“Shipmates, have ye shipped in that ship?”
“船伙，你们在那艘船上船了吗？”

Queequeg and I had just left the Pequod, and were sauntering away from the water, for the moment each occupied with his own thoughts, when the above words were put to us by a stranger, who, pausing before us, levelled his massive forefinger at the vessel in question. —
当我们离开了小白鲸号，正漫步离开海边时，一位陌生人对我们说出了上面的话，他停下脚步，用庞大的食指指着那艘船。 —

He was but shabbily apparelled in faded jacket and patched trowsers; —
他衣着破旧，穿着褪色的夹克和补丁裤子； —

a rag of a black handkerchief investing his neck. —
一块破破烂烂的黑色围巾勉强绕在他的脖颈上。 —

A confluent smallpox had in all directions flowed over his face, and left it like the complicated ribbed bed of a torrent, when the rushing waters have been dried up.
混合的天花在他的脸上肆无忌惮地蔓延，让他的脸看起来就像干涸后复杂起伏不平的河床一样。

“Have ye shipped in her?” he repeated.
“你们在她上面船了吗？”他重复道。

“You mean the ship Pequod, I suppose,” said I, trying to gain a little more time for an uninterrupted look at him.
“你是说小白鲸号吧，我想是这个意思，”我说着，试图争取更多的时间来无阻碍地打量他。

“Aye, the Pequod–that ship there,” he said, drawing back his whole arm and then rapidly shoving it straight out from him-, with the fixed bayonet of his pointed finger darted full at the object.
“啊，就是那艘佩孔号–就是那艘船，”他说着，把整个手臂拉回，然后迅速地伸直，用指着的有力刺向那物体。

“Yes,” said I, “we have just signed the articles.”
“是的，”我说，“我们刚签了合同。”

“Anything down there about your souls?”
“那下面有关你们的灵魂的吗？”

“About what?”
“关于什么？”

“Oh, perhaps you hav’n’t got any,” he said quickly. —
“哦，也许你们没有，”他迅速说道。 —

“No matter though, I know many chaps that hav’n’t got any,– good luck to ‘em; —
“无所谓，我认识很多家伙没有灵魂，– 祝他们好运； —

and they are all the better off for it. A soul’s a sort of a fifth wheel to a wagon.”
们没有灵魂，反而更好。灵魂就像马车的第五个车轮。”

“What are you jabbering about, shipmate?” said I.
“你在啰嗦什么，船伴？”我说。

“He’s got enough, though, to make up for all deficiencies of that sort in other chaps,” abruptly said the stranger, placing a nervous emphasis upon the word he.
“他拥有足够的，来弥补其他家伙那种缺陷。”陌生人突然说道，紧张地强调了他。

“Queequeg,” said I, “let’s go; this fellow has broken loose from somewhere; —
“鲸鱼，”我说，“走吧；这家伙从某个地方跑出来； —

he’s talking about something and somebody we don’t know.”
在说一些我们不认识的事情和人。”

“Stop!” cried the stranger. “Ye said true–ye hav’n’t seen Old Thunder yet, have ye?”
“等一下！”陌生人叫道。“你说对了–你们还没见过老雷声，对吧？”

“Who’s Old Thunder?” said I, again riveted with the insane earnestness of his manner.
“老雷声是谁？”我又被他疯狂的认真方式吸引住了。

“Captain Ahab.”
“亚哈船长。”

“What! the captain of our ship, the Pequod?”
“什么！我们船上的船长，佩孔号的船长？”

“Aye, among some of us old sailor chaps, he goes by that name. Ye hav’n’t seen him yet, have ye?”
“是的，在我们这些老水手中间，他被称为那个名字。你还没见过他，是吧？”

“No, we hav’n’t. He’s sick they say, but is getting better, and will be all right again before long.”
“没有，我们还没见过。他生病了，但据说正在好转，不久就会康复。”

“All right again before long!” laughed the stranger, with a solemnly derisive sort of laugh. —
“康复了？哈哈！”陌生人嗤笑着说。 —

“Look ye; when Captain Ahab is all right, then this left arm of mine will be all right; not before.”
“记住；当阿哈布船长康复了，那我这只左胳膊也会恢复正常；但在那之前是不可能的。”

“What do you know about him?”
“你知道他有什么事吗？”

“What did they tell you about him? Say that!”
“他们告诉你些什么？说说看！”

“They didn’t tell much of anything about him; —
“他们并没有说太多关于他； —

only I’ve heard that he’s a good whale-hunter, and a good captain to his crew.”
只是我听说他是个出色的捕鲸者，也是一位很好的船长。”

“That’s true, that’s true–yes, both true enough. But you must jump when he gives an order. —
“那是真的，那是真的–没错，都够真实了。但在阿哈布船长指示时，你必须立刻行动。 —

Step and growl; growl and go–that’s the word with Captain Ahab. But nothing about that thing that happened to him off Cape Horn, long ago, when he lay like dead for three days and nights; —
驯服而低声；低声而行–这就是跟随阿哈布船长的口令。但那件在好几年前在开普角发生的事，就像他死了三天三夜那样； —

nothing about that deadly skrimmage with the Spaniard afore the altar in Santa? —
关于他在圣地亚哥教堂圣坛前与西班牙人进行的致命决斗，你也没听说呀？ —

– heard nothing about that, eh? Nothing about the silver calabash he spat into? —
没听说他喷洒银质大花瓶的事吗？以及他上一次航程中失去腿的事。 —

And nothing about his losing his leg last voyage, according to the prophecy. —
你没听说过这些事吗？或者更多的事，是吗？不，我觉得你没听说过； —

Didn’t ye hear a word about them matters and something more, eh? No, I don’t think ye did; —
你怎么可能知道呢？谁知道这些事？恐怕连整个南塔其克都不知道。 —

how could ye? Who knows it? Not all Nantucket, I guess. —
“并非所有的南塔其克人，我猜测。” —

But hows’ever, mayhap, ye’ve heard tell about the leg, and how he lost it; —
不过，也许你们听说过关于这条腿的事，以及他是怎么失去的; —

aye, ye have heard of that, I dare say. Oh, yes, that every one knows a’most–I mean they know he’s only one leg; —
是的，我敢说你们听说过。哦，是的，几乎每个人都知道–我是指大家都知道他只有一条腿; —

and that a parmacetti took the other off.”
那是一头抹香鲸咬掉了另一条。”

“My friend,” said I, “what all this gibberish of yours is about, I don’t know, and I don’t much care; for it seems to me that you must be a little damaged in the head. —
“朋友，”我说，“你说的这些胡言乱语，我不知道，也不太在乎；因为在我看来，你的头脑可能有点受损。 —

But if you are speaking of Captain Ahab, of that ship there, the Pequod, then let me tell you, that I know all about the loss of his leg.”
但如果你在说的是那艘船上的那位船长，亚哈伯爵，那就让我告诉你，我知道他丢掉腿的事情。”

“All about it, eh–sure you do? all?
“全部都知道吗–确信你知道吗？全部？

“Pretty sure.”
“非常确定。”

With finger pointed and eye levelled at the Pequod, the beggar-like stranger stood a moment, as if in a troubled reverie; —
指着佩奎达号，像个乞丐般的陌生人站了一会儿，仿佛陷入沉思； —

then starting a little, turned and said:–“Ye’ve shipped, have ye? Names down on the papers? —
然后微微一愣，转身说：“你们已经登船了，对吧？名字在那些文件上？ —

Well, well, what’s signed, is signed; and what’s to be, will be; —
噢，好吧，签字的就是签过的；将会发生的，终将发生； —

and then again, perhaps it won’t be, after all. Any how, it’s all fixed and arranged a’ready; —
也许最后，事情也不是那么回事。不管怎样，一切都已经安排好了； —

and some sailors or other must go with him, I suppose; —
我想必须有些水手或其他人跟他一起去； —

as well these as any other men, God pity ‘em! Morning to ye, shipmates, morning; —
这些人也好，其他人也好，愿上帝怜悯他们！早安，船友们，早安； —

the ineffable heavens bless ye; I’m sorry I stopped ye.”
无法言喻的天堂祝福你们；我很抱歉拦住了你们。”

“Look here, friend,” said I, “if you have anything important to tell us, out with it; —
“听着，朋友，”我说，“如果你有什么重要的事情要告诉我们，就说出来； —

but if you are only trying to bamboozle us, you are mistaken in your game; —
但如果你只是想要愚弄我们，那你错了； —

that’s all I have to say.”
这就是我要说的了。”

“And it’s said very well, and I like to hear a chap talk up that way; —
“说得很好，我喜欢听到一个家伙那样自信的说话； —

you are just the man for him–the likes of ye. Morning to ye, shipmates, morning! Oh! —
你就是合适的人—跟你这样的人。早上好，伙计们，早上好！噢！ —

when ye get there, tell ‘em I’ve concluded not to make one of ‘em.”
当你到那里时，告诉他们我已经决定不和他们之一结伴。”

“Ah, my dear fellow, you can’t fool us that way–you can’t fool us. —
“啊，亲爱的伙计，你无法欺骗我们；你无法欺骗我们。 —

It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a great secret in him.”
对于一个男人来说，想要看上去像他体内藏着一个巨大的秘密，那是世界上最容易的事情。”

“Morning to ye, shipmates, morning.”
“早上好，伙计们，早上好。”

“Morning it is,” said I. “Come along, Queequeg, let’s leave this crazy man. —
“早上好，”我说。“走吧，Queequeg，让我们离开这个疯子。 —

But stop, tell me your name, will you?”
但是停一下，告诉我你的名字，好吗？”

“Elijah.”
“以利亚。”

Elijah! thought I, and we walked away, both commenting, after each other’s fashion, upon this ragged old sailor; —
以利亚！我想，我们一起走开，彼此用不同的方式评论起这个衣衫褴褛的老水手； —

and agreed that he was nothing but a humbug, trying to be a bugbear. —
并且一致认为他不过是一个骗子，想要吓唬人。 —

But we had not gone perhaps above a hundred yards, when chancing to turn a corner, and looking back as I did so, who should be seen but Elijah following us, though at a distance. —
但也许我们走了不到百码，转过一个弯角，顺手回头看时，谁应该看到以利亚跟着我们，虽然有一段距离。 —

Somehow, the sight of him struck me so, that I said nothing to Queequeg of his being behind, but passed on with my comrade, anxious to see whether the stranger would turn the same corner that we did. —
不知为何，看到他的身影让我如此感动，以至于我没有告诉Queequeg他在后面，而是跟我的伙伴继续前行，急切地想看看这个陌生人是否会转向我们所做的同一个弯角。 —

He did; and then it seemed to me that he was dogging us, but with what intent I could not for the life of me imagine. —
他那么做了；而后对我来说，他似乎一直在尾随我们，但我实在无法想象他的目的。 —

This circumstance, coupled with his ambiguous, half-hinting, half-revealing, shrouded sort of talk, now begat in me all kinds of vague wonderments and half-apprehensions, and all connected with the Pequod; —
这一情况，加上他那种暧昧的、半暗示、半揭示、含糊不清的谈话，现在在我心中引发了各种模糊的疑惑和半疑惧，都与那只Pequod号有关； —

and Captain Ahab; and the leg he had lost; and the Cape Horn fit; and the silver calabash; —
以及阿哈伯船长；以及他失去的腿；以及好望角的风暴；以及那个银质的瓜叶壶； —

and what Captain Peleg had said of him, when I left the ship the day previous; —
以及我前一天离开那艘船时佩莱格船长对他所说的话； —

and the prediction of the squaw Tistig; and the voyage we had bound ourselves to sail; —
以及女巫蒂斯提格的预言；以及我们已经决定启航的航程； —

and a hundred other shadowy things.
以及其他许多隐晦的事情。

I was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really dogging us or not, and with that intent crossed the way with Queequeg, and on that side of it retraced our steps. —
我决定要弄清楚这个破烂的以利亚是否真的一直在跟踪我们，带着这个目的，我和鲸鱼队沿着街道穿过，然后从对面重新走回原路。 —

But Elijah passed on, without seeming to notice us. This relieved me; —
但以利亚走过去，似乎没注意到我们。这让我感到宽慰； —

and once more, and finally as it seemed to me, I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug.
并且，再次，似乎最后一次，我心里认定他是个骗子。