亞哈上場；對他，斯塔布

Some days elapsed, and ice and icebergs all astern, the Pequod now went rolling through the bright Quito spring, which, at sea, almost perpetually reigns on the threshold of the eternal August of the Tropic.

幾天過去了，冰與冰山全甩在船後，裴廓德號此刻搖晃著駛過明亮的「基多之春」——在海上，這種天氣幾乎永遠盤踞在熱帶那「永恆八月」的門檻之前。

The warmly cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up—flaked up, with rose-water snow.

那些暖而清涼、晶瑩、鏗然、馥郁、滿溢而豐盈的日子，宛如一只只盛滿波斯果露的水晶高腳杯，堆得高高的——撒著玫瑰水做的雪花，層層疊起。

The starred and stately nights seemed haughty dames in jewelled velvets, nursing at home in lonely pride, the memory of their absent conquering Earls, the golden helmeted suns!

那綴滿星辰、莊嚴堂皇的夜，則像一個個身著珠光天鵝絨的傲然貴婦，在家中孤獨而驕傲地懷想著她們遠征未歸的伯爵——那些頭戴金盔的太陽！

For sleeping man, ’twas hard to choose between such winsome days and such seducing nights.

對一個想睡的人來說，要在這般迷人的白晝與這般誘人的夜之間取捨，實在很難。

But all the witcheries of that unwaning weather did not merely lend new spells and potencies to the outward world.

但那不退潮的天氣的一切魔力，並不只是給外在世界添上新的咒法與威力。

Inward they turned upon the soul, especially when the still mild hours of eve came on; then, memory shot her crystals as the clear ice most forms of noiseless twilights.

它們也向內、轉向靈魂，尤其當黃昏那靜謐溫和的時辰來臨；於是，記憶便射出她的結晶——一如清澈的冰，最常在無聲的暮色裡凝成。

And all these subtle agencies, more and more they wrought on Ahab’s texture.

而這一切微妙的力量，越來越深地作用在亞哈的「質地」之上。

Old age is always wakeful; as if, the longer linked with life, the less man has to do with aught that looks like death.

老年總是清醒少眠；彷彿與生命牽繫得越久，人就越不願沾染任何像死亡的東西。

Among sea-commanders, the old greybeards will oftenest leave their berths to visit the night-cloaked deck.

在眾船長之中，那些灰鬍子的老人最常離開鋪位，去探訪那夜色籠罩的甲板。

It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he seemed so much to live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits were more to the cabin, than from the cabin to the planks.

亞哈也是如此；只是近來，他似乎大半都活在露天裡，嚴格說，他的「探訪」反倒更多是「往艙裡去」，而非「從艙裡上甲板」。

“It feels like going down into one’s tomb,”—he would mutter to himself—“for an old captain like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my grave-dug berth.”

「對我這樣一個老船長，要鑽下這狹窄的艙口、回到我那挖得像墳墓似的鋪位，」他會喃喃自語，「那感覺就像走進自己的墳。」

So, almost every twenty-four hours, when the watches of the night were set, and the band on deck sentinelled the slumbers of the band below; and when if a rope was to be hauled upon the forecastle, the sailors flung it not rudely down, as by day, but with some cautiousness dropt it to its place for fear of disturbing their slumbering shipmates; when this sort of steady quietude would begin to prevail, habitually, the silent steersman would watch the cabin-scuttle; and ere long the old man would emerge, gripping at the iron banister, to help his crippled way.

於是幾乎每隔一晝夜，當夜班布好、甲板上那一班人守護著下面那一班人的睡眠；當船頭若要拉動繩索時，水手們不再像白天那樣粗魯地往下一摔，而是小心翼翼地把它放到位，生怕擾了熟睡的同伴；當這種持續的靜謐開始瀰漫——那沉默的舵手便習慣性地盯著艙口；不久，老人就會摸著鐵欄杆現身，借力撐著他殘缺的步子。

Some considering touch of humanity was in him; for at times like these, he usually abstained from patrolling the quarter-deck; because to his wearied mates, seeking repose within six inches of his ivory heel, such would have been the reverberating crack and din of that bony step, that their dreams would have been on the crunching teeth of sharks.

他身上有幾分體恤人的人情味；因為這種時候，他通常會克制著不在後甲板上來回巡走；因為對那些在他象牙腳跟六吋之內求眠的疲憊船副來說，那骨腿叩地的回響與轟響，會讓他們夢見鯊魚嘎吱咬合的牙。

But once, the mood was on him too deep for common regardings; and as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was measuring the ship from taffrail to mainmast, Stubb, the old second mate, came up from below, with a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, hinted that if Captain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one could say nay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting something indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the insertion into it, of the ivory heel.

但有一回，他的心緒太過深沉，顧不上這些尋常的體諒；當他以沉重如圓木般的步子，從船尾欄杆一路量到主桅時，老二副斯塔布從下面上來，帶著一種沒把握、賠著小心的詼諧，暗示說：亞哈船長若樂意在甲板上走動，誰也不敢說個不字；不過或許有法子把那聲響悶住——他含糊而猶豫地提起「一個麻屑團」，把象牙腳跟塞進去的事。

Ah! Stubb, thou didst not know Ahab then.

啊！斯塔布，那時你還不懂亞哈。

“Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb,” said Ahab, “that thou wouldst wad me that fashion? But go thy ways; I had forgot. Below to thy nightly grave; where such as ye sleep between shrouds, to use ye to the filling one at last.—Down, dog, and kennel!”

「我是顆砲彈嗎，斯塔布，」亞哈說，「要你這麼來給我『填塞』？不過去吧；我忘了。下去你那夜夜的墳吧——你們這號人睡在裹屍布之間，好讓你們慣於將來去填那最後一塊（裹屍布／墳）。——下去，狗，回你的窩！」

Starting at the unforseen concluding exclamation of the so suddenly scornful old man, Stubb was speechless a moment; then said excitedly, “I am not used to be spoken to that way, sir; I do but less than half like it, sir.”

被這突然變得輕蔑的老人那句意料之外的結語一驚，斯塔布愣了片刻，無言以對；隨即激動地說：「我不習慣被人這麼說話，先生；我一點兒也不太喜歡，先生。」

“Avast!” gritted Ahab between his set teeth, and violently moving away, as if to avoid some passionate temptation.

「住口！」亞哈從緊咬的牙縫間擠出這兩個字，猛地走開，彷彿要躲開某種激烈的誘惑。

“No, sir; not yet,” said Stubb, emboldened, “I will not tamely be called a dog, sir.”

「不，先生；還沒完，」斯塔布壯起膽子說，「我可不會乖乖地任人叫作狗，先生。」

“Then be called ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass, and begone, or I’ll clear the world of thee!”

「那就叫你十遍蠢驢、騾子、笨驢——滾，不然我把你從這世上清掉！」

As he said this, Ahab advanced upon him with such overbearing terrors in his aspect, that Stubb involuntarily retreated.

他說這話時，亞哈帶著一臉壓人的恐怖朝他逼來，斯塔布不由自主地退了下去。

“I was never served so before without giving a hard blow for it,” muttered Stubb, as he found himself descending the cabin-scuttle.

「我從沒這樣被人對待過、還不還他一記重拳的，」斯塔布鑽下艙口時喃喃道。

“It’s very queer. Stop, Stubb; somehow, now, I don’t well know whether to go back and strike him, or—what’s that?—down here on my knees and pray for him?

「真是怪。停一下，斯塔布；這會兒我不大拿得準，是該回去揍他，還是——那是什麼念頭？——跪在這兒替他禱告？

Yes, that was the thought coming up in me; but it would be the first time I ever did pray. It’s queer; very queer; and he’s queer too; aye, take him fore and aft, he’s about the queerest old man Stubb ever sailed with.

對，這念頭真冒上來了；可那會是我頭一回禱告。怪；真怪；他也怪；嗯，從頭到尾打量他，他大概是斯塔布共過事的最古怪的老頭。

How he flashed at me!—his eyes like powder-pans! is he mad? Anyway there’s something on his mind, as sure as there must be something on a deck when it cracks.

他剛才那眼神朝我一閃！——眼睛像火藥池！他瘋了嗎？反正他心裡有事，就跟甲板裂響時底下準有東西一樣準。

He aint in his bed now, either, more than three hours out of the twenty-four; and he don’t sleep then.

他現在也不在床上——一晝夜裡睡不到三個鐘頭，那會兒還不真睡。

Didn’t that Dough-Boy, the steward, tell me that of a morning he always finds the old man’s hammock clothes all rumpled and tumbled, and the sheets down at the foot, and the coverlid almost tied into knots, and the pillow a sort of frightful hot, as though a baked brick had been on it?

那膳務員『麵團小子』不是告訴我，每天早上他總發現老頭的吊床被褥揉得亂七八糟、床單踢到了腳頭、被子幾乎打成了結、枕頭燙得嚇人，像擱過一塊烤紅的磚？

A hot old man! I guess he’s got what some folks ashore call a conscience; it’s a kind of Tic-Dolly-row they say—worse nor a toothache.

一個發燙的老頭！我猜他是得了岸上有些人叫作『良心』的那玩意；據說那是一種『臉痛抽搐（Tic-Dolly-row）』——比牙痛還難受。

Well, well; I don’t know what it is, but the Lord keep me from catching it.

罷了，罷了；我不知那是什麼，只求主別讓我也染上它。

He’s full of riddles; I wonder what he goes into the after hold for, every night, as Dough-Boy tells me he suspects; what’s that for, I should like to know?

他滿肚子是謎；我納悶他每晚下後艙去幹什麼——『麵團小子』說他疑心是這樣；那是為了什麼呢，我倒真想知道？

Who’s made appointments with him in the hold? Ain’t that queer, now? But there’s no telling, it’s the old game—Here goes for a snooze.

誰跟他在艙裡有約？這不怪嗎，嗯？可說不準，老套路罷了——去打個盹吧。

Damn me, it’s worth a fellow’s while to be born into the world, if only to fall right asleep. And now that I think of it, that’s about the first thing babies do, and that’s a sort of queer, too.

媽的，一個人來這世上走一遭也值了，哪怕只為了能倒頭就睡。這麼一想，這差不多是嬰兒做的頭一件事，這也有點怪。

Damn me, but all things are queer, come to think of ’em. But that’s against my principles. Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth—So here goes again.

媽的，細想起來，樣樣都怪。可那違反我的原則。『莫多想』是我的第十一誡；『能睡就睡』是我的第十二誡——那就再睡去吧。

But how’s that? didn’t he call me a dog? blazes! he called me ten times a donkey, and piled a lot of jackasses on top of that! He might as well have kicked me, and done with it.

可這算怎麼回事？他不是叫我狗嗎？見鬼！他叫了我十遍蠢驢，還在上頭堆了一大堆笨驢！他乾脆踹我一腳了事算了。

Maybe he did kick me, and I didn’t observe it, I was so taken all aback with his brow, somehow. It flashed like a bleached bone. What the devil’s the matter with me? I don’t stand right on my legs.

也許他真踹了我，我卻沒察覺，我不知怎地被他那額頭驚得整個發懵。它閃得像一塊漂白的骨頭。我這究竟是怎麼了？我兩條腿都站不穩了。

Coming afoul of that old man has a sort of turned me wrong side out. By the Lord, I must have been dreaming, though—How? how? how?—but the only way’s to stash it; so here goes to hammock again; and in the morning, I’ll see how this plaguey juggling thinks over by daylight.”

撞上那老頭，把我整個人翻了個裡朝外。老天在上，可我準是在做夢吧——怎麼回事？怎麼回事？怎麼回事？——可唯一的辦法是把它擱下；那就再回吊床去；等明早天亮，看看這惱人的把戲再回想起來，是個什麼味道。」