It should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping the body of the leviathan, he was beheaded. —
在剥离利维坦的整个身体之前，他被斩首了。 —

Now, the beheading of the Sperm Whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale surgeons very much pride themselves: —
现在，把抹香鲸的头斩下来是一项科学上的解剖壮举，经验丰富的鲸鱼外科医生非常自豪： —

and not without reason.
也不是没有原因的。

Consider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck; —
想想鲸鱼根本没有可以称之为脖子的部位； —

on the contrary, where his head and body seem to join, there, in that very place, is the thickest part of him. —
相反，在他的头部和身体似乎相连接的地方，那里正是他体型最厚的地方。 —

Remember, also, that the surgeon must operate from above, some eight or ten feet intervening between him and his subject, and that subject almost hidden in a discolored, rolling, and oftentimes tumultuous and bursting sea. —
还要记住，外科医生必须在上方进行操作，他和对象之间有八到十英尺的距离，而对象几乎完全隐藏在一片变色、翻滚、有时骚动和涌动的海水中。 —

Bear in mind, too, that under these untoward circumstances he has to cut many feet deep in the flesh; —
也要记住，在这些不利情况下，他必须在肌肤深处切下好几英尺； —

and in that subterraneous manner, without so much as getting one single peep into the ever-contracting gash thus made, he must skilfully steer clear of all adjacent, interdicted parts, and exactly divide the spine at a critical point hard by its insertion into the skull. —
在这种地下的方式中，他必须巧妙地避开所有附近、被禁止的部位，并准确地在将脊柱精确地切入颅骨的关键点处。 —

Do you not marvel, then, at Stubb’s boast, that he demanded but ten minutes to behead a sperm whale?
难怪斯塔布夸口说，他只需要十分钟就可以斩下一头抹香鲸的头颅了。

When first severed, the head is dropped astern and held there by a cable till the body is stripped. —
首先斩下头颅，然后将其拖在后面并用缆绳固定，直到剥光身体。 —

That done, if it belong to a small whale it is hoisted on deck to be deliberately disposed of. —
做完这些，如果这是一头小鲸鱼的话，就会被吊到甲板上进行详细处理。 —

But, with a full grown leviathan this is impossible; —
但对于一头长成的利维坦来说，这是不可能的； —

for the sperm whale’s head embraces nearly one third of his entire bulk, and completely to suspend such a burden as that, even by the immense tackles of a whaler, this were as vain a thing as to attempt weighing a Dutch barn in jewellers’ scales.
因为抹香鲸的头几乎占据了他整个体积的三分之一，想要悬挂起这样一个重担，即使用捕鲸船的巨大配重器，像试图用珠宝秤称量一间荷兰谷仓一样是徒劳的。

The Pequod’s whale being decapitated and the body stripped, the head was hoisted against the ship’s side–about half way out of the sea, so that it might yet in great part be buoyed up by its native element. —
佩克德号的鲸鱼头被斩下来，身体被剥光后，头被吊在船舷边——离海面大约一半的距离，这样它仍然在很大程度上受到本来的浮力的支撑。 —

And there with the strained craft steeply leaning over to it, by reason of the enormous downward drag from the lower mast-head, and every yard-arm on that side projecting like a crane over the waves; —
而在挤扁的船体紧靠着它，由于从船桅的下部传来的巨大向下牵引力，以及该侧的每根桅杆像一台起重机似地凸出在浪涛之上； —

there, that blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod’s waist like the giant Holofernes’s from the girdle of Judith.
在那里，那颗滴血的头像巨人何洛菲尼斯之头一样，悬挂在白鲸号的腰际，被朱底夫人从腰间的绳索上切下。

When this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamen went below to their dinner. —
当这最后的任务完成时，已经是中午了，水手们下到船舱吃午饭。 —

Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but now deserted deck. —
寂静笼罩着此前喧嚣但现在空无一人的甲板。 —

An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.
一种浓烈的铜色寂静，如同一朵普遍的黄色莲花，在海面上展开了越来越多的无声无息的叶子。

A short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone from his cabin. —
不久之后，阿哈布独自一人从船舱走出来，在这种寂静中回荡。 —

Taking a few turns on the quarter-deck, he paused to gaze over the side, then slowly getting into the main-chains he took Stubb’s long spade still remaining there after the whale’s decapitation and striking it into the lower part of the half-suspended mass, placed its other end crutchwise under one arm, and so stood leaning over with eyes attentively fixed on this head.
在后甲板上转了几圈后，他停下来凝视船舷，然后缓慢地爬上主杆，拿起了仍挂在那里的斯塔布的长铲，在悬挂的半人头的下部戳了一下，将另一端靠在一只胳膊下，靠在上面，眼睛专注地看着这个头。

It was a black and hooded head; and hanging there in the midst of so intense a calm, it seemed the Sphynx’s in the desert. —
那是一个黑色的头颅，悬挂在如此深沉的寂静中，看起来像沙漠中的斯芬克斯。 —

“Speak, thou vast and venerable head,” muttered Ahab, “which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; —
“说话吧，伟大而古老的头颅，”阿哈布喃喃自语说，”虽然没有浓密的胡须，却在一些地方被苔藓覆盖； —

speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee. —
说话吧，强大的头颅，告诉我们你内心的秘密。 —

Of all divers, thou hast dived the deepest. —
在所有的潜水员中，你是最深的。 —

That head upon which the upper sun now gleams, has moved amid this world’s foundations. —
那颗头现在被上方的太阳照耀着，曾在这个世界的基础中穿行。 —

Where unrecorded names and navies rust, and untold hopes and anchors rot; —
在那些无名的舰队和水手生锈的地方，无数的希望和锚链腐烂； —

where in her murderous hold this frigate earth is ballasted with bones of millions of the drowned; —
这艘地球船在它邪恶的船舱中，用上千万溺水者的骨骸作为压舱物； —

there, in that awful water-land, there was thy most familiar home. —
在那个可怕的水域中，那是你最熟悉的家。 —

Thou hast been where bell or diver never went; —
你去过钟楼或潜水员从未到过的地方； —

hast slept by many a sailor’s side, where sleepless mothers would give their lives to lay them down. Thou saw’st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship; —
你曾在许多水手身边入睡，那里无眠的母亲们愿意为了让他们躺下而献出自己的生命。你看见过那些锁链般的恋人们，他们从燃烧的船上跃下； —

heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave; —
他们心贴着心沉入欢快的波浪之下； —

true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. —
在天堂对他们虚伪的时刻，他们却真实地牵挂着对方。 —

Thou saw’st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck; —
你看见过那被海盗从午夜船甲板上抛下的被谋杀的船员； —

for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw; —
他沉入更深的午夜，落入无尽虚无的黑暗之中数小时； —

and his murderers still sailed on unharmed– while swift lightnings shivered the neighboring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. —
他的凶手依然无恙地航行着——而边上那艘本应带着一个正直的丈夫去拥抱张开双臂的船只，则被猛烈的闪电击毁。 —

O head! thou hast seen enough to split the planets and make an infidel of Abraham, and not one syllable is thine!”
头啊！你见证了足够多的事情，足以撕裂星球，让亚伯拉罕成为异教徒，而你却寂然无语！

“Sail ho!” cried a triumphant voice from the main-mast-head.
“船在哪！”来自主桅的一声得意的呼喊。

“Aye? Well, now, that’s cheering,” cried Ahab, suddenly erecting himself, while whole thunder-clouds swept aside from his brow. —
“啊？好了，现在这可令人振奋。”亚哈布又忽然竖起身子，额头上的整片乌云被一扫而空。 —

“That lively cry upon this deadly calm might almost convert a better man.–Where away?”
“这种生机勃勃的呼喊在这致命的平静中实在能使一个更好的人转变心意。——方向在哪里？”

“Three points on the starboard bow, sir, and bringing down her breeze to us!
“在艏右三点钟方向，将其微风带到我们这里！”

“Better and better, man. Would now St. Paul would come along that way, and to my breezelessness bring his breeze! —
“越来越好了，伙计。愿如今圣保罗从那条路经过，把他的微风带到我的无风之处！” —

O Nature, and O soul of man! how far beyond all utterance are your linked analogies; —
噢，自然，噢，人的灵魂！你们之间相连的类比何等深远，超越了所有言语的表达； —

not the smallest atom stirs or lives on matter, but has its cunning duplicate in mind.”
在物质上，即便最微小的原子也有着巧妙的思维对应物。