捕鯨槍有點(diǎn)象是古代巡洋艦用以劫船的武器。鉤子呢,有點(diǎn)象小艇上用的鉤子。那個(gè)鉤手拿著鉤子,一鉤就鉤著一片鯨脂,于是用勁抓住它,免得它滑掉,因?yàn)檫@時(shí)船只正在東傾西歪地?fù)u來(lái)晃去。那個(gè)站在那片鯨油上的鏟手,就把它垂直地砍成一片片。這只鏟子磨得再銳利也沒(méi)有了;鏟手都赤了腳;他站在那上面的那片東西,有時(shí)會(huì)控制不住而滑開(kāi)去,象只雪橇。如果他把自己的?;蛘呤撬闹值囊恢荒_趾頭砍下來(lái),你總會(huì)覺(jué)得非常驚奇吧?可是,在鯨脂間里操作的老手們,腳趾頭本來(lái)就不很多。
Chapter 95 The Cassock
第九十五章 法衣
Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this post-mortemizing of the whale; and had you strolled forward nigh the windlass, pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small curiosity a very strange, enigmatical object, which you would have seen there, lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers. Not the wondrous cistern in the whale's huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone,—longer than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base, and jet-black as Yojo, the ebony idol of Queequeg.
如果你在解剖鯨尸的某一時(shí)分跨上"裴廓德號(hào)";再如果你信步走近絞車(chē)的話,那么,我肯定,你一定會(huì)驚訝不置地看到一件非常奇特而難解的東西,看到那些直放在后甲板的排水管里的東西。不管是看到鯨的大頭上那個(gè)奇妙的水槽,還是看到它那只非常奇異的卸了鉸鏈的下巴,更或者是看到它的奇跡也似的均勻的尾巴,其使人驚惶的程度,總不及你隱約瞥到那個(gè)莫名其妙的圓錐物,它遠(yuǎn)比高大的肯塔基人還長(zhǎng),底端的直徑約近一英尺,黑得象魁魁格那個(gè)黑檀木的偶像約約一樣。