英語聽書《白鯨記》 第335期

And if the idea of peril so much enhances thepopular conceit of the soldier's profession;

許多軍隊一從這種戰(zhàn)場上回來,就在太太們的掌聲中開懷暢飲。如果由于一般人把當(dāng)兵看成是種危險的職業(yè),因而大大抬高了他們的驕氣的話,那么,

let me assure ye that many a veteran who has freelymarched up to a battery, would quickly recoil at theapparition of the sperm whale's vast tail, fanninginto eddies the air over his head.

我敢說,許多原來是毫無所謂地跨上炮臺的老兵,一碰上那在他頭頂刮起小旋風(fēng)的。幽靈似的抹香鯨的巨大尾巴時,卻會立刻畏縮起來。

For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the interlinked terrors andwonders of God!

因為人類所能理解的恐怖,怎能同上帝的奇觀和恐怖結(jié)合在一起的東西相比呢!

But, though the world scouts at us whale hunters, yet does it unwittingly pay us theprofoundest homage;

但是,世間雖然瞧不起我們這些捕鯨者,卻又不知不覺地對我們寄以最深切的敬意;而且還給以無限的崇拜呢!

yea, an all-abounding adoration! for almost all the tapers, lamps, and candles that burn roundthe globe, burn, as before so many shrines, to our glory!

因為,差不多一切照耀整個地球的,以及照耀在那許多圣殿之前的大小燈燭,都得歸于我們的功勞!

But look at this matter in other lights; weigh it in all sorts of scales; see what we whalemen are,and have been.

不過,我們不妨再從另一種角度來觀察這事情;把它放到各種天平上衡量一番;看看我們這些捕鯨者究竟是些什么人,干下了些什么事情。

Why did the Dutch in De Witt's time have admirals of their whaling fleets?

在德。威特時代的荷蘭,為什么捕鯨隊會有大將?

Why did Louis XVI of France, at his own personal expense, fit out whaling ships from Dunkirk,and politely invite to that town some score or two of families from our own island of Nantucket?

法國的路易十六,為什么要自掏腰包到敦刻爾克去置辦一些捕鯨船,還到我們南塔開特來禮邀幾十份人家到敦刻爾克去?

Why did Britain between the years 1750 and 1788 pay to her whalemen in bounties upwards of1,000,000 pounds?

英國在一七五○年到一七八八年間,為什么付給捕鯨者的獎金竟高達(dá)一百萬英鎊呢?

And lastly, how comes it that we whalemen of America now outnumber all the rest of thebanded whalemen in the world;

最后,我們美國的捕鯨者的數(shù)目現(xiàn)在怎樣會超過世界所有捕鯨者的總數(shù);

sail a navy of upwards of seven hundred vessels; manned by eighteen thousand men; yearlyconsuming 00824,000,000 of dollars;

捕鯨隊的船只多達(dá)七百艘;人數(shù)多達(dá)一萬八千人;每年耗費(fèi)四百萬美元;

the ships worth, at the time of sailing, 20,000,000 dollars;

當(dāng)時航行的船只價值二千萬美元!

and every year importing into our harbors a well reaped harvest of 00847,000,000 dollars.

每年有高達(dá)七百萬美元的收獲輸進(jìn)我們的港口。

How comes all this, if there be not something puissant in whaling?

如果不是由于捕鯨業(yè)的威力,哪來的這一切呢?