɪk/

adj. 混乱的➕

Chapter seven: The Chapel (第七章:小教堂)

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