英语听书《白鲸记》第522期

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　　the first hail is--"How many skulls¹?"-- the same way that whalers hail--"How many barrels?" 第一声招呼就是——“几个脑壳？”——象捕鲸船的招呼——“几桶啦？”一样。

　　And that question once answered, pirates straightway steer² apart,  而且那句话一经获得回答，那些海盗船也就径自撑开去了，

　　for they are infernal villains³ on both sides, and don't like to see overmuch of each other's villanous likenesses. 因为他们双方都是无法无天的家伙，对于彼此那副无法无天的相貌，实在不高兴多瞧一瞧。

　　But look at the godly, honest, unostentatious, hospitable⁴, sociable⁵, free-and-easy whaler! 可是，瞧一瞧这种规规矩矩、老老实实、不善虚伪、好意殷勤、爱好交际、不拘礼节的捕鲸船吧！

　　What does the whaler do when she meets another whaler in any sort of decent weather? 当它们在任何一种正常的天气里彼此相遇的时候，它们是怎么办的呢？

　　She has a "Gam," a thing so utterly⁶ unknown to all other ships that they never heard of the name even; 它们有一种叫做“联欢会”的玩意儿，这名称，是其它一切船只所全然不懂的，他们甚至连这名称听都没有听到过;

　　and if by chance they should hear of it, they only grin at it,  就算他们有机会听到这名称吧，他们也不过报以一阵冷笑，

　　and repeat gamesome stuff about "spouters" and "blubber-boilers," and such like pretty exclamations⁷. 反复背出一些“捕鲸佬”和“鲸油锅”的笑料，以及类似的好听的叫喊而已。

　　Why it is that all Merchant-seamen, and also all Pirates and Man-of-War's men, and Slave-ship sailors, cherish such a scornful feeling towards Whale-ships; 所有的商船水手，连同一切海盗船、兵舰的水手、贩卖奴隶船只的水手，为什么都对捕鲸船怀着这样一种蔑视的恶感;

　　this is a question it would be hard to answer.  这倒是个不容易置答的问题。

　　Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar⁸ glory about it. 因为拿海盗船来说吧，我倒要请问，他们那种职业究竟有些什么特殊的光荣。

　　It sometimes ends in uncommon⁹ elevation¹⁰, indeed; but only at the gallows¹¹. 它倒往往是在非凡的高度中完结的；错是不错，可惜是挂在绞架上罢了。

　　And besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion, he has no proper foundation for his superior altitude.  再说，当一个人被用那种罕见的形式高高挂起的时候，他那种超常的高度并没有什么适当的基础。

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