英語聽書《白鯨記》第687期

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Chapter 78 Cistern and Buckets

第七十八章 水槽和水桶

Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft; and without altering his erect posture, runs straight out upon the overhanging mainyard-arm, to the part where it exactly projects over the hoisted Tun. He has carried with him a light tackle called a whip, consisting of only two parts, travelling through a single-sheaved block. Securing this block, so that it hangs down from the yard-arm, he swings one end of the rope, till it is caught and firmly held by a hand on the deck. Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit of the head. There—still high elevated above the rest of the company, to whom he vivaciously CRIes— he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. A short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. In this business he proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. By the time this cautious search is over, a stout ironbound bucket, precisely like a well-bucket, has been attached to one end of the whip; while the other end, being stretched across the deck, is there held by two or three alert hands.

塔斯蒂哥輕捷如貓地往上爬去，身體仍然非常筆挺，直爬上那向外撐出的大桅桁臂，到了桁臂吊著大桶的突出的地方。他隨身帶有一只只有兩樣零件，靠一種小轆轤轉(zhuǎn)動的小滑車。他把這只小滑車縛在桁臂下面，于是把繩子的一頭一甩，由甲板上一個水手把它抓牢。接著，這個印第安人就雙手互換地、順著桁臂的另一端從空中落下來，熟練地降落在那只鯨頭的頭頂。他在那地方——高高在上地聳立在眾人頭頂，對大家興高采烈地叫喊——有如土耳其寺院里的報時者，在塔頂上通知善男信女去做禱告。下邊的人遞給他一支銳利的短柄鏟子，他就謹(jǐn)慎地找個適當(dāng)?shù)奈恢?，著手打開那只大桶。他在做這事情的時候，十分小心在意，有如一個在什么古屋探寶的人，細(xì)心察看墻壁，看看黃金究竟埋在哪兒。等到這番小心的探索工作告?zhèn)€段落，人們便把一只跟吊水桶一模一樣的、箍著鐵圈的結(jié)實的桶子縛在小滑車的一端，兩三個機(jī)警的水手則拉住小滑車另一端那根伸到甲板上的繩索。