Squid

Slowly wading through the meadows of brit, the Pequod still held on her way north-eastward towards the island of Java; a gentle air impelling her keel... her three tall tapering masts mildly waved to that languid breeze, as three mild palms on a plain. And still, at wide intervals in the silvery night, the lonely, alluring jet would be seen.

裴廓德號緩緩涉過 brit 草甸，繼續往東北朝爪哇島航行；一陣輕柔的微風推著她的龍骨，於是在四周的靜謐中，她那三根高聳漸尖的桅杆，朝那慵懶的微風溫和地搖擺，像平原上三棵溫和的棕櫚。而在銀色的夜裡，仍隔著很長的間隔，望見那孤獨而誘人的噴水。

But one transparent blue morning, when a stillness almost preternatural spread over the sea... when the long burnished sun-glade on the waters seemed a golden finger laid across them, enjoining some secrecy; when the slippered waves whispered together as they softly ran on; in this profound hush of the visible sphere a strange spectre was seen by Daggoo from the main-mast-head.

但在一個透明的藍色清晨——當一種近乎超自然的寂靜籠罩了海面（卻又毫無死水般的沉滯）；當水面上長長磨亮的日照（sun-glade）像一根金色的手指橫按其上、命人保守某個秘密；當那「穿著拖鞋的波浪」邊輕柔地奔流、邊彼此低語——就在這可見世界深沉的靜默中，達戈從主桅頂望見了一個奇異的幽靈。

In the distance, a great white mass lazily rose, and rising higher and higher, and disentangling itself from the azure, at last gleamed before our prow like a snow-slide, new slid from the hills. ... It seemed not a whale; and yet is this Moby Dick? thought Daggoo. Again the phantom went down, but on re-appearing once more, with a stiletto-like cry that startled every man from his nod, the negro yelled out—“There! there again! there she breaches! right ahead! The White Whale, the White Whale!”

遠處，一團龐大的白色物體懶懶地升起，越升越高，從那蔚藍中掙脫出來，終於在我們船首前像「剛從山上滑落的雪崩」般閃光。它就這麼閃了一瞬，又緩緩沉降、沉沒。然後再度升起、無聲地閃爍。「那似乎不是鯨；可這就是莫比·迪克嗎？」達戈想。那幻影又沉下去，但再次現身時，達戈發出一聲「匕首般的尖叫」、把每個打著盹的人都驚醒——這黑人吼道：「那兒！又在那兒！她躍身了！正前方！白鯨，白鯨！」

Upon this, the seamen rushed to the yard-arms, as in swarming-time the bees rush to the boughs. Bare-headed in the sultry sun, Ahab stood on the bowsprit, and with one hand pushed far behind in readiness to wave his orders to the helmsman, cast his eager glance in the direction indicated aloft by the outstretched motionless arm of Daggoo.

聽到這喊聲，水手們衝向帆桁（yard-arm），如分蜂時節蜜蜂衝向枝頭。亞哈光著頭立在悶熱的太陽下、立在船首斜桅（bowsprit）上，一手遠遠伸到身後、準備向舵手揮出命令，順著達戈那僵直伸出、紋絲不動的手臂在高處所指的方向，投去他急切的一瞥。

Whether the flitting attendance of the one still and solitary jet had gradually worked upon Ahab, so that he was now prepared to connect the ideas of mildness and repose with the first sight of the particular whale he pursued... no sooner did he distinctly perceive the white mass, than with a quick intensity he instantly gave orders for lowering.

也許那「一道靜止而孤獨的噴水」若隱若現的相伴，已漸漸作用於亞哈，使他此刻準備把「溫和與安歇」的念頭，與他所追逐的那特定的鯨的初次照面連結起來；無論是這樣，還是他的急切出賣了他——不管是哪一種，他一清楚地看見那白色團塊，便以一種迅疾的強度，立刻下令放艇。

The four boats were soon on the water; Ahab’s in advance... Almost forgetting for the moment all thoughts of Moby Dick, we now gazed at the most wondrous phenomenon which the secret seas have hitherto revealed to mankind. A vast pulpy mass, furlongs in length and breadth, of a glancing cream-colour, lay floating on the water, innumerable long arms radiating from its centre, and curling and twisting like a nest of anacondas... No perceptible face or front did it have; no conceivable token of either sensation or instinct; but undulated there on the billows, an unearthly, formless, chance-like apparition of life.

四艘小艇很快下了水，亞哈的領在最前，全都飛快地划向獵物。它很快沉了下去；正當我們懸著槳等它再現時——瞧！就在它下沉的同一處，它又緩緩升起。一時間幾乎忘了所有關於莫比·迪克的念頭，我們此刻凝視著「秘密的海至今向人類揭示過的最奇異的現象」：一團龐大、柔軟黏滑的肉塊，長寬各達數弗隆（furlong），閃著乳白色，浮在水面上，無數長臂從它的中心放射出來，像一窩蟒蛇般捲曲扭動，彷彿盲目地要攫住伸手可及的任何不幸之物。它沒有可辨的臉或正面；沒有任何可想見的感覺或本能的跡象；只是在浪濤上起伏——一個超凡的、無形的、彷彿出於機緣的生命的幻影（apparition）。

As with a low sucking sound it slowly disappeared again, Starbuck still gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice exclaimed—“Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, than to have seen thee, thou white ghost!”

當它伴著一種低低的吸吮聲再度緩緩消失時，斯塔巴克仍凝視著它沉沒處那騷動的水面，以一種狂野的聲音喊道：「我寧可見到莫比·迪克並與牠搏鬥，也不願見到你——你這白色的幽靈！」

“What was it, Sir?” said Flask.

「那是什麼，先生？」弗拉斯克說。

“The great live squid, which, they say, few whale-ships ever beheld, and returned to their ports to tell of it.”

「那條大活烏賊——據說，很少有捕鯨船見過它、還能回到港口說出這事的。」

But Ahab said nothing; turning his boat, he sailed back to the vessel; the rest as silently following.

但亞哈一語不發；掉轉他的小艇，他駛回大船，其餘人也同樣默默地跟隨。

Whatever superstitions the sperm whalemen in general have connected with the sight of this object... that circumstance has gone far to invest it with portentousness. ...notwithstanding, they believe it to furnish to the sperm whale his only food. ...At times, when closely pursued, he will disgorge what are supposed to be the detached arms of the squid; some of them thus exhibited exceeding twenty and thirty feet in length. They fancy that the monster to which these arms belonged ordinarily clings by them to the bed of the ocean; and that the sperm whale, unlike other species, is supplied with teeth in order to attack and tear it.

無論抹香鯨人一般把什麼樣的迷信與見到此物連在一起，可以確定的是：因為見到它如此非比尋常，這情形已大大地使它被籠罩上「不祥之兆（portentousness）」。它如此罕見，以致眾人雖都宣稱它是「海中最大的活物」，卻幾乎沒人對它真正的本質與形狀有任何清楚的概念；儘管如此，他們相信它就是抹香鯨唯一的食糧。因為其他鯨種在水面上覓食、可被人看見正在進食，抹香鯨卻在海面下未知的水域取得牠的全部食物；只能靠推斷，才有人能說出那食物究竟由什麼構成。抹香鯨被緊追時，有時會吐出（disgorge）據信是烏賊斷臂之物，其中有些長逾二三十呎。他們猜想：這些臂所屬的那怪物，平時就靠這些臂攀附在海床上；而抹香鯨（不同於其他鯨種）長有牙齒，正是為了攻擊並撕扯它。

There seems some ground to imagine that the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan may ultimately resolve itself into Squid. The manner in which the Bishop describes it, as alternately rising and sinking, with some other particulars he narrates, in all this the two correspond. But much abatement is necessary with respect to the incredible bulk he assigns it.

似乎有些根據可以想像：龐托皮丹主教所說的那巨大的「北海巨妖（Kraken）」，最終或許就能歸結為烏賊。主教描述它「交替地浮起又沉沒」的方式，以及他敘述的其他一些細節，在這一切上，兩者都吻合。但對於他所賦予它的那「難以置信的龐大」，則必須大大地打折扣（abatement）。

By some naturalists who have vaguely heard rumors of the mysterious creature, here spoken of, it is included among the class of cuttle-fish, to which, indeed, in certain external respects it would seem to belong, but only as the Anak of the tribe.

某些隱約聽過這裡所說這神秘生物傳聞的博物學家，把它歸入「烏賊（cuttle-fish）」這一類；它在某些外觀上確實似乎屬於此類——但只能算這族類裡的「亞衲（Anak，巨人）」。