睡袍夜話

We had lain thus in bed, chatting and napping at short intervals, and Queequeg now and then affectionately throwing his brown tattooed legs over mine, and then drawing them back; so entirely sociable and free and easy were we; when, at last, by reason of our confabulations, what little nappishness remained in us altogether departed, and we felt like getting up again, though day-break was yet some way down the future.

我們就這樣躺在床上，斷斷續續地聊天、打盹，魁魁格還不時把他那雙黝黑刺青的腿親暱地搭到我腿上，又縮回去；我倆是這般地融洽、自在、無拘無束；直到最後，因為我們這一陣閒談，殘存的那一點點睡意也全跑光了，我們便覺得不如再起來坐坐，儘管天亮還在未來頗遠的地方。

Yes, we became very wakeful; so much so that our recumbent position began to grow wearisome, and by little and little we found ourselves sitting up; the clothes well tucked around us, leaning against the head-board with our four knees drawn up close together, and our two noses bending over them, as if our kneepans were warming-pans.

是啊，我們變得睡意全無；以致連躺著的姿勢都開始叫人膩煩，於是一點一點地，我們發覺自己坐了起來；被子嚴嚴實實裹著身子，背靠床頭板，四個膝蓋緊緊併攏，兩個鼻子俯在膝上，彷彿我們的膝蓋骨成了暖床的銅鍋。

We felt very nice and snug, the more so since it was so chilly out of doors; indeed out of bed-clothes too, seeing that there was no fire in the room.

我們感到舒服又溫暖，尤其因為屋外那麼冷；其實連被窩外也冷，畢竟房裡沒生火。

The more so, I say, because truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast.

我說，正因如此才更覺暖；因為要真正享受身體的溫暖，你身上總得有一小處是冷的——因為這世上沒有哪一種性質，不是僅僅藉著對比才成其為自己的。

Nothing exists in itself.

沒有任何東西能獨立自存。

If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more.

你若自詡渾身上下都舒舒服服、而且舒服了好一陣子了，那就再也不能說你是舒服的了。

But if, like Queequeg and me in the bed, the tip of your nose or the crown of your head be slightly chilled, why then, indeed, in the general consciousness you feel most delightfully and unmistakably warm.

可你若像床上的魁魁格和我這樣，鼻尖或頭頂微微有點涼，那麼這時，在整體的感覺裡，你反倒覺得最是暢快、最明明白白地暖和。

For this reason a sleeping apartment should never be furnished with a fire, which is one of the luxurious discomforts of the rich.

正因如此，臥房裡絕不該生火——那是富人那些「奢侈的不適」之一。

For the height of this sort of deliciousness is to have nothing but the blanket between you and your snugness and the cold of the outer air.

因為這類愜意的極致，就是在你那份溫暖與外頭的寒氣之間，只隔著一條毯子，別無其他。

Then there you lie like the one warm spark in the heart of an arctic crystal.

那時你躺在那兒，就像一塊北極水晶核心裡那唯一一點溫暖的火星。

We had been sitting in this crouching manner for some time, when all at once I thought I would open my eyes; for when between sheets, whether by day or by night, and whether asleep or awake, I have a way of always keeping my eyes shut, in order the more to concentrate the snugness of being in bed.

我們以這蜷縮的姿勢坐了一陣子，忽然我想睜開眼睛；因為一旦鑽進被單之間，無論白天黑夜、無論睡著醒著，我總有個習慣，老是把眼睛閉著，好更專注地凝聚那份躺在床上的溫馨。

Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part.

因為人唯有閉上眼睛，才能真正端正地感知自己的本體；彷彿黑暗才當真是我們靈魂本質的本命元素，而光，則只是對我們那泥做的軀殼更為相宜。

Upon opening my eyes then, and coming out of my own pleasant and self-created darkness into the imposed and coarse outer gloom of the unilluminated twelve-o’clock-at-night, I experienced a disagreeable revulsion.

於是當我睜開眼，從我自己那愉悅、自造的黑暗中，走進那無燈的午夜十二點、被強加而來的、粗糙的外在幽暗時，我體驗到一陣不快的反胃般的厭惡。

Nor did I at all object to the hint from Queequeg that perhaps it were best to strike a light, seeing that we were so wide awake; and besides he felt a strong desire to have a few quiet puffs from his Tomahawk.

魁魁格暗示說，既然我們這麼清醒，或許最好點個燈；再說他也很想安安靜靜地抽他那把菸斗戰斧幾口——對此我一點都不反對。

Be it said, that though I had felt such a strong repugnance to his smoking in the bed the night before, yet see how elastic our stiff prejudices grow when love once comes to bend them.

得說一句：儘管前一晚我對他在床上抽菸曾感到那麼強烈的反感，可你瞧，一旦愛來把我們僵硬的成見扳彎，它們能變得多有彈性。

For now I liked nothing better than to have Queequeg smoking by me, even in bed, because he seemed to be full of such serene household joy then.

因為這會兒，我最樂意的莫過於讓魁魁格在我身旁抽菸，哪怕是在床上——因為那時他彷彿滿溢著一種恬靜的、居家的喜悅。

I no more felt unduly concerned for the landlord’s policy of insurance.

我也不再過分替店主的保險單擔心了。

I was only alive to the condensed confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real friend.

我心裡只感受得到那份濃縮的、交心的舒坦——與一個真朋友共一管菸、共一條毯子。

With our shaggy jackets drawn about our shoulders, we now passed the Tomahawk from one to the other, till slowly there grew over us a blue hanging tester of smoke, illuminated by the flame of the new-lit lamp.

我們把毛茸茸的外套拉到肩上，這會兒便把那菸斗戰斧你一口我一口地傳來傳去，直到頭頂上慢慢結出一頂藍色懸垂的煙霧床篷，被那盞新點的燈火映得發亮。

Whether it was that this undulating tester rolled the savage away to far distant scenes, I know not, but he now spoke of his native island; and, eager to hear his history, I begged him to go on and tell it.

是不是這頂起伏波動的煙篷，把這野人捲回了遙遠的往昔景象，我說不上來；但這會兒他談起了自己的故鄉海島；我急著想聽他的身世，便求他接著講下去。

He gladly complied.

他欣然答應了。

Though at the time I but ill comprehended not a few of his words, yet subsequent disclosures, when I had become more familiar with his broken phraseology, now enable me to present the whole story such as it may prove in the mere skeleton I give.

雖然當時他不少話我都聽得一知半解，但後來等我比較熟悉他那套破碎的措辭、他又陸續透露更多之後，如今我便能把整個故事呈現出來——儘管我所給的，只是個粗略的骨架。