斯芬克斯

It should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping the body of the leviathan, he was beheaded. Now, the beheading of the Sperm Whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale surgeons very much pride themselves: and not without reason.

不該漏掉的是：在徹底剝去巨獸的脂之前，牠先被砍了頭。而抹香鯨的砍頭，是一門科學的解剖（anatomical）絕技，老練的「鯨外科醫生」很以此自豪——而且不無道理。

Consider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck... he must skilfully steer clear of all adjacent, interdicted parts, and exactly divide the spine at a critical point hard by its insertion into the skull. Do you not marvel, then, at Stubb’s boast, that he demanded but ten minutes to behead a sperm whale?

想想看：鯨沒有任何能恰當地稱為「頸」的東西；相反，在牠頭與身看似相接之處，正正就是牠最厚的部位。也要記得，這「外科醫生」必須從上方動手，與他的「對象」之間隔著八到十呎，而那對象又幾乎沒在一片變色、翻滾、且常常洶湧爆裂的海裡。還要記住：在這些不利的（untoward）情況下，他得切進肉裡許多呎深；而且是以那種「地底作業（subterraneous）」的方式——連往那不斷收縮的切口裡瞥一眼都不能——卻要靈巧地避開所有鄰近的、禁入的（interdicted）部位，恰好在脊椎插入頭骨處附近的關鍵點，把脊椎切斷。那麼，你還會驚嘆（marvel）斯塔布的誇口——他說只要十分鐘就能砍下一頭抹香鯨的頭——嗎？

When first severed, the head is dropped astern and held there by a cable till the body is stripped. ...But, with a full grown leviathan this is impossible; for the sperm whale’s head embraces nearly one third of his entire bulk... this were as vain a thing as to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers’ scales.

頭一被砍下，便垂到船尾、用一條纜繫在那兒，直到身體剝完。剝完後，若是小鯨的頭，就吊上甲板從容處置。但對一頭成年的巨獸，這不可能；因為抹香鯨的頭佔了牠整個身軀近三分之一，要把那樣一個負擔完全懸吊起來——即使靠捕鯨船那巨大的滑車——也跟想用珠寶匠的秤去稱一座荷蘭穀倉一樣徒勞。

The Pequod’s whale being decapitated and the body stripped, the head was hoisted against the ship’s side—about half way out of the sea... there, that blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod’s waist like the giant Holofernes’s from the girdle of Judith.

裴廓德號的鯨被砍了頭、身體剝光後，那頭被吊靠在船側——約半截露出海面，好讓它仍有大部分被它的「母元素（海水）」浮托著。船因下桅頂那巨大的向下拉力而陡然向它傾斜、那一側每根帆桁都像起重機般探出浪面之上；就在那兒，那滴著血的頭掛在裴廓德號的腰上，像巨人赫羅弗尼斯（Holofernes）的頭懸在猶滴（Judith）的腰帶（girdle）上。

When this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamen went below to their dinner. Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but now deserted deck. An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.

這最後一項任務完成時已是正午，水手們下艙去吃飯了。寂靜籠罩（reigned）了那先前喧鬧、此刻卻空蕩的甲板。一種濃烈的銅色死寂，像一朵普世的黃蓮花（lotus），越來越多地把它那無聲、無量的葉片，在海上展開。

A short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone from his cabin. ...he took Stubb’s long spade... and striking it into the lower part of the half-suspended mass, placed its other end crutch-wise under one arm, and so stood leaning over with eyes attentively fixed on this head.

過了一小段時間，亞哈獨自從他的艙裡，上到這片無聲之中。他在後甲板踱了幾步，停下來憑舷凝望，然後慢慢爬進主鍊處，拿起斯塔布的長鏟——砍鯨頭後它仍留在那兒——把它戳進那半懸巨頭的下部、另一端拐杖般地撐在一條手臂下，就這麼俯身站著，目光專注地盯著這顆頭。

It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. “Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab... “Of all divers, thou hast dived the deepest. ...where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down.”

那是一顆黑色、像戴著兜帽的頭；懸在這般濃烈的死寂之中，它彷彿是沙漠中的斯芬克斯（Sphynx）。「說吧，你這偉大而可敬的（venerable）頭，」亞哈喃喃道，「你雖沒有鬍鬚作裝飾，這兒那兒卻長著青苔、顯得蒼老（hoary）；說吧，威猛的頭，把你裡頭那秘密的東西告訴我們。一切潛水者之中，你潛得最深。此刻上方陽光照耀著的這顆頭，曾在這世界的根基之間移動。在那些無人記載的姓名與艦隊鏽蝕之處、在無數未曾言說的希望與錨腐爛之處；在這艘『戰艦地球』那殺人的艙底、以千百萬淹死者的白骨作壓艙物（ballasted）之處——那兒，在那可怖的水之國度裡，曾是你最熟悉的家。你去過潛水鐘與潛水夫從未到達之地；你睡在許多水手的身旁，那些睡不著的母親，願拿性命去換得讓他們躺下安息。」

“Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck... O head! thou hast seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!”

「你見過相擁的戀人從他們燃燒的船上縱身一躍；心貼著心，他們沉入那歡騰的（exulting）浪下；在上天似乎背棄了他們的時候，他們彼此忠貞。你見過被謀殺的大副，在午夜被海盜從甲板上拋下；他墜入那貪婪之口（maw）更深的午夜裡，好幾個小時；而謀殺他的人卻安然航行——與此同時，迅疾的閃電擊碎了鄰近那艘船，那本要把一個正直的丈夫，帶回一雙伸長、渴望的臂彎裡的船。哦，頭啊！你所見過的，足以劈裂諸行星、使亞伯拉罕（Abraham）都成為一個不信者（infidel）——可你連一個音節（syllable）也不肯吐！」

“Sail ho!” cried a triumphant voice from the main-mast-head. “Aye? Well, now, that’s cheering,” cried Ahab, suddenly erecting himself, while whole thunder-clouds swept aside from his brow. “That lively cry upon this deadly calm might almost convert a better man.—Where away?”

「有船（Sail ho）！」主桅頂一個得意的聲音喊道。「啊？嗯，這倒令人振奮，」亞哈喊著，猛地挺直身子，整片雷雲從他眉間掃開。「這致命死寂中那一聲活潑的喊，幾乎能感化一個比我好些的人。——在哪個方向？」

“Three points on the starboard bow, sir, and bringing down her breeze to us! “Better and better, man. ...O Nature, and O soul of man! how far beyond all utterance are your linked analogies! not the smallest atom stirs or lives on matter, but has its cunning duplicate in mind.”

「右舷船首三個羅經點，先生，正把她的風帶下來給我們！」「越來越好了，夥計。但願此刻聖保羅也從那個方向過來、把他的風帶給我這無風之境！哦，大自然，哦，人的靈魂啊！你們那環環相扣的類比（analogies），遠遠超出一切言語所能道！物質之上，沒有最微小的一個原子在動、在活，而不在心智之中有它狡黠的副本（duplicate）。」