What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid.
亞哈對(duì)白鯨怎樣看法,已經(jīng)略有交代;至于我時(shí)常對(duì)白鯨怎樣看法,卻還沒(méi)有說(shuō)過(guò)。
Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man's soul some alarm,
關(guān)于莫比-迪克,除了難免偶爾教任何人都要驚心動(dòng)魄的那些較為明顯的理由而外,
there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest;
對(duì)它還有另外一種看法,或者不如說(shuō)懷有一種難以言宣的。
and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form.
模糊的恐怖,那種恐怖,往往由于它非常強(qiáng)烈地壓倒一切,而且又那么神秘。近乎形容不出,以致我?guī)缀鯚o(wú)法以一種容易使人了解的形式把它表達(dá)出來(lái)。
It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me.
最使我害怕的就是這條大鯨的白色。我怎能在這里說(shuō)得明白呢;
But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught.
然而,我總得胡亂含混地把它說(shuō)出來(lái),否則,所有這些章節(jié)都不免要等于零了。
Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own,
雖則在自然界的許多東西中,白色會(huì)優(yōu)雅地顯得更美,仿佛會(huì)使它本身增加一種特殊的價(jià)值,
as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal preeminence in this hue;
比如大理石。山茶花和珍珠就是這樣:雖則有許多國(guó)家還認(rèn)為這種顏色是一種無(wú)上的重要顏色;
even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title Lord of the White Elephants above all their other magniloquent asCRIptions of dominion;
甚至古代的野蠻而偉大的庇古帝王們,還把"白象之王"的稱號(hào)置于他們其它種種夸張的統(tǒng)治稱號(hào)之上;
and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard.
現(xiàn)代的暹羅國(guó)王們還在王旗上扯出這種雪白的四足獸來(lái)。