隱現

Call me Ishmael.

叫我以實瑪利吧。

Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

幾年前——確切多久就別計較了——我口袋裡幾乎沒錢，岸上又沒什麼特別值得留戀的事，我便想著不如出海漂泊一陣，去看看這世界被水佔據的那部分。

It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.

這是我驅散心頭鬱悶、調理血氣的法子。

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

每當我嘴角漸漸繃緊；每當我的靈魂裡是個濕冷、陰雨的十一月；每當我發覺自己不由自主在棺材鋪前駐足，又尾隨上每一場遇見的送葬隊伍；尤其每當我那股鬱結佔了上風，非得靠強硬的道德戒律才攔得住我，免得我蓄意走上街頭、有條不紊地把人家的帽子一頂頂打飛——這時，我就認定該盡快出海了。

This is my substitute for pistol and ball.

這便是我用來代替手槍與子彈的東西。

With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship.

加圖把自己撲倒在劍上、做足了哲人的姿態；我則悄悄登船去。

There is nothing surprising in this.

這沒什麼好稀奇的。

If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

他們若是明白，幾乎人人都會在某個時候，對大海懷著與我幾乎相同的情感，只是程度不一罷了。

There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf.

且看你們那座海島般的曼哈頓城，碼頭環抱四周，就像印第安群島被珊瑚礁圍繞——商業以她的浪濤將它團團圍住。

Right and left, the streets take you waterward.

左也好右也好，街道都引你走向水邊。

Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land.

城南盡頭是炮台公園，那道氣派的防波堤受著海浪沖刷、被微風吹涼，而這風幾小時前還在看不見陸地的海上。

Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.

瞧那兒一群群望海的人。

Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon.

在某個慵懶的安息日午後，繞著這座城走上一圈吧。

Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward.

從柯利爾岬走到柯恩提斯船塢，再從那裡經由白廳街往北走。

What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.

你看見什麼？——成千上萬的凡人，像一個個沉默的哨兵佇立全城各處，凝神陷進對海洋的遐想。

Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep.

有的倚著木樁；有的坐在碼頭頂端；有的隔著從中國來的船舷往外望；有的高高攀在索具上，彷彿想把海那邊看得更清楚些。

But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster—tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks.

可這些全是陸上人；平日裡關在板條與灰泥砌的屋裡——拴在櫃台後，釘在板凳上，扣死在書桌前。

How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?

這是怎麼回事？綠野不在了嗎？他們上這兒來做什麼？

But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly bound for a dive.

可你看！又一群人來了，徑直朝水邊邁步，看樣子像要縱身一躍。

Strange! Nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice.

怪哉！除了陸地的最邊緣，什麼都滿足不了他們；在那邊倉庫的陰影下徘徊還不夠。

No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling in.

不行。他們非得盡可能貼近水面、又不至於掉下去不可。

And there they stand—miles of them—leagues.

他們就那樣站著——綿延數哩——數里格。

Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues—north, east, south, and west.

全是內陸人，他們從巷弄與小道、街道與大街湧來——東西南北四面八方。

Yet here they all unite.

可在這裡，他們全都匯聚一處。

Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?

告訴我，是那些船上羅盤指針的磁力，把他們吸引過來的嗎？

Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes.

再說一回。假設你身在鄉間；在某片多湖的高地。

Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream.

隨你挑哪條小徑，十之八九它都會把你領下一道山谷，把你撂在溪流邊的一汪水潭旁。

There is magic in it.

這裡頭有魔力。

Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region.

哪怕是天底下最心不在焉的人，正陷進最深的沉思裡——讓他站起來，邁開腳步，他必定會把你引向水邊，只要那一帶有水。

Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor.

倘若你在美洲大荒漠裡渴得發慌，不妨試試這個實驗——只要你的商隊裡碰巧有位形而上學教授同行。

Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.

是的，眾所皆知，沉思與水永遠是結了姻緣的一對。

But here is an artist.

可這兒有位畫家。

He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of the Saco.

他想替你畫出整個薩科河谷裡最縹緲、最幽蔭、最寧靜、最迷人的一角浪漫風景。

What is the chief element he employs?

他用的主元素是什麼？

There stand his trees, each with a hollow trunk, as if a hermit and a crucifix were within; and here sleeps his meadow, and there sleep his cattle; and up from yonder cottage goes a sleepy smoke.

瞧他畫裡立著的樹，每一棵都有空心的樹幹，彷彿裡頭住著一名隱士、供著一座十字架；這邊他的草地睡著，那邊他的牛群也睡著；遠處那座農舍升起一縷睏倦的炊煙。

Deep into distant woodlands winds a mazy way, reaching to overlapping spurs of mountains bathed in their hill-side blue.

一條蜿蜒小路深入遠方林地，一路通往層層交疊、沐浴在山坡藍靄裡的山嘴。

But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd’s head, yet all were vain, unless the shepherd’s eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him.

然而，儘管畫面如此入定般靜止，儘管這株松樹把它的嘆息像落葉般灑落在牧人頭上，這一切仍是徒勞——除非那牧人的目光，定定落在他面前那道魔幻的溪流上。

Go visit the Prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade knee-deep among Tiger-lilies—what is the one charm wanting?—Water—there is not a drop of water there!

六月裡去大草原走走，那裡綿延數十又數十哩，你會在虎皮百合間沒膝而行——獨缺的那一味是什麼？——水——那裡連一滴水都沒有！

Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it?

倘若尼加拉只是一道沙瀑，你還會跋涉千哩去看它嗎？

Why did the poor poet of Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach?

田納西那位窮詩人，忽然得了兩把銀子，為何要再三盤算：是該買件他可憐兮兮急需的外套，還是把錢拿去資助一趟去洛克威海灘的徒步之旅？

Why is almost every robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to sea?

為何幾乎每個體魄健壯、靈魂也健壯的男孩，總會在某個時候瘋了似地想出海？

Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land?

為何你頭一回以乘客身分出航，當人家頭一次告訴你：你和你的船如今已看不見陸地了——你自己竟感到那樣一陣神秘的悸動？

Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove?

為何古波斯人視海為神聖？為何希臘人給了它一位獨立的神祇，還是宙斯的親兄弟？

Surely all this is not without meaning.

這一切肯定不是毫無意義的。

And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned.

而那則納西瑟斯的故事，意義還要更深——他因為抓不住自己在泉水裡看見的那個折磨人卻又溫柔的影像，便縱身投入、溺斃其中。

But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans.

然而同樣那個影像，我們自己在一切江河海洋裡都看得見。

It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.

那是生命無從把握的幻影；而這，正是解開這一切的鑰匙。

Now, when I say that I am in the habit of going to sea whenever I begin to grow hazy about the eyes, and begin to be over conscious of my lungs, I do not mean to have it inferred that I ever go to sea as a passenger.

話說回來，我說我習慣只要眼前一開始發矇、開始過度察覺到自己的肺，就要出海——可別因此推論說我出海是當乘客。

For to go as a passenger you must needs have a purse, and a purse is but a rag unless you have something in it.

因為要當乘客，你得有個錢袋，而錢袋若裝不了東西，就只是塊破布。

Besides, passengers get sea-sick—grow quarrelsome—don’t sleep of nights—do not enjoy themselves much, as a general thing;—no, I never go as a passenger; nor, though I am something of a salt, do I ever go to sea as a Commodore, or a Captain, or a Cook.

再說，乘客會暈船——脾氣會變壞——夜裡睡不著——一般而言玩得也不怎麼盡興；——不，我從不當乘客；而且，雖然我多少算個老水手，我出海也從不當什麼艦隊司令、船長或廚子。

I abandon the glory and distinction of such offices to those who like them.

這類職位的榮耀與顯赫，我都讓給喜歡它們的人。

For my part, I abominate all honorable respectable toils, trials, and tribulations of every kind whatsoever.

就我而言，凡是體面可敬的辛勞、磨難與苦差，不論哪一種，我一概深惡痛絕。

It is quite as much as I can do to take care of myself, without taking care of ships, barques, brigs, schooners, and what not.

光是照料我自己就夠我忙的了，哪還顧得上照料什麼大船、三桅帆船、雙桅橫帆船、縱帆船之類。

And as for going as cook,—though I confess there is considerable glory in that, a cook being a sort of officer on ship-board—yet, somehow, I never fancied broiling fowls;—though once broiled, judiciously buttered, and judgmatically salted and peppered, there is no one who will speak more respectfully, not to say reverentially, of a broiled fowl than I will.

至於當廚子嘛——我承認那裡頭頗有幾分榮耀，廚子在船上也算個半官——可不知怎地，我從來不愛炙烤家禽；——不過家禽一旦烤好，抹上恰到好處的奶油、灑上斟酌得宜的鹽與胡椒，論起對一隻烤禽說話的恭敬——甚至虔敬——沒人比得過我。

It is out of the idolatrous dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the pyramids.

正是出於古埃及人對烤䴉與烤河馬那種偶像崇拜般的痴迷，你才會在他們那些巨大的烤爐——金字塔裡，看見這些生物的木乃伊。

No, when I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor, right before the mast, plumb down into the forecastle, aloft there to the royal mast-head.

不，我出海時，是當個普通水手，就在前桅前頭，一路下到船頭水手艙，又上到最高的頂桅。

True, they rather order me about some, and make me jump from spar to spar, like a grasshopper in a May meadow.

沒錯，他們挺愛差遣我，要我從這根桅桁跳到那根桅桁，活像五月草地上的一隻蚱蜢。

And at first, this sort of thing is unpleasant enough.

起初，這種事著實叫人不快。

It touches one’s sense of honor, particularly if you come of an old established family in the land, the Van Rensselaers, or Randolphs, or Hardicanutes.

它觸到一個人的榮譽感，尤其要是你出身陸上某個世代久遠的名門——范倫斯勒家、藍道夫家，或是哈迪克努特家。

And more than all, if just previous to putting your hand into the tar-pot, you have been lording it as a country schoolmaster, making the tallest boys stand in awe of you.

更要命的是，要是你把手伸進柏油桶之前，才剛當著鄉間教師作威作福、把最高大的男生唬得對你畢恭畢敬。

The transition is a keen one, I assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor, and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics to enable you to grin and bear it.

我向你保證，從教師淪為水手，這轉折可不好受，得灌下一大帖塞內加與斯多噶派的濃湯，才撐得住、才咧得開嘴硬忍下來。

But even this wears off in time.

不過連這個，久了也就淡了。

What of it, if some old hunks of a sea-captain orders me to get a broom and sweep down the decks?

那又如何——要是某個吝嗇刻薄的老船長命我拿支掃帚把甲板掃乾淨？

What does that indignity amount to, weighed, I mean, in the scales of the New Testament?

那點屈辱又算得了什麼——我是說，擺到《新約》的天秤上去稱，又算得了什麼？

Do you think the archangel Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance?

你以為大天使加百列會因為我當下就恭恭敬敬地服從那老頭，就少看我一眼？

Who ain’t a slave? Tell me that.

誰不是奴隸呢？這話你倒說說看。

Well, then, however the old sea-captains may order me about—however they may thump and punch me about, I have the satisfaction of knowing that it is all right; that everybody else is one way or other served in much the same way—either in a physical or metaphysical point of view, that is; and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content.

那麼好，不管那些老船長怎麼差遣我——不管他們怎麼捶我打我，我都有這份滿足：知道這一切都沒什麼不對；知道別人也都以這樣那樣的方式、被差不多地對待著——我是說，無論從肉體還是形而上的角度看皆然；於是這記普世的拳頭就這麼一個傳一個，大夥兒都該互相揉揉彼此的肩胛骨，然後心滿意足。

Again, I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I ever heard of.

再者，我出海總是當水手，因為他們講好了要為我的辛勞付錢，而我倒從沒聽說他們付過乘客一個子兒。

On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay.

恰恰相反，乘客還得自己掏錢。

And there is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid.

付錢與被付錢，這兩者之間有著天差地別。

The act of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves entailed upon us.

付錢這檔事，也許是當年那兩個果園竊賊（亞當與夏娃）加諸我們身上最難受的一道刑罰。

But being paid,—what will compare with it?

可被付錢呢——還有什麼比得上？

The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven.

一個人收錢時那份溫文爾雅的俐落，著實令人驚嘆——想想看，我們可是那樣誠心相信金錢是塵世一切禍害的根源，又相信有錢人斷斷進不了天堂。

Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!

啊！我們把自己交付給沉淪時，竟是何等地興高采烈！

Finally, I always go to sea as a sailor, because of the wholesome exercise and pure air of the fore-castle deck.

最後，我出海總是當水手，是為了船頭甲板上那份有益健康的運動與清新空氣。

For as in this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most part the Commodore on the quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from the sailors on the forecastle.

因為在這世上，迎面的逆風遠比從船尾來的順風要多得多（前提是你從不違犯畢達哥拉斯那條戒律），所以大多數時候，後甲板上的艦隊司令所呼吸的，是從船頭水手那兒轉了二手的空氣。

He thinks he breathes it first; but not so.

他自以為是頭一個吸到的；其實不然。

In much the same way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same time that the leaders little suspect it.

在許多別的事情上，平民百姓也以差不多的方式引領著他們的領袖，而領袖卻渾然不覺。

But wherefore it was that after having repeatedly smelt the sea as a merchant sailor, I should now take it into my head to go on a whaling voyage; this the invisible police officer of the Fates, who has the constant surveillance of me, and secretly dogs me, and influences me in some unaccountable way—he can better answer than any one else.

可話說回來，我先前既已三番兩次以商船水手的身分嗅過大海，這回怎麼又心血來潮要去捕鯨——這問題，那位始終監視著我、暗中尾隨我、又以某種莫名其妙的方式左右我的「命運隱形警探」，能比誰都答得更好。

And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago.

而毫無疑問，我這趟捕鯨之行，早是天意那套宏大節目單裡的一部分，老早就排定了。

It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances.

它穿插進來，算是兩場更盛大演出之間一段簡短的過場與獨唱。

I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this:

我猜這節目單上的這一段，大概是這麼寫的：

“Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States.

「美國總統大選激烈角逐。」

“WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL.

「某以實瑪利之捕鯨航程。」

“BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN.”

「阿富汗血戰。」

Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers, the Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others were set down for magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short and easy parts in genteel comedies, and jolly parts in farces—though I cannot tell why this was exactly; yet, now that I recall all the circumstances, I think I can see a little into the springs and motives which being cunningly presented to me under various disguises, induced me to set about performing the part I did, besides cajoling me into the delusion that it was a choice resulting from my own unbiased freewill and discriminating judgment.

雖然我說不準，那些舞台監督——也就是命運三女神——究竟為何把我派去演「捕鯨航程」這麼個寒酸角色，而別人卻被派去演高雅悲劇裡風光的主角、上流喜劇裡輕鬆討喜的小角色、鬧劇裡逗趣的丑角——雖然我說不準這究竟是為什麼；可如今回想，把當時種種一一細數，我想我倒能看出幾分箇中的機栝與動機：它們被巧妙地裝扮成各種模樣呈到我面前，誘使我著手去演我所演的那個角色，還哄得我以為，這是出自我自己不偏不倚的自由意志與明辨判斷所做的選擇。

Chief among these motives was the overwhelming idea of the great whale himself.

這些動機裡居首的，是那頭巨鯨本身那壓倒一切的念頭。

Such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity.

如此一頭預示凶兆、又神秘莫測的怪物，把我滿腔好奇都勾了起來。

Then the wild and distant seas where he rolled his island bulk; the undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale; these, with all the attending marvels of a thousand Patagonian sights and sounds, helped to sway me to my wish.

再來是牠翻滾著島嶼般龐軀的那些荒野遠海；那無從化解、叫不出名字的捕鯨凶險；這些，連同千百樣巴塔哥尼亞奇景異聲的種種神奇相伴，一齊把我拽向我的心願。

With other men, perhaps, such things would not have been inducements; but as for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote.

換了別人，這些事或許算不上什麼誘惑；可就我而言，我被一種對遙遠事物永無止盡的癢念折磨著。

I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.

我愛航向禁忌的海域，在蠻荒的海岸登陸。

Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in.

我並非不識好歹，我能敏銳察覺一樁恐怖之事，卻仍能與它和睦相處——只要它們肯讓我——畢竟，與自己借宿之處的所有住客都處得友善，總歸是件好事。

By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air.

正因這些緣故，這趟捕鯨航程才教我求之不得；奇境世界那一道道巨大的閘門霍然洞開，在那些把我擺弄向目的的狂野遐想裡，鯨群成雙成對，沒完沒了地列隊浮進我靈魂的最深處，而在牠們所有隊伍的最當中，是一個碩大、戴著兜帽的幻影，宛如懸在半空中的一座雪山。