I know not that any other author has hinted of the matter; but by inference it seems to me that the sturgeon must be divided in the same way as the whale, the King receiving the highly dense and elastic head peculiar to that fish, which, symbolically regarded, may possibly be humorously grounded upon some presumed congeniality. And thus there seems a reason in all things, even in law.
我不知道是否有其他作家提及此事,不過據(jù)我推斷,鱘魚也一定是按大鯨的辦法來對分的,國王拿鱘魚所特有的那個非常細密而又富有彈性的頭,這種頭,就象征意義說來,可能還很幽默,是以一種假設的相似性為根據(jù)的。這樣說來,似乎什么東西都有一種道理,哪怕法律也不例外。
Chapter 91 The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud
第九十一章"裴廓德號"遇到"玫瑰蕊號"(玫瑰蕊——另一義為初出茅廬者,初次出馬者。作者在本章中以其雙關意義加以諷喻。)
In vain it was to rake for Ambergriese in the paunch of this Leviathan, insufferable fetor denying not inquiry. SIR T. BROWNE, V. E.
要想在這種大海獸的腹內找到龍涎香(龍誕香——病鯨的消化器官排泄出來的東西,色澤大多呈灰色。黃色以至黑色,斑駁如大理石,是香料中的佳品。)是徒勞的,盡管有難堪的惡臭,人們還是要去尋根問底。托馬斯·布朗子爵閣下(托馬斯·布朗(1605—1682)——英國醫(yī)生,作家。)
It was a week or two after the last whaling scene recounted, and when we were slowly sailing over a sleepy, vapory, mid-day sea, that the many noses on the Pequod's deck proved more vigilant discoverers than the three pairs of eyes aloft. A peculiar and not very pleasant smell was smelt in the sea.
大約是在細說上一個捕鯨場景的兩三個星期后,當時,我們正緩慢地航駛在令人昏昏欲睡、煙靄繚繞的正午的海面上,"裴廓德號"甲板上的許多鼻子竟比呆在桅頂上那三對眼睛更機靈,聞到了海里有一股特殊而又不很好聞的氣味。
I will bet something now, said Stubb, "that somewhere hereabouts are some of those drugged whales we tickled the other day. I thought they would keel up before long."
哼,我現(xiàn)在敢打一點賭,斯塔布說,"在這附近什么地方,一定有我們前些天用'得拉格,扣住了的一些鯨。我想它們不久就會翻上來。"
Presently, the vapors in advance slid aside; and there in the distance lay a ship, whose furled sails betokened that some sort of whale must be alongside.
不一會,前邊的煙靄不知不覺地飄開了,而且遠處還停有一艘船,從它那些卷起的風帆看來,說明它的船邊一定拖有一條鯨。