評論
打印
I say it only shows his foolish, impious pride, and abominable, devilish rebellion against the reverend clergy. For by a Portuguese Catholic priest, this very idea of Jonah's going to Nineveh via the Cape of Good Hope was advanced as a signal magnification of the general miracle. And so it was. Besides, to this day, the highly enlightened Turks devoutly believe in the historical story of Jonah. And some three centuries ago, an English traveller in old Harris's Voyages, speaks of a Turkish Mosque built in honor of Jonah, in which Mosque was a miraculous lamp that burnt without any oil.
我認為，這只是他故意要反抗牧師們而表示出來的一種愚蠢、可鄙和絕頂荒謬的作為。因為關于約拿這種經好望角去尼尼微的想象，曾被一個葡萄牙籍的天主教神甫，添油加醬地說成一種非常夸張的大奇跡。原來就是這么一回事。而且，直到今天，那些很開通的土耳其人還是虔誠地相信約拿這段史實。大約在三百年前，有一個到過赫黎斯（赫黎斯——在赫布里底群島中的一個地方。）的英國旅行家，就談到在土耳其那一個為紀念約拿而建立的寺院中，有只不需要任何燈油、自會發亮的神燈。
Chapter 84 Pitchpoling
第八十四章 投桿
To make them run easily and swiftly, the axles of carriages are anointed; and for much the same purpose, some whalers perform an analogous operation upon their boat; they grease the bottom. Nor is it to be doubted that as such a procedure can do no harm, it may possibly be of no contemptible advantage; considering that oil and water are hostile; that oil is a sliding thing, and that the object in view is to make the boat slide bravely. Queequeg believed strongly in anointing his boat, and one morning not long after the German ship Jungfrau disappeared, took more than customary pains in that occupation; crawling under its bottom, where it hung over the side, and rubbing in the unctuousness as though diligently seeking to insure a crop of hair from the craft's bald keel.
為了使車軸轉得又滑又快，就得給車軸加油；有些捕鯨人為了完全一樣的目的，也對他們的小艇使用類似的辦法；他們給艇底擦油。這種操作，不用置疑，是有益無損，而且還可以說是毫無害處的。因為油與水本來就是不能相容的；油是滑溜溜的東西，這個做法的目的是要使得小艇航駛如飛。魁魁格就非常相信給他的小艇擦油這事情。那艘德國船"處女號"消失后不多久，有一天早晨，他比平常更為用勁地給小艇擦油，那只小艇吊在舷側，他爬在艇底下，拼命擦呀擦的，仿佛在生方設法保證這只小艇的光禿禿的龍骨，長出一簇頭發來。
