I stuffed a shirt or two into my old carpet-bag, tucked it under my arm, and started for Cape Horn and the Pacific. —
我把一两件衬衫塞进我的旧地毯袋中，夹在胳膊下，然后向好望角和太平洋出发。 —

Quitting the good city of old Manhatto, I duly arrived in New Bedford. —
离开了曼哈顿这座美好城市，我顺利抵达了纽贝德福。 —

It was on a Saturday night in December. Much was I disappointed upon learning that the little packet for Nantucket had already sailed, and that no way of reaching that place would offer, till the following Monday.
那是十二月的一个周六晚上。当得知去南安普敦的小船已经启航，直到下周一才有其他途径前往那里时，我感到很失望。

As most young candidates for the pains and penalties of whaling stop at this same New Bedford, thence to embark on their voyage, it may as well be related that I, for one, had no idea of so doing. —
大多数年轻志愿者在前往捕鲸之旅的途中会在新贝德福停留，然后登船。不过，我并没有打算这么做。 —

For my mind was made up to sail in no other than a Nantucket craft, because there was a fine, boisterous something about everything connected with that famous old island, which amazingly pleased me. —
因为我已决定只乘坐南安普敦的船只出海，因为这座著名的小岛的一切都让我极为愉悦。 —

Besides though New Bedford has of late been gradually monopolizing the business of whaling, and though in this matter poor old Nantucket is now much behind her, yet Nantucket was her great original– the Tyre of this Carthage; —
虽然纽贝德福最近逐渐垄断了捕鲸业务，使古老的南安普敦在这方面落后，但南安普敦是捕鲸业的发源地。它是Carthage的Tyre; —

–the place where the first dead American whale was stranded. —
是第一头擱淺的美国鲸鱼出现的地方。 —

Where else but from Nantucket did those aboriginal whalemen, the Red-Men, first sally out in canoes to give chase to the Leviathan? —
除了南安普敦，还有哪里能让那些原始的捕鲸人——红人，首次乘独木舟出海追击利未丹? —

And where but from Nantucket, too, did that first adventurous little sloop put forth, partly laden with imported cobblestones–so goes the story– to throw at the whales, in order to discover when they were nigh enough to risk a harpoon from the bowsprit?
还有哪里比南安普敦更适合第一艘冒险的小帆船起航呢? 据说，小帆船被部分装载着进口的圆石——为了在鲸鱼靠近到足够接受从船头的鱼叉风险时抛石—.

Now having a night, a day, and still another night following before me in New Bedford, ere I could embark for my destined port, it became a matter of concernment where I was to eat and sleep meanwhile. —
现在在新贝德福港前往我目的地的船只启航之前，我有一夜、一天和另一夜要在这里度过，所以很重要的事是在这段时间里我该在哪里吃饭和睡觉。 —

It was a very dubious-looking, nay, a very dark and dismal night, bitingly cold and cheerless. —
这是一个看上去非常可疑，甚至非常黑暗和沮丧的夜晚，刺骨的寒冷和令人沮丧。 —

I knew no one in the place. With anxious grapnels I had sounded my pocket, and only brought up a few pieces of silver,–So, wherever you go, Ishmael, said I to myself, as I stood in the middle of a dreary street shouldering my bag, and comparing the gloom towards the north with the darkness towards the south–wherever in your wisdom you may conclude to lodge for the night, my dear Ishmael, be sure to inquire the price, and don’t be too particular.
我在这个地方不认识任何人。我焦急地掏出口袋，只带了几枚银币——所以，无论你去哪里，伊斯梅尔，当我站在一条荒凉的街道中间，负起我的袋子，将北边的黑暗与南边的漆黑对比时，无论你在智慧中得出的结论是在夜晚留宿哪里，我亲爱的伊斯梅尔，务必询问价格，不要太挑剔。

With halting steps I paced the streets, and passed the sign of “The Crossed Harpoons”–but it looked too expensive and jolly there. —
我迈着沉重的步伐在街道上走着，经过了“The Crossed Harpoons”酒店的招牌—但那里看起来太昂贵和快活了。 —

Further on, from the bright red windows of the “Sword-Fish Inn,” there came such fervent rays, that it seemed to have melted the packed snow and ice from before the house, for everywhere else the congealed frost lay ten inches thick in a hard, asphaltic pavement,–rather weary for me, when I struck my foot against the flinty projections, because from hard, remorseless service the soles of my boots were in a most miserable plight. —
再往前走，从“Sword-Fish Inn”红色明亮的窗户里散发出如此炽热的光芒，以至于似乎已经融化了房子前的积雪和冰，因为除了这栋房子外，其他地方冰雪凝结厚达十英寸，形成坚硬、柏油状的人行道——当我脚踩在坚硬的尖石上时感到疲惫，因为我的靴子底面因为艰苦无情的使用而状况极为糟糕。 —

Too expensive and jolly, again thought I, pausing one moment to watch the broad glare in the street, and hear the sounds of the tinkling glasses within. —
再次想到太昂贵和快活，我停顿了一会儿，看着街上明亮的光芒，听着室内玻璃杯叮当作响的声音。 —

But go on, Ishmael, said I at last; don’t you hear? get away from before the door; —
但是往前走吧，伊什梅尔，我最后说道；你听着吗？离开门口； —

your patched boots are stopping the way. So on I went. —
你那破补丁的靴子挡住了去路。于是我继续前行。 —

I now by instinct followed the streets that took me waterward, for there, doubtless, were the cheapest, if not the cheeriest inns.
我凭直觉走向了通往水边的街道，因为那里无疑是最便宜的，即使不是最快乐的客栈。

Such dreary streets! Blocks of blackness, not houses, on either hand, and here and there a candle, like a candle moving about in a tomb. —
这样阴郁的街道！两边都是黑暗的街区，偶尔会有像在坟墓里移动的烛光。 —

At this hour of the night, of the last day of the week, that quarter of the town proved all but deserted. —
在这个夜晚的这个时刻，这个城镇的那个地区几乎被遗弃了。 —

But presently I came to a smoky light proceeding from a low, wide building, the door of which stood invitingly open. —
但不久我来到了一个低矮宽敞建筑物发出的烟雾般的光亮处，门口热情地敞开着。 —

It had a careless look, as if it were meant for the uses of the public; —
它看起来漫不经心，似乎是为公众的需求而设的； —

so, entering, the first thing I did was to stumble over an ash-box in the porch. Ha! —
所以，进去后，我第一件事就是在门廊里被一个灰灰的箱子绊倒了。哈！ —

thought I, ha, as the flying particles almost choked me, are these ashes from that destroyed city, Gomorrah? —
我想，哈，当飞舞的粒子几乎让我窒息时，这些灰烬是从被毁灭的城市所来，隐秘河这里良好的作品？ —

But “The Crossed Harpoons,” and the “The Sword-Fish?” —
但是“十字鱼叉”，和“剑鱼？” —

–this, then must needs be the sign of “The Trap.” However, I picked myself up and hearing a loud voice within, pushed on and opened a second, interior door.
–那么这必定就是“陷阱”的标志。然而，我自己爬起来，听到里面传来一个大声音，便继续推开第二扇内门。

It seemed the great Black Parliament sitting in Tophet. —
这似乎是坐在地狱的托菲特议会。 —

A hundred black faces turned round in their rows to peer; —
一百张黑脸以排成的形式转过来凝视； —

and beyond, a black Angel of Doom was beating a book in a pulpit. It was a negro church; —
远处，一个黑色的彻底的使者正在讲坛上抨击一本书。这是一座黑人教堂； —

and the preacher’s text was about the blackness of darkness, and the weeping and wailing and teeth-gnashing there. —
传道者的经文是关于黑暗之黑暗，以及那里的哀哭、哀叫和切齿。 —

Ha, Ishmael, muttered I, backing out, Wretched entertainment at the sign of ‘The Trap!’
哈，以实玛利哀叹道，我退后一步，“在‘陷阱’招牌下的糟糕的娱乐!”

Moving on, I at last came to a dim sort of light not far from the docks, and heard a forlorn creaking in the air; —
往前走，我最终来到了离码头不远的一处昏暗的灯光，并听到空气中传来一声凄凉的吱吱作响的声音； —

and looking up, saw a swinging sign over the door with a white painting upon it, faintly representing a tall straight jet of misty spray, and these words underneath–“The Spouter Inn:–Peter Coffin.”
抬头一看，看到门上有一个摇摆的招牌，上面绘着白色的画，模糊地展示着一条高高直立的薄雾喷射，下面写着这些字——“喷水客栈：——彼得·柯芬。”

Coffin?–Spouter?–Rather ominous in that particular connexion, thought I. But it is a common name in Nantucket, they say, and I suppose this Peter here is an emigrant from there. —
柯芬？——喷水？——在那个特定的联系中相当不祥，我想。但他们说，那是南塔基特一个常见的名字，我想这里的彼得可能是从那里移民过来的。 —

As the light looked so dim, and the place, for the time, looked quiet enough, and the dilapidated little wooden house itself looked as if it might have been carted here from the ruins of some burnt district, and as the swinging sign had a poverty-stricken sort of creak to it, I thought that here was the very spot for cheap lodgings, and the best of pea coffee.
由于灯光显得暗淡，地方在当时显得足够安静，这座破旧的小木屋本身看起来就好像是被从某处烧毁的地区的废墟搬到这里的，而且摇摆的招牌还带着一种贫困的吱吱声，我认为这里正是廉价住宿和最好的豌豆咖啡的理想之地。

It was a queer sort of place–a gable-ended old house, one side palsied as it were, and leaning over sadly. —
这是一个奇怪的地方——一个有山墙的旧房子，一侧好像病态般，悲伤地倾斜着。 —

It stood on a sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul’s tossed craft. —
它矗立在一个锐利荒凉的角落，那里的狂暴风Euroclydon比它曾经在可怜的保罗抛弃的船上更加吼叫。 —

Euroclydon, nevertheless, is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob quietly toasting for bed. —
尽管Euroclydon对于任何在室内把脚安静地烤在壁炉架上准备上床的人来说是一阵非常愉快的和风。 —

In judging of that tempestuous wind called Euroclydon,” says an old writer–of whose works I possess the only copy extant–“it maketh a marvellous difference, whether thou lookest out at it from a glass window where the frost is all on the outside, or whether thou observest it from that sashless window, where the frost is on both sides, and of which the wight Death is the only glazier.” —
论到那个名叫Euroclydon的狂暴风，“一个古老的作家说道——我手里拥有他唯一的存世的著作——“从玻璃窗内张望，冻气全在外面，或者你是从那个没有窗框的窗前观看，那里霜在两侧，惟有死神是唯一的玻璃匠。” —

True enough, thought I, as this passage occurred to my mind–old black-letter, thou reasonest well. —
足够真实，我心想，当这段话浮现在我脑海中时——古老的黑体字，你推理得不错。 —

Yes, these eyes are windows, and this body of mine is the house. —
是的，这些眼睛是窗户，而我的身体是房子。 —

What a pity they didn’t stop up the chinks and the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there. —
多么可惜他们没有关闭裂缝和缝隙，然后在这里插一些亚麻。 —

But it’s too late to make any improvements now. The universe is finished; —
但现在进行任何改进都为时已晚。宇宙已经完工； —

the copestone is on, and the chips were carted off a million years ago. —
封顶完成了，木屑一百万年前就被运走了。 —

Poor Lazarus there, chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his pillow, and shaking off his tatters with his shiverings, he might plug up both ears with rags, and put a corn-cob into his mouth, and yet that would not keep out the tempestuous Euroclydon. —
可怜的拉撒路在那里，用牙龈打颤靠着人行道，不停地颤抖着甩掉他的破布，他或许可以用绒布塞住双耳，把玉米棒放进嘴里，然而那都无法阻挡狂暴的Euroclydon。 —

Euroclydon! says old Dives, in his red silken wrapper–(he had a redder one afterwards) pooh, pooh! —
欧洲大旋风！老戴维斯穿着他的红色丝绸外衣说——（后来他穿了一件更红的）哼，哼！ —

What a fine frosty night; how Orion glitters; what northern lights! —
多美的一个寒冷的夜晚；猎户座是多么璀璨；多美的极光！ —

Let them talk of their oriental summer climes of everlasting conservatories; —
让他们谈论他们东方的永恒温室般的夏季气候吧； —

give me the privilege of making my own summer with my own coals.
让我有幸用我的煤炭来制造我的夏天。

But what thinks Lazarus? Can he warm his blue hands by holding them up to the grand northern lights? —
但拉撒路怎么想呢？他能把他的蓝手暖和起来靠着那华丽的北极光吗？ —

Would not Lazarus rather be in Sumatra than here? —
拉撒路不是更愿意在苏门答拉而不是这里吗？ —

Would he not far rather lay him down lengthwise along the line of the equator; —
他不是更宁可躺在赤道线上； —

yea, ye gods! go down to the fiery pit itself, in order to keep out this frost?
是的，众神啊！到地狱火坑里去，也只是为了避开这寒冷吗？

Now, that Lazarus should lie stranded there on the curbstone before the door of Dives, this is more wonderful than that an iceberg should be moored to one of the Moluccas. —
拉撒路被搁置在戴维斯门前的街头，这比一座冰山停泊在莫尔克群岛之一更奇妙。 —

Yet Dives himself, he too lives like a Czar in an ice palace made of frozen sighs, and being a president of a temperance society, he only drinks the tepid tears of orphans.
而戴维斯本人，他也像个沙皇一样生活在用冷冻的叹息做成的冰宫中，他是个禁酒协会的主席，只喝孤儿们的温热眼泪。

But no more of this blubbering now, we are going a-whaling, and there is plenty of that yet to come. —
但现在不要再哭了，我们要去捕鲸，还有许多事情等着我们。 —

Let us scrape the ice from our frosted feet, and see what sort of a place this “Spouter” may be.
让我们将脚上的结冰刮掉，看看这个“喷水者”会是什么样子。