你簡(jiǎn)直別想在他下床的時(shí)候,會(huì)先看到他的鼻子而看不到他的煙斗。他在床邊的架子上擱有一整排裝了煙葉的煙斗,一伸手就可摸到;他一上了床鋪,就接連不斷地把它們一支支都吸個(gè)遍,一支吸完,又湊上這一支再點(diǎn)燃一支,直吸到最后一支為止;然后又把它們一支支裝滿煙葉,以便隨時(shí)重新取用。因?yàn)樗顾荚诖┮路臅r(shí)候,他總不是先把雙腿插進(jìn)褲筒里,而是先把煙斗插到嘴里去的。
I say this continual smoking must have been one cause, at least of his peculiar disposition;for every one knows that this earthly air, whether ashore or afloat, is terribly infected with thenameless miseries of the numberless mortals who have died exhaling it; and as in time of thecholera, some people go about with a camphorated handkerchief to their mouths; so, likewise,against all mortal tribulations, Stubb's tobacco smoke might have operated as a sort ofdisinfecting agent.
我認(rèn)為這樣不斷吸煙一定是有個(gè)道理的,至少是出自他那特別的癖性;因?yàn)?大家都知道,不管是在岸上還是在海上,世間的空氣都嚇人地染上了無(wú)數(shù)死于說(shuō)不明白的災(zāi)難的人所吐出來(lái)的空氣;因此,在發(fā)生霍亂時(shí),有些人就把一塊撒著樟腦的手帕緊掩在嘴上行走;同樣的,斯塔布的煙氣,也許可以當(dāng)做一種抵抗人間一切災(zāi)難的辟瘟良劑了。
The third mate was Flask, a native of Tisbury, in Martha's Vineyard. A short, stout, ruddyyoung fellow, very pugnacious concerning whales, who somehow seemed to think that thegreat Leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him; and therefore it was a sort ofpoint of honor with him, to destroy them whenever encountered.
三副就是弗拉斯克,他是馬撒的維因耶德地方的蒂斯伯里人。這個(gè)短小精悍,血色紅潤(rùn)的小伙子,是很愛(ài)跟大鯨格斗的,他好象總認(rèn)為這種大海獸跟他有切身的和傳統(tǒng)的冤仇;因此,每一遭遇,就得把它們撲滅干凈,已成為他的一種榮譽(yù)問(wèn)題了。
So utterly lost was he to all sense of reverence for the many marvels of their majestic bulkand mystic ways; and so dead to anything like an apprehension of any possible danger fromencountering them; that in his poor opinion, the wondrous whale was but a species ofmagnified mouse, or at least water-rat, requiring only a little circumvention and some smallapplication of time and trouble in order to kill and boil.
他對(duì)于它們那巨大的身軀和神秘的態(tài)度所構(gòu)成的許多奇景,竟是如此毫無(wú)敬意,如此茫然無(wú)知,不理會(huì)到碰上它們隨時(shí)都有危險(xiǎn)的可能;因此,在他那有限的見(jiàn)解看來(lái),一條奇妙的大鯨不過(guò)是一種放大的老鼠,或者不過(guò)是一只水老鼠而已,只消略施小技,稍花時(shí)間,稍使力氣就可以把它殺了烹了。