評論
打印
Nor are there wanting other motions of the whale in his general body, full of strangeness, and unaccountable to his most experienced assailant. Dissect him how I may, then, I go but skin deep. I know him not, and never will. But if I know not even the tail of this whale, how understand his head? much more, how comprehend his face, when face he has none? Thou shalt see my back parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face shall not be seen. But I cannot completely make out his back parts; and hint what he will about his face, I say again he has no face.
在整個鯨身上，還不乏其它種種動作，在它的最有經驗的攻擊者看來，它渾身都是奇跡，而且不可理解。那么，象我這樣略知皮毛的人，怎能分析它呢。我對它毫無所知，而且永遠也摸它不透。不過，如果我連鯨的尾巴都弄不清楚的話，又怎能了解它的頭？而且，它本來就沒有面孔，更叫我怎能理解它的面孔？它好象在說，你們可以看我的后部，我的尾巴，卻不能讓你們看見我的面孔。但是，我連它的后部都還沒有完全弄清楚哩；那么，隨它怎樣去顯現它的面孔吧，我還是要再說一遍，它是沒有面孔的。
Chapter 87 The Grand Armada
第八十七章 大艦隊（特指一五八八年西班牙出征英國的艦隊）
The long and narrow peninsula of Malacca, extending south-eastward from the territories of Birmah, forms the most southerly point of all Asia. In a continuous line from that peninsula stretch the long islands of Sumatra, Java, Bally, and Timor; which, with many others, form a vast mole, or rampart, lengthwise connecting Asia with Australia, and dividing the long unbroken Indian ocean from the thickly studded oriental archipelagoes. This rampart is pierced by several sally-ports for the convenience of ships and whales; conspicuous among which are the straits of Sunda and Malacca.
狹長的馬六甲半島，從緬甸領土向東南方伸展，形成整個亞洲的極南角。這個半島象一條連續不斷的線，由一長串島嶼組成：蘇門答臘島，爪哇島，巴厘島和帝汶島；這些島嶼連同其它許多島嶼，構成了一條巨大的突堤，或者叫做壁壘，縱連亞澳兩洲，把那個野性難馴的大印度洋跟東方那些星羅棋布的群島給分隔開來。這個壁壘已被一些方便船只和大鯨往來的暗門所洞穿了；其中最惹人注目的就是巽他海峽和馬六甲海峽。
