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It was Moby Dick's open mouth and scrolled jaw; his vast, shadowed bulk still half blending with the blue of the sea. The glittering mouth yawned beneath the boat like an open-doored marble tomb; and giving one sidelong sweep with his steering oar, Ahab whirled the craft aside from this tremendous apparition. Then, calling upon Fedallah to change places with him, went forward to the bows, and seizing Perth's harpoon, commanded his crew to grasp their oars and stand by to stern.
這就是莫比－迪克的張開著的嘴巴和那渦形的下顎；它那巨大的朦朧的身體有一半還跟藍色的海水混在一起。那只閃亮的嘴巴，在小艇下面一張開來，直象一個墓門敞開的大理石墓穴；亞哈用他的舵槳打斜一劃，把小艇一轉，避開了這只可怕的幽靈。接著，他叫費達拉來跟他對調位置，向船頭跑去，手里抓著柏斯那根標槍，命令他的船員抓緊他們的槳子，準備向后劃去。
Now, by reason of this timely spinning round the boat upon its axis, its bow, by anticipation, was made to face the whale's head while yet under water. But as if perceiving this stratagem, Moby Dick, with that malicious intelligence ascribed to him, sidelingly transplanted himself, as it were, in an instant, shooting his pleated head lengthwise beneath the boat.
這時，由于這樣及時地迅速一轉，這只小艇就按照預定的意圖，把艇頭轉得恰好跟那只還在水底里的鯨頭面面相對。可是，莫比－迪克好象看出了這種計謀似的，它施出它那天賦的惡毒的靈性，立時打斜地那么一轉身，就在艇底下筆直地鏢出它那只打褶的腦袋來。
Through and through; through every plank and each rib, it thrilled for an instant, the whale obliquely lying on his back, in the manner of a biting shark slowly and feelingly taking its bows full within his mouth, so that the long, narrow, scrolled lower jaw curled high up into the open air, and one of the teeth caught in a row-lock. The bluish pearl-white of the inside of the jaw was within six inches of Ahab's head, and reached higher than that. In this attitude the White Whale now shook the slight cedar as a mildly cruel cat her mouse. With unastonished eyes Fedallah gazed, and crossed his arms; but the tiger-yellow crew were tumbling over each other's heads to gain the uttermost stern.
每塊船板，每根肋材，整個艇身，都立即震顫起來，這條大鯨側斜地仰天躺著，以一條鯊魚要咬人的姿勢，慢條斯理而依依不舍地把艇頭全都吸進它的嘴里去，這樣一來，那只狹長的。渦形的下顎就直對天空高高卷起，其中有一只牙齒還咬住了一只槳架。這只里面是帶藍色的珍珠白的嘴巴，跟亞哈的腦袋相距不到六英寸。現在，這條白鯨就這樣搖起那塊薄薄的杉木，象一只柔里藏兇的貓兒在逗弄老鼠。費達拉叉起雙臂，眼睛毫無懼色地直望著，可是，那幾個虎皮黃皮膚的水手卻正彼此在頭頂上踩來踩去，想走到船梢的邊緣去。
