What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; —
阿哈布视白鲸为何物，曾有暗示； —

what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid.
至今仍未言及，在某些时刻，他对我来说是何等存在；

Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man’s soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; —
除了那些更为明显涉及白鲸的考虑，总会时而唤起任何人心中的一些警觉之外，还有另一种思维，或者说是一种模糊、无名恐惧关于他，有时候那种感觉的强烈程度完全压倒了其他一切； —

and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. —
尽管如此神秘，几乎无法言喻，我几乎绝望将其表达成可理解的形式； —

It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. —
是鲸鱼的白色，最让我恐惧； —

But how can I hope to explain myself here; —
但我如何指望在这里解释自己； —

and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught.
但在某种模糊、随意的方式中，我必须解释自己，否则所有这些章节可能无用；

Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; —
虽然在许多自然物体中，白色精致地增强美感，仿佛赋予其某种特殊的美德，如大理石、山茶花和珍珠； —

and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal preeminence in this hue; —
虽然各个国家某种方式上都认识到这种颜色的皇家卓越性； —

even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title “Lord of the White Elephants” above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; —
即使是佩哥那些野蛮的、雄伟的古老国王，将“白象之主”这个称号放在他们所有其他显赫的统治称谓之上； —

and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; —
而现代暹罗的国王们在皇家旗帜上展示同一只雪白的四足动物； —

and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; —
汉诺威的旗帜挂着一个雪白战马的图像； —

and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue; —
奥地利帝国这个伟大的、凯撒的、继承超级罗马帝国的帝国，以同样的皇室色彩作为帝国色彩； —

and though this pre-eminence in it applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership over every dusky tribe; —
尽管这种卓越性适用于人类自身，赋予白人理想的主宰权威，超越每一个黝黑部落； —

and though, besides, all this, whiteness has been even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone marked a joyful day; —
而且，此外，白色甚至被赋予快乐的象征意义，在罗马人中，白石标志着一个喜庆的日子； —

and though in other mortal sympathies and symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble things– the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; —
尽管在其他凡人的同情和象征中，这种颜色也象征许多动人、高尚的事物-新娘的纯真，年迈的仁慈； —

though among the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; —
尽管在美洲的红人中，赠送白色贝类腰带是最深的荣誉保证； —

though in many climes, whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; —
尽管在许多地方，白色象征着法官貂皮袍的庄严公正，并为日常国王和皇后乘坐的白色奶马贡献； —

though even in the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; —
尽管即便在最崇高的宗教奥秘中，白色也被作为神圣无瑕和力量的象征； —

by the Persian fire worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; —
波斯的火教徒认为，祭坛上的白色叉形火焰是最神圣的； —

and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white bull; —
希腊神话中，伟大的宙斯自己变成了一只雪白的公牛； —

and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; —
对伟大的伊洛昆人来说，将圣洁无瑕的白狗作为冬至牺牲是他们神学中最神圣的节日，这只纯洁、忠诚的生物被视为他们向大灵魂发送年度自己忠诚信息的最纯粹使者； —

and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christian priests derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, worn beneath the cassock; —
尽管所有基督教祭司都源自拉丁语中描述白色的一个部分的名称，那就是他们神圣服装中的alb或束袍，穿在紧身衣外面； —

and though among the holy pomps of the Romish faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of our Lord; —
尽管在罗马天主教信仰的庄严仪式中，白色特别用于庆祝我们的主受难； —

though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the great-white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; —
在圣约翰的启示中，救赎者穿上白袍，而二十四位长老站在大白宝座前穿着白衣，坐在那里的圣者像白色绒毛一样； —

yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood.
然而，尽管有所有这些积累的联想，与甜蜜、可敬和崇高的一切，但在这种颜色的内在概念中仍然存在一种令人难以捉摸的东西，它比那令人恐惧的红色更能向灵魂传递恐慌。

This elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when divorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object terrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds. —
正是这种难以捉摸的质量，使得当把白色的思维与本身可怕的对象结合在一起时，更能把恐怖推向极限。 —

Witness the white bear of the poles, and the white shark of the tropics; —
瞧北极的白熊和热带的白鲨； —

what but their smooth, flaky whiteness makes them the transcendent horrors they are? —
除了它们光滑、脆弱的白色外，还有什么让它们变得如此卓越地可怖？ —

That ghastly whiteness it is which imparts such an abhorrent mildness, even more loathsome than terrific, to the dumb gloating of their aspect. —
正是那种惨白使它们那张无言凝视的面孔带着如此憎恶的温和，甚至比恐怖更让人厌恶。 —

So that not the fierce-fanged tiger in his heraldic coat can so stagger courage as the white-shrouded bear or shark.*
因此，即使凶猛的老虎身着他的纹章外袍，也无法像披着白色裹尸布的熊或鲨鱼那样让人震慑。

*With reference to the Polar bear, it may possibly be urged by him who would fain go still deeper into this matter, that it is not the whiteness, separately regarded, which heightens the intolerable hideousness of that brute; —
至于北极熊，可能有人愿意更深入地论述，认为不仅仅是白色本身使那种兽类的可怖性加剧； —

for, analysed, that heightened hideousness, it might be said, only rises from the circumstance, that the irresponsible ferociousness of the creature stands invested in the fleece of celestial innocence and love; —
因为，经过分析，可以说，该种可怕性的加剧仅仅来自于那动物不受约束的凶猛性掩盖在宇宙无辜与爱的外衣中； —

and hence, by bringing together two such opposite emotions in our minds, the Polar bear frightens us with so unnatural a contrast. —
因此，当我们的思绪中聚集了两种如此相反的情感时，北极熊以如此不自然的对比来吓唬我们。 —

But even assuming all this to be true; yet, were it not for the whiteness, you would not have that intensified terror.
但是即使假设所有这些都是真的；然而，如果不是因为白色，你就不会有那种被加剧的恐怖。

As for the white shark, the white gliding ghostliness of repose in that creature, when beheld in his ordinary moods, strangely tallies with the same quality in the Polar quadruped. —
至于白色鲨鱼，在平常状态下观察时，那种生物在其惰性中的白色滑行幽灵般的特质，与北极四足动物的相同品质奇妙地相符。 —

This peculiarity is most vividly hit by the French in the name they bestow upon that fish. —
法国人通过给那种鱼取的名字，最生动地表达出了这一特点。 —

The Romish mass for the dead begins with “Requiem eternam” (eternal rest), whence Requiem denominating the mass itself, and any other funeral music. —
天主教的弥撒仪式为死者开始于“Requiem aeternam”（永恒的安息），故而将弥撒仪式以及任何其他葬礼音乐冠名为Requiem。 —

Now, in allusion to the white, silent stillness of death in this shark, and the mild deadliness of his habits, the French call him Requin.
现在，谈及这只鲨鱼背后的白色、寂静的死亡气息以及它温和致命的习性，法国人称之为Requin。

Bethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual wonderment and pale dread, in which that white phantom sails in all imaginations? —
回想一下信天翁，那些充满了精神奇异和苍白恐惧的云端，就是那只白色幻影帆船展现在所有想象中的景象吗？ —

Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God’s great, unflattering laureate, Nature.*
不是科勒律治先施放了那样的咒语；而是上帝的大、不造作的桂冠诗人，自然。

*I remember the first albatross I ever saw. —
我记得我所见到过的第一只信天翁。 —

It was during a prolonged gale, in waters hard upon the Antarctic seas. —
那是在一场长时间的大风暴中，在靠近南极海域的水域。 —

From my forenoon watch below, I ascended to the overclouded deck; —
从我在下面的上午值班结束后，我走上被厚云覆盖的甲板； —

and there, dashed upon the main hatches, I saw a regal, feathery thing of unspotted whiteness, and with a hooked, Roman bill sublime. —
在那里，我看见一只华丽的、羽毛茂盛的、纯白无瑕的东西撞在主舱盖上，它带着一只挂钩状的、庄严优美的罗马喙。 —

At intervals, it arched forth its vast archangel wings, as if to embrace some holy ark. —
有时，它展开其巨大的大天使之翼，仿佛要拥抱某个神圣的方舟。 —

Wondrous flutterings and throbbings shook it. —
令人惊奇的颤动和跳动使其震动。 —

Though bodily unharmed, it uttered cries, as some king’s ghost in supernatural distress. —
尽管身体未受伤，它发出了呼喊，如同某位国王的幽灵陷入超自然的困境。 —

Through its inexpressible, strange eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God. As Abraham before the angels, I bowed myself; —
通过那无法言喻、奇异的眼睛，我觉得我窥视到了夺取上帝的秘密。如同亚伯拉罕面对天使一样，我俯首； —

the white thing was so white, its wings so wide, and in those for ever exiled waters, I had lost the miserable warping memories of traditions and of towns. —
这白色的事物如此洁白，它的翅膀如此宽大，在那永久被流放的海水中，我已经忘记了悲惨扭曲的传统和城镇的回忆。 —

Long I gazed at that prodigy of plumage. —
久久凝视着那羽毛的奇迹。 —

I cannot tell, can only hint, the things that darted through me then. But at last I awoke; —
我无法告诉，只能暗示，那时闪现在我脑海里的事物。最后我醒了过来； —

and turning, asked a sailor what bird was this. A goney, he replied. Goney! —
转身问一个水手这是什么鸟。一只信天翁，他回答说。信天翁！ —

never had heard that name before; is it conceivable that this glorious thing is utterly unknown to men ashore! —
以前从未听过这个名字；很难相信这种光荣的事物对岸上的人完全陌生！ —

never! But some time after, I learned that goney was some seaman’s name for albatross. —
从未！但之后某个时候，我才知道信天翁是水手们对 albatross 的称呼。 —

So that by no possibility could Coleridge’s wild Rhyme have had aught to do with those mystical impressions which were mine, when I saw that bird upon our deck. —
因此不可能是科勒律治那首野性的韵文与我看到甲板上的那只鸟时所产生的神秘印象有任何关联。 —

For neither had I then read the Rhyme, nor knew the bird to be an albatross. —
因为那时我既没有读过那首韵文，也不知道那只鸟是信天翁。 —

Yet, in saying this, I do but indirectly burnish a little brighter the noble merit of the poem and the poet.
然而，我这样说只是间接地增强了这首诗和诗人高尚价值的一点。

I assert, then, that in the wondrous bodily whiteness of the bird chiefly lurks the secret of the spell; —
我断言，那种神奇的身体洁白主要隐藏了咒语的秘密； —

a truth the more evinced in this, that by a solecism of terms there are birds called grey albatrosses; —
这是一种更加明显的真理，因为在用词上存在一个错误，有些鸟被称为灰色信天翁； —

and these I have frequently seen, but never with such emotions as when I beheld the Antarctic fowl.
我经常看到这些东西，但从未像看到南极的禽鸟那样激动。

But how had the mystic thing been caught? Whisper it not, and I will tell; —
但是神秘的事物是如何被捕捉到的呢？不要说出来，我会告诉你； —

with a treacherous hook and line, as the fowl floated on the sea. —
用一个奸诈的钩子和线，当禽鸟漂浮在海上时。 —

At last the Captain made a postman of it; —
最后船长把它变成了一只邮差； —

tying a lettered, leathern tally round its neck, with the ship’s time and place; —
在它的脖子上系上一个带字母的皮质牌子，写着船的时间和地点； —

and then letting it escape. But I doubt not, that leathern tally, meant for man, was taken off in Heaven, when the white fowl flew to join the wing-folding, the invoking, and adoring cherubim!
然后让其逃跑。但我毫不怀疑，那个为人类而设计的皮质牌子，在白色禽鸟飞去加入那些展翅、召唤、崇拜的天使时已经被取下！

Most famous in our Western annals and Indian traditions is that of the White Steed of the Prairies; —
在我们西方的史书和印第安传说中，最著名的是那草原上的白色战马； —

a magnificent milk-white charger, large-eyed, small-headed, bluff-chested, and with the dignity of a thousand monarchs in his lofty, overscorning carriage. —
一匹宏伟的乳白色战马，大眼睛，小头，胸部鼓鼓的，高傲地驮着千王万后的尊严在其中。 —

He was the elected Xerxes of vast herds of wild horses, whose pastures in those days were only fenced by the Rocky Mountains and the Alleghanies. —
他是草原上庞大野马群中选出的泽克西斯，那时的牧场仅被落基山脉和阿勒格尼群山围起； —

At their flaming head he westward trooped it like that chosen star which every evening leads on the hosts of light. —
领着他头上那一抹火焰，向西奔去，就像那颗每晚引领光明之师的明星。 —

The flashing cascade of his mane, the curving comet of his tail, invested him with housings more resplendent than gold and silver-beaters could have furnished him. —
他乱飞的鬃毛，弯弯曲曲的尾巴，把他装点得比黄金和银锤工们能为他装饰得更光辉夺目。 —

A most imperial and archangelical apparition of that unfallen, western world, which to the eyes of the old trappers and hunters revived the glories of those primeval times when Adam walked majestic as a god, bluff-bowed and fearless as this mighty steed. —
那个未堕落的、西部的帝王和大天使般的出现，重现在老捕兽人和猎人的眼前，唤起了那些亚当走在高大如神的时代的荣耀，就像这匹强壮的战马一样。 —

Whether marching amid his aides and marshals in the van of countless cohorts that endlessly streamed it over the plains, like an Ohio; —
无论是在他的助手和元帅们中间行进，率领无数队伍无尽地在平原上奔腾，像一个俄亥俄州一样； —

or whether with his circumambient subjects browsing all around at the horizon, the White Steed gallopingly reviewed them with warm nostrils reddening through his cool milkiness; —
还是被环绕的部队在地平线四周吃草时，白色战马带着温暖的喷鼻息，透过他的凉爽乳白色，热切地审视着它们； —

in whatever aspect he presented himself, always to the bravest Indians he was the object of trembling reverence and awe. —
无论以何种姿态出现，对于最勇敢的印第安人来说，他永远是一个令人颤栗的尊敬和敬畏的对象。 —

Nor can it be questioned from what stands on legendary record of this noble horse, that it was his spiritual whiteness chiefly, which so clothed him with divineness; —
也许从那些关于这匹高贵马的传说记载来看，无法质疑的是，主要是他那神秘的洁白，让他如此被赋予神性； —

and that this divineness had that in it which, though commanding worship, at the same time enforced a certain nameless terror.
而这种神性又蕴含着某种无法言喻的恐怖，尽管它命令着崇拜；

But there are other instances where this whiteness loses all that accessory and strange glory which invests it in the White Steed and Albatross.
但也有其他例子，那洁白失去了在白色骏马和信天翁身上所赋予的那些配套奇特和荣耀；

What is it that in the Albino man so peculiarly repels and often shocks the eye, as that sometimes he is loathed by his own kith and kin! —
白化病患者中带有这种特色的东西，为何如此独特地排斥和震惊人的眼睛，有时甚至被自己的亲人所憎恶！ —

It is that whiteness which invests him, a thing expressed by the name he bears. —
就是那覆盖在他身上的洁白，这种东西通过他所具有的名字来表达； —

The Albino is as well made as other men– has no substantive deformity–and yet this mere aspect of all-pervading whiteness makes him more strangely hideous than the ugliest abortion. —
白化病患者同其他人一样健壮–并没有明显的畸形–然而，这种无所不在的白色外观使他比最丑陋的先天性缺陷更为古怪可怕； —

Why should this be so?
为什么会这样呢？

Nor, in quite other aspects, does Nature in her least palpable but not the less malicious agencies, fail to enlist among her forces this crowning attribute of the terrible. —
在其他方面，尽管不如明显，但自然的恶毒力量也没有落下这种可怕的冠冕属性； —

From its snowy aspect, the gauntleted ghost of the Southern Seas has been denominated the White Squall. —
从其雪白的外观来看，南海中那些戴手套的幽灵被称为白色飑风； —

Nor, in some historic instances, has the art of human malice omitted so potent an auxiliary. —
而有些历史事件中，人类恶意的艺术也没有忽略如此强大的辅助手段； —

How wildly it heightens the effect of that passage in Froissart, when, masked in the snowy symbol of their faction, the desperate White Hoods of Ghent murder their bailiff in the market-place!
弗罗塞特笔下的叙述中，那些绝望的根特白帽人在市场上戴着他们派别的雪白象征，谋杀他们的市长，这种情节显得多么激烈啊！

Nor, in some things, does the common, hereditary experience of all mankind fail to bear witness to the supernaturalism of this hue. —
同样，人类共同的遗传经验也证明了这种颜色的超自然属性； —

It cannot well be doubted, that the one visible quality in the aspect of the dead which most appals the gazer, is the marble pallor lingering there; —
在目击者眼中，可以几乎毋庸置疑的是，死者那冰雪般的苍白最令人恐慌； —

as if indeed that pallor were as much like the badge of consternation in the other world, as of mortal trepidation here. —
就好像那苍白既像是在另一个世界中惊恐的标志，也像是此地的致命惶惧的标记； —

And from that pallor of the dead, we borrow the expressive hue of the shroud in which we wrap them. —
而我们就从死者的那种苍白中，借鉴了包裹他们的寿衣中所蕴含的表达意味。 —

Nor even in our superstitions do we fail to throw the same snowy mantle round our phantoms; —
即使在我们的迷信中，我们也不会忽视将同样的雪白披风披在我们的幻影周围； —

all ghosts rising in a milk-white fog–Yea, while these terrors seize us, let us add, that even the king of terrors, when personified by the evangelist, rides on his pallid horse.
所有的鬼魂都在一片牛奶般的白雾中升起——是的，当这些恐惧降临在我们身上时，让我们补充一下，即使当福音书作者将其拟人化，死神也骑着他苍白的马；

Therefore, in his other moods, symbolize whatever grand or gracious thing he will by whiteness, no man can deny that in its profoundest idealized significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul.
因此，在他其他的心境中，无论他用白色象征着什么宏伟或宽容的东西，没有人可以否认，在其最深刻的理想化意义中，它给灵魂带来了一种独特的出现。

But though without dissent this point be fixed, how is mortal man to account for it? —
但尽管在这一点上众说纷纭，凡人该如何解释这一点呢？ —

To analyse it, would seem impossible. Can we, then, by the citation of some of those instances wherein this thing of whiteness–though for the time either wholly or in great part stripped of all direct associations calculated to impart to it aught fearful, but nevertheless, is found to exert over us the same sorcery, however modified; —
要对其进行分析似乎是不可能的。那么，我们能否通过列举一些这种白色的例子，虽然在这段时间内，它完全或在很大程度上被剥夺了直接的联想作用，计算给它任何可怕的东西，但仍然发现它能在我们身上施展同样的魔法，无论怎样修改； —

– can we thus hope to light upon some chance clue to conduct us to the hidden cause we seek?
—我们能否这样希望偶然碰到一些线索，引导我们找到我们寻找的隐藏原因？

Let us try. But in a matter like this, subtlety appeals to subtlety, and without imagination no man can follow another into these halls. —
让我们试试看。但在像这样的事情上，微妙呼唤微妙，而没有想象力，没有人能跟随另一个人进入这些大厅。 —

And though, doubtless, some at least of the imaginative impressions about to be presented may have been shared by most men, yet few perhaps were entirely conscious of them at the time, and therefore may not be able to recall them now.
尽管无疑，即将呈现的一些想象力印象可能大多数人都有过，但也许很少有人在当时完全意识到它们，因此现在可能无法回忆起它们。

Why to the man of untutored ideality, who happens to be but loosely acquainted with the peculiar character of the day, does the bare mention of Whitsuntide marshal in the fancy such long, dreary, speechless processions of slow-pacing pilgrims, down-cast and hooded with new-fallen snow? —
那些对特殊的一天的性格几乎一无所知的具有未经教育的理想主义的人，为何仅仅提到圣灵降临节就在幻想中展开如此漫长、沉闷、无言的缓慢游行，低头，头上覆盖着新降落的雪？ —

Or to the unread, unsophisticated Protestant of the Middle American States, why does the passing mention of a White Friar or a White Nun, evoke such an eyeless statue in the soul?
或对于中美洲中部未涉猎、未经引导的新教徒来说，为何提到一个白衣修士或一位白衣修女，就在灵魂中唤起一个无目的的雕像？

Or what is there apart from the traditions of dungeoned warriors and kings (which will not wholly account for it) that makes the White Tower of London tell so much more strongly on the imagination of an untravelled American, than those other storied structures, its neighbors– the Byward Tower, or even the Bloody? —
或除了囚禁的勇士和国王的传统（这不能完全解释），是什么让伦敦白塔对一个未旅行过的美国人的想象力产生如此强烈的影响，胜过它的邻居——白厅、甚至是血腥的？ —

And those sublimer towers, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, whence, in peculiar moods, comes that gigantic ghostliness over the soul at the bare mention of that name, while the thought of Virginia’s Blue Ridge is full of a soft, dewy, distant dreaminess? —
那些更为崇高的山峰，新罕布什尔州的白山，当在思想中提及那个名字时，灵魂中涌现出巨大的幽灵般感觉，而弗吉尼亚州的布鲁莱斯则充满了一种柔软、露水、遥远梦幻的感觉？ —

Or why, irrespective of all latitudes and longitudes, does the name of the White Sea exert such a spectralness over the fancy, while that of the Yellow Sea lulls us with mortal thoughts of long lacquered mild afternoons on the waves, followed by the gaudiest and yet sleepiest of sunsets? —
或在所有的纬度和经度之外，为何白海的名字对幻想产生如此鬼魅的影响，而黄海的名字则让我们陷入在海浪上长长的带漆的温和午后的致命思绪中，然后是最华丽、却最昏昏欲睡的夕阳？ —

Or, to choose a wholly unsubstantial instance, purely addressed to the fancy, why, in reading the old fairy tales of Central Europe, does “the tall pale man” of the Hartz forests, whose changeless pallor unrestingly glides through the green of the groves– why is this phantom more terrible than all the whooping imps of the Blocksburg?
在选择一个完全虚幻的例子时，纯粹是针对想象力，为什么在阅读中欧的旧童话故事时，“哈茨森林的高大苍白男子”，他那永恒的苍白不停地在绿荫树丛中滑动，为什么这个幽灵比布洛克斯堡的所有嚎叫小鬼更可怕呢？

Nor is it, altogether, the remembrance of her cathedral-toppling earthquakes; —
也不完全是为了记住她大教堂倒塌的地震； —

nor the stampedoes of her frantic seas; nor the tearlessness of arid skies that never rain; —
也不是她疯狂的海洋的冲击；也不是那永远不下雨的干涸天空的无眼泪； —

nor the sight of her wide field of leaning spires, wrenched cope-stones, and crosses all adroop (like canted yards of anchored fleets); —
也不是她倾斜尖顶、斜倒的十字架的广阔教堂； —

and her suburban avenues of house-walls lying over upon each other, as a tossed pack of cards; —
以及她郊区的街道房顶相互倾斜，像是抛出的扑克牌一样； —

– it is not these things alone which make tearless Lima, the strangest, saddest city thou can’st see. —
因为利马这座无泪的城市，不仅仅是因为这些，却是你能看到的最奇怪、最悲伤的城市。 —

For Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this whiteness of her woe. —
因为利马已经戴上了白色的面纱；而在这种悲伤的白色中有一种更高的恐惧。 —

Old as Pizarro, this whiteness keeps her ruins for ever new; —
如同皮萨路一样久远，这种白色使她的废墟永远保持新鲜； —

admits not the cheerful greenness of complete decay; —
不接受完全腐败的欢快翠绿； —

spreads over her broken ramparts the rigid pallor of an apoplexy that fixes its own distortions.
在她破碉堡上散布着痉挛的苍白，这种中风般的僵硬使其变形。

I know that, to the common apprehension, this phenomenon of whiteness is not confessed to be the prime agent in exaggerating the terror of objects otherwise terrible; —
我知道，在普通的理解中，这种白色现象不被承认为是夸大原本可怕事物的主要因素； —

nor to the unimaginative mind is there aught of terror in those appearances whose awfulness to another mind almost solely consists in this one phenomenon, especially when exhibited under any form at all approaching to muteness or universality. —
对于缺乏想象力的大脑来说，在另一个大脑中，这些外观中几乎全部恐怖感仅仅存在于这种现象，尤其在展现为任何接近沉默或普遍性的形式时，这种现象并不会激发任何恐惧。 —

What I mean by these two statements may perhaps be respectively elucidated by the following examples.
我所说的这两个说法也许可以通过以下例子阐明。

First: The mariner, when drawing nigh the coasts of foreign lands, if by night he hear the roar of breakers, starts to vigilance, and feels just enough of trepidation to sharpen all his faculties; —
首先：航海者当靠近外国海岸时，如果在夜晚听到海浪的轰鸣，他会警惕起来，感到足够的不安以提高他所有的能力； —

but under precisely similar circumstances, let him be called from his hammock to view his ship sailing through a midnight sea of milky whiteness– as if from encircling headlands shoals of combed white bears were swimming round him, then he feels a silent, superstitious dread; —
但在完全相同的情况下，当他被从吊床里叫出来看着他的船穿过一片午夜的乳白色海洋——好像从围绕头岬角的海域里游来了一群梳理过的白熊，那时他会感到一种无声的、迷信的恐惧； —

the shrouded phantom of the whitened waters is horrible to him as a real ghost; —
白色水域中被笼罩的幽灵对他来说就像真正的鬼一样可怕; —

in vain the lead assures him he is still off soundings; heart and helm they both go down; —
铅锤告诉他他仍然远离暗礁是徒劳的;心灵和舵都随之沉下去; —

he never rests till blue water is under him again. —
直到再次有蓝色的水在他脚下他才能安心休息。 —

Yet where is the mariner who will tell thee, “Sir, it was not so much the fear of striking hidden rocks, as the fear of that hideous whiteness that so stirred me?”
然而，有哪个海员会告诉你，“先生，不是隐藏的礁石让我害怕，而是那可怕的白色引起了我的恐慌呢？”

Second: To the native Indian of Peru, the continual sight of the snowhowdahed Andes conveys naught of dread, except, perhaps, in the mere fancying of the eternal frosted desolateness reigning at such vast altitudes, and the natural conceit of what a fearfulness it would be to lose oneself in such inhuman solitudes. —
第二：对于秘鲁土著印第安人来说，不断看到雪覆盖的安第斯山并不带来恐惧，除非是在幻想在如此高海拔处统治着永恒的被冻覆的荒凉，以及在这种非人类荒漠中迷失将是怎样可怕的构思。 —

Much the same is it with the backwoodsman of the West, who with comparative indifference views an unbounded prairie sheeted with driven snow, no shadow of tree or twig to break the fixed trance of whiteness. —
对于西部的深山人来说情况也差不多，他们相对无动于衷地看着一片被飘雪覆盖的无边大草原，没有任何树木或枝条的影子打破这种白色的凝固。 —

Not so the sailor, beholding the scenery of the Antarctic seas; —
但不是这样的是船员们，当他们看到南极海域的景色时; —

where at times, by some infernal trick of legerdemain in the powers of frost and air, he, shivering and half shipwrecked, instead of rainbows speaking hope and solace to his misery, views what seems a boundless churchyard grinning upon him with its lean ice monuments and splintered crosses.
有时，在霜和空气的力量中，以某种地狱般的魔术方式，他颤抖着，半陷入船难之中，而不是彩虹给他希望和安慰，而是看着似乎无尽的教堂墓地冲着他笑，那里的瘦冰墓碑和断裂的十字架。

But thou sayest, methinks this white-lead chapter about whiteness is but a white flag hung out from a craven soul; —
但是你说，我认为这关于白色的这一章不过是一个懦夫灵魂挂出的白旗; —

thou surrenderest to a hypo, Ishmael.
你屈服于一种假象，以实习为借口，伊诗麦尔。

Tell me, why this strong young colt, foaled in some peaceful valley of Vermont, far removed from all beasts of prey– why is it that upon the sunniest day, if you but shake a fresh buffalo robe behind him, so that he cannot even see it, but only smells its wild animal muskiness–why will he start, snort, and with bursting eyes paw the ground in phrensies of affright? —
告诉我，为什么这匹在遥远佛蒙特州和平山谷出生的强壮幼驹，远离所有猛兽——为什么只要你在他身后晃动一条新鲜的水牛皮毯，以至于他甚至看不见它，只闻到它的野生动物的腥味——为什么他会惊起，打喷嚏，双眼爆睛地在地上扒出狂热的花纹？ —

There is no remembrance in him of any gorings of wild creatures in his green northern home, so that the strange muskiness he smells cannot recall to him anything associated with the experience of former perils; —
在他的记忆中，没有什么野生生物在他绿色北方的家园中被犀利，所以他嗅到的陌生腥味不能让他想起与以往危险经历相关的事情; —

for what knows he, this New England colt, of the black bisons of distant Oregon?
因为他什么都不知道，这只新英格兰小驹，黑色的俄勒冈野牛呢？

No; but here thou beholdest even in a dumb brute, the instinct of the knowledge of the demonism in the world. —
不;但在一个哑兽中你看到的是世界上恶魔的知识的本能。 —

Though thousands of miles from Oregon, still when he smells that savage musk, the rending, goring bison herds are as present as to the deserted wild foal of the prairies, which this instant they may be trampling into dust.
虽然与俄勒冈隔着数千英里，但当他闻到那种野兽腥味时，撕裂，刺伤的野牛群就像对草原上荒废的小驹来说一样，这一刻它们可能正把他们践踏成灰尘。

Thus, then, the muffled rollings of a milky sea; —
因此，牛奶般的海洋轻柔的滚动声; —

the bleak rustlings of the festooned frosts of mountains; —
山峰上凄凉的霜凇发出的冷飕飕声; —

the desolate shiftings of the windrowed snows of prairies; —
大草原上被风吹出的凌乱雪堆的萧萧声; —

all these, to Ishmael, are as the shaking of that buffalo robe to the frightened colt!
所有这些对以实玛利来说，就像是惊恐的小马被摇晃的水牛皮毯一样！

Though neither knows where lie the nameless things of which the mystic sign gives forth such hints; —
虽然两者都不知道这神秘符号暗示了哪些无名之物的所在; —

yet with me, as with the colt, somewhere those things must exist. —
然而对我来说，就像对小马一样，这些事物必定存在于某处。 —

Though in many of its aspects this visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.
尽管在许多方面，这个可见的世界似乎是由爱所构成的，但不可见的领域却是出于恐惧而形成的。

But not yet have we solved the incantation of this whiteness, and learned why it appeals with such power to the soul; —
然而我们尚未解开这种白色的咒语，未弄清为什么它会如此深深地触动灵魂; —

and more strange and far more portentous–why, as we have seen, it is at once the most meaning symbol of spiritual things, nay, the very veil of the Christian’s Deity; —
更奇异，更为重大的是–为什么，正如我们所见到的，它既是精神事物最有意义的象征，甚至是基督教神的面纱; —

and yet should be as it is, the intensifying agent in things the most appalling to mankind.
而它却同时是激化人类中最可怕的事物的媒介。

Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? —
难道是因为它由于其不确定性而映射出宇宙的无情空旷和广袤，从而在我们看到银河的深白色深处时，用灭绝的想法从背后刺伤我们吗？ —

Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color; —
或者，实质上白色并非一种颜色，而是颜色的可见缺失； —

and at the same time the concrete of all colors; —
同时又是所有颜色的实体； —

is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows–a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink? —
正是出于这些原因，广袤雪色景观中有这样一种充满意义的默然空白–一种无色的、所有颜色的无神论，让我们畏缩不前。 —

And when we consider that other theory of the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues–every stately or lovely emblazoning– the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; —
而当我们考虑到自然哲学家们的另一个理论，即所有其他地球色彩–每一个庄严或可爱的装饰–夕阳西下和森林中甜蜜的色调； —

yea, and the gilded velvets of butterflies, and the butterfly cheeks of young girls; —
是的，还有蝴蝶绸缎般的镀金，还有年轻女孩蝴蝶般的脸颊； —

all these are but subtile deceits, not actually inherent in substances, but only laid on from without; —
所有这些只是微妙的欺骗，并不是实质上固有于物质中，而只是从外部附着上去； —

so that all deified Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within; —
所以，所有被封神的自然绝对像卖淫妇一样彻底地画着，她的诱惑遮掩的只是内部的坟墓； —

and when we proceed further, and consider that the mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great principle of light, for ever remains white or colorless in itself, and if operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips and roses, with its own blank tinge–pondering all this, the palsied universe lies before us a leper; —
而当我们进一步考虑到产生她每一种色彩的神秘化妆品，即光的伟大原则，永远保持着白色或无色本身，如果没有媒介作用于物质，会让所有的物体，甚至郁金香和玫瑰，都带上它自己的苍白色彩–思考着这一切，瘫痪的宇宙摊在我们面前像患麻风者； —

and like wilful travellers in Lapland, who refuse to wear colored and coloring glasses upon their eyes, so the wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that wraps all the prospect around him. —
像故意不戴着有颜色和彩色镜片的拉普兰旅行者一样，这个可怜的不信教者盯着包裹周围景色的铭文白幕盯得自己失明； —

And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol. —
而白鲸就是所有这些事物的象征； —

Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt? ..
难怪你们对这热火朝天的猎杀感到惊讶？