編蓆人

It was a cloudy, sultry afternoon; the seamen were lazily lounging about the decks, or vacantly gazing over into the lead-coloured waters. Queequeg and I were mildly employed weaving what is called a sword-mat, for an additional lashing to our boat. So still and subdued and yet somehow preluding was all the scene, and such an incantation of reverie lurked in the air, that each silent sailor seemed resolved into his own invisible self.

那是個多雲、悶熱的午後；水手們懶洋洋地在甲板上閒躺，或茫然地俯望著那鉛灰色的海水。魁魁格和我輕鬆地忙著編一張所謂的「劍蓆」，給我們的小艇做一道額外的繫纜。整個場景如此靜謐、壓抑，卻又不知怎地像是某事的前奏，空氣中潛伏著這般一種「遐想的咒語」，以致每個沉默的水手，都彷彿溶解進了他自己那看不見的內在。

I was the attendant or page of Queequeg, while busy at the mat. As I kept passing and repassing the filling or woof of marline between the long yarns of the warp, using my own hand for the shuttle, and as Queequeg, standing sideways, ever and anon slid his heavy oaken sword between the threads, and idly looking off upon the water, carelessly and unthinkingly drove home every yarn: I say so strange a dreaminess did there then reign all over the ship and all over the sea, only broken by the intermitting dull sound of the sword, that it seemed as if this were the Loom of Time, and I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the Fates.

編蓆時，我是魁魁格的助手、或者說侍童。我不停地把那填充用的麻線「緯線（woof）」，在「經線（warp）」的長紗之間穿來穿去——用我自己的手當梭子；而魁魁格側身站著，不時把他那把沉重的橡木劍滑進線間，一邊懶懶地望著海面、漫不經心、不假思索地把每一根紗「打實」：我說，那時整艘船、整片海都籠罩在一種如此奇異的夢幻裡，只被那劍時斷時續的鈍響打破，以致彷彿這就是「時間的織機」，而我自己是一把梭子，機械地在「命運三女神（the Fates）」上織啊、織啊。

There lay the fixed threads of the warp subject to but one single, ever returning, unchanging vibration, and that vibration merely enough to admit of the crosswise interblending of other threads with its own. This warp seemed necessity; and here, thought I, with my own hand I ply my own shuttle and weave my own destiny into these unalterable threads.

那固定的經線躺在那兒，只受一種單一、反覆回返、不變的振動所支配，而那振動恰恰只夠容許別的線橫向地與它自己交織。這經線，彷彿就是「必然」；而在這裡，我想，我以自己的手、操著自己的梭，把我自己的命運，織進這些不可更改的線裡。

Meantime, Queequeg’s impulsive, indifferent sword, sometimes hitting the woof slantingly, or crookedly, or strongly, or weakly, as the case might be; and by this difference in the concluding blow producing a corresponding contrast in the final aspect of the completed fabric; this savage’s sword, thought I, which thus finally shapes and fashions both warp and woof; this easy, indifferent sword must be chance—aye, chance, free will, and necessity—nowise incompatible—all interweavingly working together.

與此同時，魁魁格那把衝動、漠然的劍，時而斜、時而歪、時而重、時而輕地打在緯線上，視情況而定；而這收尾一擊的差異，又在成品最終的樣貌上造成相應的對比；這野人的劍，我想，就這樣最終塑造、形塑了經與緯；這把隨意、漠然的劍，必定就是「偶然」——對，偶然、自由意志與必然——絕不互相牴觸——三者交織地共同運作。

The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its ultimate course—its every alternating vibration, indeed, only tending to that; free will still free to ply her shuttle between given threads; and chance, though restrained in its play within the right lines of necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by free will, though thus prescribed to by both, chance by turns rules either, and has the last featuring blow at events.

必然那筆直的經線，絕不會偏離它終極的走向——它每一次交替的振動，其實都只朝著那走向；自由意志，仍可自由地在既定的線間操她的梭；而偶然，雖被約束在必然的直線之內、其橫向的動作又受自由意志所導引，雖如此同時受制於這兩者，偶然卻又輪流主宰著它們任一方，並對事件落下那「最後、決定樣貌的一擊」。

Thus we were weaving and weaving away when I started at a sound so strange, long drawn, and musically wild and unearthly, that the ball of free will dropped from my hand, and I stood gazing up at the clouds whence that voice dropped like a wing. High aloft in the cross-trees was that mad Gay-Header, Tashtego. ... but from few of those lungs could that accustomed old cry have derived such a marvellous cadence as from Tashtego the Indian’s.

我們就這樣織啊、織啊，這時我被一個聲音嚇了一跳——那聲音如此奇異、悠長、狂野而不似人間，富於樂感，以致「自由意志的線球」從我手中落下，我站在那兒，仰望著雲端——那聲音正像一片羽翼，從那兒墜落下來。高高的桅頂橫木上，是那瘋狂的蓋黑德人塔什特戈。他的身子急切地前傾，手像魔杖般伸出，每隔短短的、突發的間隔，便繼續他的叫喊。誠然，同一個聲音此刻或許正響徹各處的海上——從幾百個同樣高棲於空中的捕鯨人瞭望台傳出；但很少有哪副肺，能讓這慣常的老吶喊，獲得像印第安人塔什特戈那般奇妙的抑揚。

As he stood hovering over you half suspended in air, so wildly and eagerly peering towards the horizon, you would have thought him some prophet or seer beholding the shadows of Fate, and by those wild cries announcing their coming.

當他凌空、半懸在你頭頂、如此狂野而急切地朝地平線眺望時，你會以為他是某個先知、某個先見者——正望見「命運的陰影」、並以那狂野的叫喊宣告它們的將臨。

“There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!”

「她噴水啦！那兒！那兒！那兒！她噴水啦！她噴水啦！」

“Where-away?”

「在哪個方向？」

“On the lee-beam, about two miles off! a school of them!”

「在下風的船舷側，約莫兩哩外！一大群！」

Instantly all was commotion.

霎時間，全船一片騷動。

The Sperm Whale blows as a clock ticks, with the same undeviating and reliable uniformity. And thereby whalemen distinguish this fish from other tribes of his genus.

抹香鯨噴水，像鐘擺滴答一樣，有著同樣毫不偏差、可靠的勻稱。捕鯨人正是藉此把這種鯨與牠那一屬的其他族類區別開來。

“There go flukes!” was now the cry from Tashtego; and the whales disappeared.

「尾鰭翹起來了！」這會兒塔什特戈喊道；那群鯨便潛沒不見了。

“Quick, steward!” cried Ahab. “Time! time!”

「快，膳務員！」亞哈喊道。「時間！時間！」

Dough-Boy hurried below, glanced at the watch, and reported the exact minute to Ahab.

麵團小子急忙下去，瞄了一眼錶，把確切的分鐘報給亞哈。

The ship was now kept away from the wind, and she went gently rolling before it. Tashtego reporting that the whales had gone down heading to leeward, we confidently looked to see them again directly in advance of our bows. ... the mainyard was backed, and the three boats swung over the sea like three samphire baskets over high cliffs. Outside of the bulwarks their eager crews with one hand clung to the rail, while one foot was expectantly poised on the gunwale. So look the long line of man-of-war’s men about to throw themselves on board an enemy’s ship.

這會兒船被調得偏離了風向，順著風緩緩搖晃前進。塔什特戈報告那群鯨是朝下風潛下去的，我們便滿懷信心地指望會在我們船首的正前方再見到牠們。（因為抹香鯨有時會耍的那種奇特伎倆——頭朝一個方向下潛、卻在水面下打個轉、迅速朝相反方向游走——這種牠的詭詐，此刻不可能在起作用；因為沒有理由認為塔什特戈所見的那群鯨受了任何驚動、或根本知道我們在附近。一個被選作「守船人」的水手——即那些沒被派上小艇的人——這時接替了印第安人在主桅頂的崗位。前桅與後桅的水手都下來了；）線桶在各自的位置上固定好；吊架伸了出去；主桁掉轉過來；三艘小艇像懸在高崖上的三只「海蓬子籃」般，盪向海面。在舷牆之外，那些急切的艇員一手抓著欄杆，一腳則充滿期待地踩在船舷上。一排即將跳上敵艦的軍艦水兵，看起來正是這般模樣。

But at this critical instant a sudden exclamation was heard that took every eye from the whale. With a start all glared at dark Ahab, who was surrounded by five dusky phantoms that seemed fresh formed out of air.

可就在這緊要的一瞬，一聲突然的驚呼響起，把所有人的目光都從那鯨身上拉了開去。眾人猛地一震，全都瞪著那黑色的亞哈——他身旁竟圍著五個彷彿剛從空氣中成形的、幽暗的幽靈。