There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.
有些企业，仔细的混乱才是真正的方法。

The more I dive into this matter of whaling, and push my researches up to the very spring-head of it so much the more am I impressed with its great honorableness and antiquity; —
我越深入研究捕鲸这个问题，越是感受到它的伟大荣誉和悠久历史。 —

and especially when I find so many great demi-gods and heroes, prophets of all sorts, who one way or other have shed distinction upon it, I am transported with the reflection that I myself belong, though but subordinately, to so emblazoned a fraternity.
尤其是当我发现有这么多伟大的半神和英雄、无论以何种方式都为此事带来荣耀时，我为自己属于这个名声显赫的同行而激动。

The gallant Perseus, a son of Jupiter, was the first whaleman; —
勇敢的英雄英雄裴修斯，是第一位捕鲸者。 —

and to the eternal honor of our calling be it said, that the first whale attacked by our brotherhood was not killed with any sordid intent. —
为我们行业的永久荣耀，可以说我们同行第一次攻击的鲸鱼并非出于卑劣动机。 —

Those were the knightly days of our profession, when we only bore arms to succor the distressed, and not to fill men’s lamp-feeders. —
那是我们行业骑士般的时代，我们只拿起武器来帮助受困者，而不是填满人们的油灯。 —

Every one knows the fine story of Perseus and Andromeda; —
每个人都知道裴修斯和安德洛墨达那美妙的故事。 —

how the lovely Andromeda, the daughter of a king, was tied to a rock on the sea-coast, and as Leviathan was in the very act of carrying her off, Perseus, the prince of whalemen, intrepidly advancing, harpooned the monster, and delivered and married the maid. —
美丽的安德洛墨达，一位王子的女儿，被绑在海岸岩石上，而利维坦正试图把她带走时，英勇前进的捕鲸者王子裴修斯，用鱼叉刺中了怪物，并救出并娶了这位少女。 —

It was an admirable artistic exploit, rarely achieved by the best harpooneers of the present day; —
这是一项令人赞叹的艺术壮举，如今最优秀的鱼叉手很少能实现这一点。 —

inasmuch as this Leviathan was slain at the very first dart. —
因为这利维坦在第一枪中就被杀死了。 —

And let no man doubt this Arkite story; for in the ancient Joppa, now Jaffa, on the Syrian coast, in one of the Pagan temples, there stood for many ages the vast skeleton of a whale, which the city’s legends and all the inhabitants asserted to be the identical bones of the monster that Perseus slew. —
不要怀疑这个阿基提故事；因为在古代的约帕，现在的雅法，在一座异教寺庙中，有一只巨大的鲸鱼骨架，这座城市的传说和所有居民都声称那就是裴修斯所杀的怪物的骨骼。 —

When the Romans took Joppa, the same skeleton was carried to Italy in triumph. —
当罗马人攻占了约帕时，同样的骨架被胜利地带回意大利。 —

What seems most singular and suggestively important in this story, is this: —
在这个故事中最奇特和引人深思的一点是： —

it was from Joppa that Jonah set sail.
约拿正是从约帕启航的。

Akin to the adventure of Perseus and Andromeda–indeed, by some supposed to be indirectly derived from it–is that famous story of St. George and the Dragon; —
与裴修斯和安德洛墨达的冒险相似–实际上，有人认为这故事间接地源于此–就是那个著名的圣乔治和龙的故事。 —

which dragon I maintain to have been a whale; —
我认为有一条龙实际上是一条鲸鱼； —

for in many old chronicles whales and dragons are strangely jumbled together, and often stand for each other. —
因为在许多古老的编年史中，鲸鱼和龙经常混在一起，并且经常代表彼此； —

“Thou art as a lion of the waters, and as a dragon of the sea,” said Ezekiel; —
“你是海中的狮子，是海里的龙”，以西结如此说； —

hereby, plainly meaning a whale; in truth, some versions of the Bible use that word itself. —
明显指的是一条鲸鱼；事实上，圣经的一些版本直接使用了这个词； —

Besides, it would much subtract from the glory of the exploit had St. George but encountered a crawling reptile of the land, instead of doing battle with the great monster of the deep. —
此外，如果圣乔治只是遇到了陆地上的一条爬行爬行动物，而不是与深海巨兽作战，那么这个事迹的壮举将大大减少其荣耀； —

Any man may kill a snake, but only a Perseus, a St. George, a Coffin, have the heart in them to march boldly up to a whale.
任何人都可以杀死一条蛇，但只有一个珀尔修斯、一个圣乔治、一个柯芬具有勇气直面一只鲸鱼；

Let not the modern paintings of this scene mislead us; —
不要被这个场景的现代画作误导； —

for though the creature encountered by that valiant whaleman of old is vaguely represented of a griffin-like shape, and though the battle is depicted on land and the saint on horseback, yet considering the great ignorance of those times, when the true form of the whale was unknown to artists; —
因为虽然古老的鲸鱼捕鲸者所遇到的生物模糊地呈现为鹰身人面像，虽然战斗在陆地上描绘，圣人骑在马上，但考虑到当时的巨大无知，当时艺术家们对鲸鱼的真实形态一无所知； —

and considering that as in Perseus’ case, St. George’s whale might have crawled up out of the sea on the beach; —
并考虑到像珀尔修斯那样，圣乔治的鲸鱼可能会从海里爬上海滩； —

and considering that the animal ridden by St. George might have been only a large seal, or sea-horse; —
并考虑到被圣乔治骑的动物可能只是一只大海豹，或者海马； —

bearing all this in mind, it will not appear altogether incompatible with the sacred legend and the ancientest draughts of the scene, to hold this so-called dragon no other than the great Leviathan himself. —
记住这一切，将这所谓的龙视为大利未亚本人本鲸王并不完全不符合圣经传说和场景最古老的图稿； —

In fact, placed before the strict and piercing truth, this whole story will fare like that fish, flesh, and fowl idol of the Philistines, Dagon by name; —
实际上，站在严格的和尖锐真理之前，整个故事会像非利士人的鱼、肉和禽像大冈的 —

who being planted before the ark of Israel, his horse’s head and both the palms of his hands fell off from him, and only the stump or fishy part of him remained. —
他被放在以色列的约柜前，他的马头和他两只手掌都从他身上掉了下来，只剩下残存的鱼的部分； —

Thus, then, one of our own noble stamp, even a whaleman, is the tutelary guardian of England; —
因此，我们自己贵族之一，甚至是捕鲸者，是英格兰的守护者； —

and by good rights, we harpooneers of Nantucket should be enrolled in the most noble order of St. George. —
因此，按照正当的理由，我们南泰克特的鱼叉手应该被列入圣乔治最崇高的骑士团。 —

And therefore, let not the knights of that honorable company (none of whom, I venture to say, have ever had to do with a whale like their great patron), let them never eye a Nantucketer with disdain, since even in our woollen frocks and tarred trowsers we are much better entitled to St. George’s decoration than they.
因此，让那尊敬的骑士团的骑士们（我敢说，他们中没有一个曾经与他们伟大的赞助商一样的鲸鱼打过交道），永远不要轻视一个南塔基特人，因为即使我们穿着羊毛衫和涂有焦油的长裤，我们比他们更有资格得到圣乔治的勋章。

Whether to admit Hercules among us or not, concerning this I long remained dubious: —
是否允许海格力士加入我们，对此我一直持怀疑态度。 —

for though according to the Greek mythologies, that antique Crockett and Kit Carson–that brawny doer of rejoicing good deeds, was swallowed down and thrown up by a whale; —
因为在希腊神话中，那位古老的克罗克特和基特卡森——那位做着喜悦的好事的强壮施行者，被一只鲸鱼吞下并吐出； —

still, whether that strictly makes a whaleman of him, that might be mooted. —
但是，他是否因此被认为是鲸鱼人，这值得商榷。 —

It nowhere appears that he ever actually harpooned his fish, unless, indeed, from the inside. —
据任何记载，他似乎从未真正用鱼叉捕鱼，除非是从内部。 —

Nevertheless, he may be deemed a sort of involuntary whaleman; —
然而，他可能被视为是一种非自愿的捕鲸人； —

at any rate the whale caught him, if he did not the whale. I claim him for one of our clan.
无论如何，鲸鱼逮住了他，即使他没有逮住鲸鱼。我把他视为我们的一员。

But, by the best contradictory authorities, this Grecian story of Hercules and the whale is considered to be derived from the still more ancient Hebrew story of Jonah and the whale; —
但是，根据最好的相互矛盾的权威，这个希腊的海格力士和鲸鱼的故事被认为源自更古老的希伯来故事——约拿和鲸鱼； —

and vice versa; certainly they are very similar. —
反之亦然； 它们确实非常相似。 —

If I claim the demigod then, why not the prophet?
如果我宣称这位半神，为什么不是这位先知呢？

Nor do heroes, saints, demigods, and prophets alone comprise the whole roll of our order. —
英雄，圣人，半神和预言者并不是我们团体的全部； —

Our grand master is still to be named; for like royal kings of old times, we find the head-waters of our fraternity in nothing short of the great gods themselves. —
我们的大师还没有被命名；因为就像古代的君主王一样，我们发现我们的团体的源头在于伟大的神灵本身。 —

That wondrous oriental story is now to be rehearsed from the Shaster, which gives us the dread Vishnoo, one of the three persons in the godhead of the Hindoos; —
这个奇妙的东方故事现在将从经书中被再次诵读，这个故事给了我们神圣的毗湿奴，印度教三位一体中的一个； —

gives us this divine Vishnoo himself for our Lord; —
给了我们这位神圣的毗湿奴本身作为我们的主； —

–Vishnoo, who, by the first of his ten earthly incarnations, has for ever set apart and sanctified the whale. —
——毗湿奴，通过他的第一个十个地球化身，永远把鲸鱼区别开来并使其被祝圣。 —

When Brahma, or the God of Gods, saith the Shaster, resolved to recreate the world after one of its periodical dissolutions, he gave birth to Vishnoo, to preside over the work; —
当梵天，或者是诸神之神，根据经文所说，在一个世界定期消失之后决定重建世界时，他产生了毗湿奴，来监督这项工作； —

but the Vedas, or mystical books, whose perusal would seem to have been indispensable to Vishnoo before beginning the creation, and which therefore must have contained something in the shape of practical hints to young architects, these Vedas were lying at the bottom of the waters; —
但是《吠陀经》或神秘书籍，在开始创造之前似乎是毗湿奴必须阅读的，因此这些《吠陀经》被淹没在水底； —

so Vishnoo became incarnate in a whale, and sounding down in him to the uttermost depths, rescued the sacred volumes. —
因此毗湿奴化身成为一头鲸鱼，下潜到最深处，拯救了这些神圣的卷轴； —

Was not this Vishnoo a whaleman, then? even as a man who rides a horse is called a horseman?
这样的毗湿奴不就是一名捕鲸者吗？就像骑马的人被称为骑士一样？

Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! —
波塞冬、圣乔治、大力士、约拿、毗湿奴！ —

there’s a member-roll for you! What club but the whaleman’s can head off like that?
这就是一份成员名单！除了捕鲸者们的俱乐部，还有哪个俱乐部能像这样吸引这么多英雄？