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he always sits in the stern sheets on a comfortable, sometimes cushioned seat there, and often steers himself with a pretty little milliner's tiller decorated with gay cords and ribbons.
他總是坐在船尾，座位很舒適，有時還裝有軟墊子，而且往往是他自己掌舵，舵柄小巧玲瓏，飾有花哨的絲帶小繩。
But the whale-boat has no seat astern, no sofa of that sort whatever, and no tiller at all. High times indeed,if whaling captains were wheeled about the water on castors like gouty old aldermen in patent chairs. And as for a tiller, the whale-boat never admits of any such effeminacy; and therefore as in gamming a complete boat'screw must leave the ship, and hence as the boat steerer or harpooneer is of the number, that subordinate is the steersman upon the occasion, and the captain, having no place to sit in, is pulled off to his visit all standing like a pine tree. And often you will notice that being conscious of the eyes of the whole visible world resting on him from the sides of the two ships, this standing captain is all alive to the importance of sustaining his dignity by maintaining his legs. Nor is this any very easy matter; for in his rear is the immense projecting steering oar hitting him now and then in the small of his back, the after-oar reciprocating by rapping his knees in front.
可是捕鯨小艇后面卻沒有座位，它既沒有那樣的沙發，也根本沒有舵柄。因此，如果捕鯨船長是象那些害痛風癥的老郡長坐在特別裝置的椅子一般，坐在有腳輪的椅子里在海上轉來轉去的話，那才有趣呢。至于那舵柄，捕鯨小艇可從來就沒有這種精巧玲瓏的東西，因此，由于在舉行聯歡會時，總是整個小艇的水手都得去，因為小艇的舵手和標槍手也都包括在內，挨下來的就是適逢其會的掌舵人，于是那個無處可坐的船長，就得象株松樹一樣，一徑立著被劃去拜客。這樣，你往往就可以看到這位立著的船長，由于覺察到兩邊的大船上都眾目集中在他身上，他為了保持尊嚴，不得不拚命裝得很神氣，硬挺起雙腳。這可不是容易做的事情；因為，他后邊正是那支非常突出的舵槳，不時地撞擊著他的后腰，前邊則是那支后槳，往復地擊著他的膝頭。
