The precipitating manner in which Captain Ahab had quitted the Samuel Enderby of London, had not been unattended with some small violence to his own person. —
船长艾哈伯激烈地离开了伦敦的塞缪尔·恩德比号,这个行动并没有没有不留下一点对自己身体的小伤害。 —

He had lighted with such energy upon a thwart of his boat that his ivory leg had received a half-splintering shock. —
他用极大的力气落在小船的座位上,他的象牙假腿受到了半破碎性的打击。 —

And when after gaining his own deck, and his own pivot-hole there, he so vehemently wheeled round with an urgent command to the steersman (it was, as ever, something about his not steering inflexibly enough); —
当他登上自己的甲板,来到自己的转向孔,他猛烈地转动身体,紧急向掌舵者下令(这次又是关于他的指挥不够灵活); —

then, the already shaken ivory received such an additional twist and wrench, that though it still remained entire, and to all appearances lusty, yet Ahab did not deem it entirely trustworthy.
然后,已经受到震动的象牙又受到了额外的扭曲和拧紧,尽管看起来依然完整,外表看起来健壮,但是艾哈伯并不完全信任它。

And, indeed, it seemed small matter for wonder, that for all his pervading, mad recklessness, Ahab, did at times give careful heed to the condition of that dead bone upon which he partly stood. —
而事实上,对于他那种无处不在的疯狂冲动,奇迹般的是,艾哈伯有时确实会仔细注意他所站立的那根死骨的状况。 —

For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod’s sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying prone upon the ground, and insensible; —
因为在佩奎德号从南塔基特出发不久之前的某个夜晚,有人发现他躺在地上昏迷不醒; —

by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten, and all but pierced his groin; —
由于某种未知的,看似无法解释的、难以想象的意外,他的象牙假肢被强烈挤压,几乎刺穿了他的腹股沟; —

nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing wound was entirely cured.
这个极度痛苦的伤口有极大困难才完全治愈。

Nor, at the time, had it failed to enter his monomaniac mind, that all the anguish of that then present suffering was but the direct issue of a former woe; —
在当时,脑病患者艾哈伯心中清楚的认识到那时的受苦,完全是前一场悲痛的直接结果; —

and he too plainly seemed to see, that as the most poisonous reptile of the marsh perpetuates his kind as inevitably as the sweetest songster of the grove; —
而他似乎清晰地看到,就像沼泽中最毒的爬行动物不可避免地延续它们的后代一样,林间最甜蜜的鸟类也是如此; —

so, equally with every felicity, all miserable events do naturally beget their like. —
同样,每一种不幸的事件自然会产生它们相似的后代。 —

Yea, more than equally, thought Ahab; since both the ancestry and posterity of Grief go further than the ancestry and posterity of Joy. For, not to hint of this: —
是的,比相等更多,艾哈伯想;因为悲伤的祖先和后代比喜悦的祖先和后代更繁衍。不是说这个: —

that it is an inference from certain canonic teachings, that while some natural enjoyments here shall have no children born to them for the other world, but, on the contrary, shall be followed by the joy-childlessness of all hell’s despair; —
从某些经典教义可以推断出,这里的一些自然享受将不会在来世生育后代,相反,它们将被地狱绝望的所有孩子的欢乐缺失所跟随; —

whereas, some guilty mortal miseries shall still fertilely beget to themselves an eternally progressive progeny of griefs beyond the grave; —
然而,一些有罪的凡人悲惨仍会产生永远不断的悲伤后代,超越坟墓; —

not at all to hint of this, there still seems an inequality in the deeper analysis of the thing. —
不暗示这一点,深入分析事情时似乎存在不平等。 —

For, thought Ahab, while even the highest earthly felicities ever have a certain unsignifying pettiness lurking in them, but, at bottom, all heartwoes, a mystic significance, and, in some men, an archangelic grandeur; —
阿哈伯心想,即使最高的地上的幸福也隐含一种无足轻重的琐碎,但在底层深处,所有的心痛都有一种神秘的意义,而在一些人身上,有一种大天使般的壮丽; —

so do their diligent tracings-out not belie the obvious deduction. —
因此,他们勤奋地追溯并没有掩盖明显的推论。 —

To trail the genealogies of these high mortal miseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the gods; —
追溯这些高贵的凡间苦难的家谱,最终将我们带到众神的无源始祖之间; —

so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and softcymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: —
所以,在所有欢乐的晒草太阳和柔美的围着丰收月亮面前,我们必须承认这个事实: —

that the gods themselves are not for ever glad. —
众神本身也不永远欢乐。 —

The ineffaceable, sad birth-mark in the brow of man, is but the stamp of sorrow in the signers.
人类额头上那无法抹去的悲伤印记,只不过是签署者在苦难中的印记。

Unwittingly here a secret has been divulged, which perhaps might more properly, in set way, have been disclosed before. —
无意之中,这里透露了一个秘密,也许更合适的是,以一种正式的方式予以揭示。 —

With many other particulars concerning Ahab, always had it remained a mystery to some, why it was, that for a certain period, both before and after the sailing of the Pequod, he had hidden himself away with such Grand-Lama-like exclusiveness; —
对于阿哈伯的许多其他情况,有些人一直感到奇怪,为什么在Pequod号出发之前和之后一段时间里,他像大喇嘛一样隐藏自己; —

and, for that one interval, sought speechless refuge, as it were, among the marble senate of the dead. —
并且,在那段时间里,他像是在死者的大理石参议院中寻求无言的庇护。 —

Captain Peleg’s bruited reason for this thing appeared by no means adequate; —
皮尔格船长对此事的传言理由显然并不充分; —

though, indeed, as touching all Ahab’s deeper part, every revelation partook more of significant darkness than of explanatory light. —
然而,事实上,关于阿哈伯更深部分的一切启示都更多地带有深重的黑暗而非解释性的光芒。 —

But, in the end, it all came out; this one matter did, at least. —
但最终,一切都得以昭示;至少这一个问题昭示了。 —

That direful mishap was at the bottom of his temporary recluseness. —
那可怕的不幸事件正是他暂时隐居的原因。 —

And not only this, but to that ever-contracting, dropping circle ashore, who for any reason, possessed the privilege of a less banned approach to him; —
而且不仅如此,对于那些因某种原因拥有更少禁区接近他的岸上那个不断缩小、滴落的圈子; —

to that timid circle the above hinted casualty–remaining, as it did, moodily unaccounted for by Ahab–invested itself with terrors, not entirely underived from the land of spirits and of wails. —
对于那个胆怯的圈子,上面暗示的那个意外事件–因为阿哈伯对此似乎心情阴郁而无法解释–给自己穿上了一种恐惧,这种恐惧并非完全源自于鬼魂和哀鸣之地。 —

So that, through their zeal for him, they had all conspired, so far as in them lay, to muffle up the knowledge of this thing from others; —
所以,通过他们对他的热忱,他们都共谋着,尽力向他人隐瞒这件事的知情; —

and hence it was, that not till a considerable interval had elapsed, did it transpire upon the Pequod’s decks.
因此,在过了相当长的时间之后,这件事才在皮克威的甲板上传开;

But be all this as it may; let the unseen, ambiguous synod in the air, or the vindictive princes and potentates of fire, have to do or not with earthly Ahab, yet, in this present matter of his leg, he took plain practical procedures; —
但无论如何;让天空中看不见的、含糊不清的议会,或是火焰中的复仇王子和掌权者,与地上的亚哈布有无关系,就在他的腿的这个问题上,他采取了明确的实用措施; —

– he called the carpenter.
–他叫来了木匠;

And when that functionary appeared before him, he bade him without delay set about making a new leg, and directed the mates to see him supplied with all the studs and joists of jaw-ivory (Sperm Whale) which had thus far been accumulated on the voyage, in order that a careful selection of the stoutest, clearest-grained stuff might be secured. —
当那个职员出现在他面前时,他立即命令他着手制作一条新腿,并指示副船长们给他提供一切迄今为止在航程中积累的下颚象牙(抹香鲸),以便确保选择最坚固、最清晰纹理的材料; —

This done, the carpenter received orders to have the leg completed that night; —
这样做后,木匠受命当晚完成这只腿; —

and to provide all the fittings for it, independent of those pertaining to the distrusted one in use. —
并为之提供所有的配件,与现在使用的那个不被信任的腿无关; —

Moreover, the ship’s forge was ordered to be hoisted out of its temporary idleness in the hold; —
此外,船上的锻造车间被命令提出暂时的闲置状态; —

and, to accelerate the affair, the blacksmith was commanded to proceed at once to the forging of whatever iron contrivances might be needed.
并且,为了加快这件事的进展,铁匠被命令立即开始锻造可能需要的任何铁制装置。