甲板

The coffin laid upon two line-tubs, between the vice-bench and the open hatchway; the Carpenter caulking its seams; the string of twisted oakum slowly unwinding from a large roll of it placed in the bosom of his frock.—Ahab comes slowly from the cabin-gangway, and hears Pip following him.

棺材擱在兩只裝索木桶上，介於那張老虎鉗工作檯與敞開的艙口之間；木匠正嵌填著它的接縫；一綹搓擰過的麻絮，從他塞在外衣懷裡的一大卷麻絮上慢慢抽出。——亞哈從艙口梯道緩緩走來，聽見皮普跟在他身後。

“Back, lad; I will be with ye again presently. He goes! Not this hand complies with my humor more genially than that boy.—Middle aisle of a church! What’s here?” / “Life-buoy, sir. Mr. Starbuck’s orders. Oh, look, sir! Beware the hatchway!”

「退下，孩子；我過一會兒就回到你身邊。他走了！連我自己這隻手，都不及那孩子這般合我的心意。——教堂的中央走道！這兒擺的是什麼？」/「救生浮筒，先生。斯塔巴克先生的吩咐。哦，當心，先生！留神那艙口！」

“Thank ye, man. Thy coffin lies handy to the vault.” / “Sir? The hatchway? oh! So it does, sir, so it does.”

「謝謝你，老兄。你這口棺材擺得倒離墓穴挺順手。」/「先生？您是說那艙口？哦！可不是嘛，先生，可不是嘛。」

“Art not thou the leg-maker? Look, did not this stump come from thy shop?” / “I believe it did, sir; does the ferrule stand, sir?” / “Well enough. But art thou not also the undertaker?” / “Aye, sir; I patched up this thing here as a coffin for Queequeg; but they’ve set me now to turning it into something else.”

「你不就是做腿的那位嗎？瞧，我這截假腿不是出自你的作坊？」/「我想是的，先生；那金屬包頭還牢實嗎，先生？」/「夠牢的了。可你不也是那殯葬的嗎？」/「是啊，先生；這兒這玩意兒，我原是拼來給魁魁格當棺材的；可如今他們又派我把它改成別的東西。」

“Then tell me; art thou not an arrant, all-grasping, intermeddling, monopolising, heathenish old scamp, to be one day making legs, and the next day coffins to clap them in, and yet again life-buoys out of those same coffins? Thou art as unprincipled as the gods, and as much of a jack-of-all-trades.” / “But I do not mean anything, sir. I do as I do.”

「那你倒說說；你可不就是個徹頭徹尾、貪得無厭、樣樣摻和、事事壟斷、不信神的老無賴嗎——今天做腿，明天做棺材把腿裝進去，後天又拿這同一口棺材改成救生浮筒？你跟那些神一樣毫無原則，一樣是個萬事通。」/「可我沒什麼用意，先生。我不過是做我的活罷了。」

“The gods again. Hark ye, dost thou not ever sing working about a coffin? The Titans, they say, hummed snatches when chipping out the craters for volcanoes; and the grave-digger in the play sings, spade in hand. Dost thou never?” / “Sing, sir? Do I sing? Oh, I’m indifferent enough, sir, for that; but the reason why the grave-digger made music must have been because there was none in his spade, sir. But the caulking mallet is full of it. Hark to it.”

「又是那些神。聽著，你做棺材的活兒時，難道從不哼歌嗎？人說那些提坦巨神，鑿挖火山口時還會哼上幾段；戲裡那掘墓人，也是握著鐵鏟邊掘邊唱。你從來不唱？」/「唱歌，先生？我會唱歌嗎？哦，這事我可挺無所謂的，先生；不過那掘墓人之所以弄出點音樂，準是因為他那把鐵鏟裡頭沒有音樂，先生。可這把嵌縫槌裡頭可滿是音樂呢。您聽聽。」

“Aye, and that’s because the lid there’s a sounding-board; and what in all things makes the sounding-board is this—there’s naught beneath. And yet, a coffin with a body in it rings pretty much the same, Carpenter. Hast thou ever helped carry a bier, and heard the coffin knock against the churchyard gate, going in?” / “Faith, sir, I’ve——”

「是啊，那是因為那蓋子是塊共鳴板；而世間萬物之所以能成為共鳴板，道理就在這兒——它底下空無一物。可話說回來，裝了屍體的棺材，敲起來響聲也差不多，木匠。你可曾幫人抬過棺架，聽過那棺材進門時，磕碰著教堂墓園鐵門的聲音？」/「老實說，先生，我曾經——」

“Faith? What’s that?” / “Why, faith, sir, it’s only a sort of exclamation-like—that’s all, sir.” / “Um, um; go on.” / “I was about to say, sir, that——” / “Art thou a silk-worm? Dost thou spin thy own shroud out of thyself? Look at thy bosom! Despatch! and get these traps out of sight.”

「老實說？那是什麼意思？」/「噢，老實說，先生，那不過是一句像感嘆似的口頭語——如此而已，先生。」/「嗯，嗯；說下去。」/「我正要說，先生，那——」/「你莫非是條蠶？要從自己身上吐絲、給自己織裹屍布？瞧瞧你的懷裡！趕緊的！把這些傢伙什給我弄到看不見的地方去。」

“He goes aft. That was sudden, now; but squalls come sudden in hot latitudes. I’ve heard that the Isle of Albemarle, one of the Gallipagos, is cut by the Equator right in the middle. Seems to me some sort of Equator cuts yon old man, too, right in his middle. He’s always under the Line—fiery hot, I tell ye! He’s looking this way—come, oakum; quick. Here we go again. This wooden mallet is the cork, and I’m the professor of musical glasses—tap, tap!”

「他往船尾去了。這可真夠突然的；不過在炎熱的緯度上，颮就是說來就來。我聽說加拉巴哥群島裡有一座阿爾伯馬爾島，正好被赤道從正中央劈開。在我看來，也有某種赤道，把那邊那老頭從正當中劈開了。他老是待在赤道線下頭——火燒火燎地熱，我跟你說！他正朝這邊看呢——來吧，麻絮；快。咱們又來了。這把木槌就是瓶塞，我嘛，就是那玩音樂玻璃杯的教授——篤，篤！」

“There’s a sight! There’s a sound! The greyheaded woodpecker tapping the hollow tree! Blind and dumb might well be envied now. See! that thing rests on two line-tubs, full of tow-lines. A most malicious wag, that fellow. Rat-tat! So man’s seconds tick! Oh! how immaterial are all materials! What things real are there, but imponderable thoughts? Here now’s the very dreaded symbol of grim death, by a mere hap, made the expressive sign of the help and hope of most endangered life. A life-buoy of a coffin! Does it go further? Can it be that in some spiritual sense the coffin is, after all, but an immortality-preserver! I’ll think of that. But no. So far gone am I in the dark side of earth, that its other side, the theoretic bright one, seems but uncertain twilight to me. Will ye never have done, Carpenter, with that accursed sound? I go below; let me not see that thing here when I return again. Now, then, Pip, we’ll talk this over; I do suck most wondrous philosophies from thee! Some unknown conduits from the unknown worlds must empty into thee!”

（亞哈自語。）「好一幅景象！好一陣聲響！那灰頭的啄木鳥，正篤篤敲著空心的樹！此刻，又瞎又啞的人，倒真值得羨慕了。瞧！那玩意兒擱在兩只裝滿曳索的木桶上。那傢伙，真是個最惡毒的丑角。篤——篤！人活著的每一秒，就這麼滴答數著！哦！一切有形之物，是何等的虛無縹緲！世上還有什麼是真實的，除了那些無從稱量的思緒？瞧這會兒，這死亡最叫人懼怕的象徵，竟只因偶然的湊巧，成了瀕危生命的援助與希望、那麼鮮明的記號。拿棺材當救生浮筒！這事還能想得更深嗎？難道說，在某種靈性的意義上，這棺材說到底，竟是一具不朽的保存器不成！這個我要好好想想。可是不行。我在這大地的黑暗面裡已陷得太深，深到連它的另一面、那理論上光明的一面，在我看來都不過是一片不確定的朦朧暮色。你究竟要不要停下來，木匠，停下那該死的聲音？我下艙去了；等我再回來時，可別讓我在這兒看見那玩意兒。那麼，來吧，皮普，咱們把這事好好談談；我從你身上，當真吸取著最奇妙的哲學！準有某些來自未知世界的、不為人知的管道，正注入到你身上！」