To scan the lines of his face, or feel the bumps on the head of this Leviathan; —
要扫视他脸上的皱纹，或者触摸这头利维坦头上的凸起； —

this is a thing which no Physiognomist or Phrenologist has as yet undertaken. —
这是没有相面学家或脑相学家尝试过的事情； —

Such an enterprise would seem almost as hopeful as for Lavater to have scrutinized the wrinkles on the Rock of Gibraltar, or for Gall to have mounted a ladder and manipulated the Dome of the Pantheon. —
这样的尝试看起来几乎和拉瓦特检测直布罗陀岩石的皱纹一样不切实际，或者像盖尔爬上梯子操作万神殿圆顶一样不可能； —

Still, in that famous work of his, Lavater not only treats of the various faces of men, but also attentively studies the faces of horses, birds, serpents, and fish; —
然而，在他那部著名的作品中，拉瓦特不仅讨论了人类的各种面孔，还仔细研究了马、鸟、蛇和鱼的脸； —

and dwells in detail upon the modifications of expression discernible therein. —
并详细考察了在这些脸上可见的表情变化； —

Nor have Gall and his disciple Spurzheim failed to throw out some hints touching the phrenological characteristics of other beings than man. —
盖尔和他的弟子斯普兹海姆同样也未放弃对除人类以外的其他生物的脑相特征的研究； —

Therefore, though I am but ill qualified for a pioneer, in the application of these two semi-sciences to the whale, I will do my endeavor. —
因此，虽然我并不太适合在这两个半科学应用于鲸鱼上进行先驱研究，但我会尽力而为； —

I try all things; I achieve what I can.
我尝试过一切；我取得了我能够取得的成就；

Physiognomically regarded, the Sperm Whale is an anomalous creature. He has no proper nose. —
从相面学的角度看，抹香鲸是一个反常动物。它没有合适的鼻子； —

And since the nose is the central and most conspicuous of the features; —
而且因为鼻子是面部中央和最显著的特征； —

and since it perhaps most modifies and finally controls their combined expression; —
并且它或许在很大程度上修饰并最终控制它们的整体表达； —

hence it would seem that its entire absence, as an external appendage, must very largely affect the countenance of the whale. —
因此，作为一个外部附属物，它整个的缺失，一定会在很大程度上影响鲸鱼的面部特征； —

For as in landscape gardening, a spire, cupola, monument, or tower of some sort, is deemed almost indispensable to the completion of the scene; —
就像在风景园林中，一个尖顶、圆顶、纪念碑或者塔楼被认为几乎是景观完成不可或缺的一部分一样； —

so no face can be physiognomically in keeping without the elevated open-work belfry of the nose. —
因此，没有高耸的雕花鼻尖，面部在面相学上就不完整； —

Dash the nose from Phidias’s marble Jove, and what a sorry remainder! —
从菲迪亚斯的大理石宙斯身上移除鼻子，剩下的将会是多么糟糕！ —

Nevertheless, Leviathan is of so mighty a magnitude, all his proportions are so stately, that the same deficiency which in the sculptured Jove were hideous, in him is no blemish at all. —
然而，利维坦的体量是如此巨大，他的比例是如此庄重，那种在雕塑的宙斯身上会显得丑陋的不足，在他身上却毫不瑕疵。 —

Nay, it is an added grandeur. A nose to the whale would have been impertinent. —
不，这是一种增添的威严。给鲸鱼一个鼻子会显得多余。 —

As on your physiognomical voyage you sail round his vast head in your jollyboat, your noble conceptions of him are never insulted by the reflection that he has a nose to be pulled. —
当你在小船上绕着他巨大的头部进行面相之旅时，你对他的高贵概念永远不会被侵犯，因为他没有鼻子可供拽。 —

A pestilent conceit, which so often will insist upon obtruding even when beholding the mightiest royal beadle on his throne.
这是一个有害的念头，甚至当你看到最强大的皇家鞭笞手坐在他的宝座上时，它仍然会老是强调自身。

In some particulars, perhaps the most imposing physiognomical view to be had of the Sperm Whale, is that of the full front of his head. —
也许在一些方面，把鲸鱼前面的全景视图看作是接近鲸鱼的最令人印象深刻的方式。 —

This aspect is sublime.
这个视角是崇高的。

In thought, a fine human brow is like the East when troubled with the morning. —
在思考上，一幅优雅的人类眉宇就像早晨被困扰的东方。 —

In the repose of the pasture, the curled brow of the bull has a touch of the grand in it. —
在牧场的宁静中，公牛的皱眉带着一丝宏伟。 —

Pushing heavy cannon up mountain defiles, the elephant’s brow is majestic. —
推着重炮穿过山谷的大象的额头是威严的。 —

Human or animal, the mystical brow is as that great golden seal affixed by the German Emperors to their decrees. —
无论是人还是动物，神秘的眉宇就像是德意志皇帝在其法令上所盖的金印章。 —

It signifies–“God: done this day by my hand.” —
它象征着–“上帝：这天由我的手完成。” —

But in most creatures, nay in man himself, very often the brow is but a mere strip of alpine land lying along the snow line. —
但在大多数生物中，甚至是在人类自身中，额头往往只是一条沿着雪线延伸的阿尔卑斯山的小片土地。 —

Few are the foreheads which like Shakespeare’s or Melancthon’s rise so high, and descend so low, that the eyes themselves seem clear, eternal, tideless mountain lakes; —
很少有额头像莎士比亚或梅兰带的那样高耸，并且下降至如此之低，以至于眼睛本身似乎清澈、永恒、潮汐般的山湖； —

and all above them in the forehead’s wrinkles, you seem to track the antlered thoughts descending there to drink, as the Highland hunters track the snow prints of the deer. —
额头皱纹之上，你似乎可以追踪下降至那里饮水的鹿的思绪，就像苏格兰猎人追踪鹿的雪踪一样。 —

But in the great Sperm Whale, this high and mighty god-like dignity inherent in the brow is so immensely amplified, that gazing on it, in that full front view, you feel the Deity and the dread powers more forcibly than in beholding any other object in living nature. —
在大型抹香鲸身上，这种椒显的神圣威严固有于额头的特质被巨大地扩大，以至于在那个完整的正面视图中凝视它，你会比看任何其他活生物对象更强烈地感受到上帝和可怕的力量。 —

For you see no one point precisely; not one distinct feature is revealed; —
因为你无法准确看到任何一个点; 没有一个明显的特征展现出来; —

no nose, eyes, ears, or mouth; no face; he has none, proper; —
没有鼻子、眼睛、耳朵或嘴巴; 没有脸; 他没有一个，恰当地; —

nothing but that one broad firmament of a forehead, pleated with riddles; —
仅有那一片布满谜团的宽广额头; —

dumbly lowering with the doom of boats, and ships, and men. —
默默地为船只、舰船和人类的命运而垂下。 —

Nor, in profile, does this wondrous brow diminish; —
侧面观察时，这个奇妙的额头并不减少; —

though that way viewed its grandeur does not domineer upon you so. —
尽管那样看，它的壮丽并不会威吓你。 —

In profile, you plainly perceive that horizontal, semi-crescentic depression in the forehead’s middle, which, in a man, is Lavater’s mark of genius.
侧面观察时，你清晰地感知到额头中部的水平、半月形凹陷，这在男人身上是拉瓦特的天才标记。

But how? Genius in the Sperm Whale? Has the Sperm Whale ever written a book, spoken a speech? —
但是如何？ 长须鲸中的天才？ 长须鲸曾经写过书吗，演讲过吗？ —

No, his great genius is declared in his doing nothing particular to prove it. —
不，他伟大的天才表现在于他没有特别的行动来证明它。 —

It is moreover declared in his pyramidical silence. —
还表现在于他尖顶般的沉默。 —

And this reminds me that had the great Sperm Whale been known to the young Orient World, he would have been deified by their child-magian thoughts. —
这让我想起，如果那个伟大的长须鲸被年轻的东方世界所熟知，他将被他们充满童真想法的人们神化。 —

They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is tongueless; —
他们神化了尼罗河的鳄鱼，因为鳄鱼是无舌的; —

and the Sperm Whale has no tongue, or at least it is so exceedingly small, as to be incapable of protrusion. —
而长须鲸没有舌头，或者至少它太过微小，无法伸出。 —

If hereafter any highly cultured, poetical nation shall lure back to their birth-right, the merry May-day gods of old; —
如果今后有任何高度文化、富有诗意的民族将古代欢乐五一节的神明引回他们的天命; —

and livingly enthrone them again in the now egotistical sky; in the now unhaunted hill; —
并将他们再次活灵活现地座落在当下自负的天空里; 在目前幽灵缥缈的山岭里; —

then be sure, exalted to Jove’s high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it.
那么请确保，座高于宙斯座位的伟大抹香鲸将统治一切。

Champollion deciphered the wrinkled granite hieroglyphics. —
香波利昂解读了那些布满皱褶的花岗岩象形文字。 —

But there is no Champollion to decipher the Egypt of every man’s and every being’s face. —
但没有香波利昂来解读每个人和每个生物面孔上的埃及之谜。 —

Physiognomy, like every other human science, is but a passing fable. —
相貌学，像其他人类科学一样，只是一个转瞬即逝的神话。 —

If then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the simplest peasant’s face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale’s brow? —
如果威廉·琼斯爵士，能通读三十种语言，却无法阅读最简单农民面孔上更深刻更微妙的含义，那么文盲伊什梅尔又怎能希望阅读抹香鲸额上可怖的新巴比伦文？ —

I but put that brow before you. Read if it if you can.
我只是将那额放在你面前。看看你是否能解读。