英語聽書《白鯨記》第868期

Fain am I to stagger to this enterprise under the weightiest words of the dictionary. And here be it said, that whenever it has been convenient to consult one in the course of these dissertations, I have invariably used a huge quarto edition of Johnson, expressly purchased for that purpose; because that famous lexicographer's uncommon personal bulk more fitted him to compile a lexicon to be used by a whale author like me.

這個壯舉，我只得借助于字典中那些最有分量的詞匯，勉力以赴了。這里必須說明一下，每當(dāng)我在做這種講述的過程中，需要隨手查查字典的時候，我總是用約翰生那一大四開的版本，這是特地為此而購來的；因為光是那個著名的字典學(xué)家的非凡的體軀，就使他有條件編出一本適合于象我這樣一個大鯨作家使用的字典了。

One often hears of writers that rise and swell with their subject, though it may seem but an ordinary one. How, then, with me, writing of this Leviathan? Unconsciously my chirography expands into placard capitals. Give me a condor's quill! Give me Vesuvius' crater for an inkstand! Friends, hold my arms! For in the mere act of penning my thoughts of this Leviathan, they weary me, and make me faint with their outreaching comprehensiveness of sweep, as if to include the whole circle of the sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, present, and to come, with all the revolving panoramas of empire on earth, and throughout the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs. Such, and so magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme! We expand to its bulk. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be who have tried it.

我們常常聽說，有許多作家，一寫起文章來，就洋洋灑灑，盡管那種文章也許看來不過是普通的文章。然而，我寫這種大鯨的文章時，又是怎樣一種情況呢？我總是不自覺地把我的筆跡寫得跟招貼用的大寫體一樣。請給我一只禿鷹的羽管筆！給我把維蘇威的噴火口拿來作墨水缸吧！朋友們，把牢我的胳膊呀！因為，我只要一提起筆，想把這種大鯨寫下來的時候，可就把我想累了，而且由于那些思想都是超出理解的范圍而把我弄昏了，仿佛勢必涉及整個科學(xué)的各部門，涉及過去、現(xiàn)在、未來的歷朝歷代的鯨類、人類、乳齒象類，以及人間的帝王的輪回轉(zhuǎn)替，勢必貫通整個宇宙，而且不能把人間境遇除外。這就是這么一個包羅萬象、而又廣袤無垠的題材的特點！我們要把它寫得跟它身體一般巨大。為了要寫出巨著，就得選擇大題材。跳蚤是永遠也成不了一部又偉大又能流傳久遠的巨著的題材的，雖然已經(jīng)有許多人嘗試過了。

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