The voyage of the Abraham Lincoln was for a long time marked by no special incident.
《亚伯拉罕·林肯号》的航行在很长时间里没有发生特别的事件。 —

But one circumstance happened which showed the wonderful dexterity of Ned Land, and proved what confidence we might place in him.
但有一件事发生了，显示了内德·兰德的惊人灵巧，证明了我们对他的信任。

The 30th of June, the frigate spoke some American whalers, from whom we learned that they knew nothing about the narwhal.
6月30日，这艘护卫舰与一些美国捕鲸船交流，我们从他们那里了解到他们对鬚海豚一无所知。 —

But one of them, the captain of the Monroe, knowing that Ned Land had shipped on board the Abraham Lincoln, begged for his help in chasing a whale they had in sight.
但其中一艘，名为《门罗》的船长得知内德·兰德曾经在《亚伯拉罕·林肯号》上工作，请求他帮助追捕他们视线中的一只鲸。 —

Commander Farragut, desirous of seeing Ned Land at work, gave him permission to go on board the Monroe.
为了观察内德·兰德的工作，法拉格特指挥官同意他登上《门罗》号。 —

And fate served our Canadian so well that, instead of one whale, he harpooned two with a double blow, striking one straight to the heart, and catching the other after some minutes’ pursuit.
命运真是眷顾我们的加拿大人，他不仅仅用一击就直接命中了一只鲸鱼的心脏，而且在追赶了几分钟后还捕捉到了另一只。

Decidedly, if the monster ever had to do with Ned Land’s harpoon, I would not bet in its favour.
毫无疑问，如果那个怪物曾经遭遇内德·兰德的鱼叉，我不会对它下赌注。

The frigate skirted the south-east coast of America with great rapidity.
这艘护卫舰迅速地沿着美洲的东南海岸航行。 —

The 3rd of July we were at the opening of the Straits of Magellan, level with Cape Vierges.
7月3日，我们在洛斯马哲尔根海峡开幕式上，与韦尔日角持平。 —

But Commander Farragut would not take a tortuous passage, but doubled Cape Horn.
但法拉格特指挥官不想走弯弯曲曲的通道，而是绕过好望角。

The ship’s crew agreed with him.
船员们同意他的决定。 —

And certainly it was possible that they might meet the narwhal in this narrow pass.
当然，他们有可能会在这个狭窄的通道中遇到独角鲸。 —

Many of the sailors affirmed that the monster could not pass there, “that he was too big for that!”
许多水手声明怪物无法通过那里，” 它太大了！”

The 6th of July, about three o’clock in the afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln, at fifteen miles to the south, doubled the solitary island, this lost rock at the extremity of the American continent, to which some Dutch sailors gave the name of their native town, Cape Horn. The course was taken towards the north-west, and the next day the screw of the frigate was at last beating the waters of the Pacific.
7月6日下午三点左右，亚伯拉罕·林肯号离孤零零的岛屿还有15英里，这个迷失在美洲大陆尽头的岩石，被一些荷兰水手以他们的故乡名字，好望角来命名。航向朝西北方向，第二天，护卫舰的螺旋桨终于搅动起太平洋的水。

“Keep your eyes open!” called out the sailors.
“保持眼睛睁大！”水手们喊道。

And they were opened widely. Both eyes and glasses, a little dazzled, it is true, by the prospect of two thousand dollars, had not an instant’s repose.
它们大大地张开了。这两只眼睛和眼镜，虽然因为两千美元的前景而有些眼花缭乱，但却没有片刻的休息。 —

Day and night they watched the surface of the ocean, and even nyctalopes, whose faculty of seeing in the darkness multiplies their chances a hundredfold, would have had enough to do to gain the prize.
日夜盯着海面，即使是夜视者，他们在黑暗中的视力能让他们的机会增加一百倍，也将不得不为了获得奖金而努力。

I myself, for whom money had no charms, was not the least attentive on board.
对我来说，金钱毫无魅力，也一直非常关注船上的情况。 —

Giving but few minutes to my meals, but a few hours to sleep, indifferent to either rain or sunshine, I did not leave the poop of the vessel.
我只给自己几分钟吃饭的时间，睡觉也只给自己几个小时，无论是雨天还是晴天，我都不离开船尾。 —

Now leaning on the netting of the forecastle, now on the taffrail, I devoured with eagerness the soft foam which whitened the sea as far as the eye could reach;
我不断地倚在船头的网绳上、船尾上，渴望地凝视着白浪，它们一直延伸到能见的地方； —

and how often have I shared the emotion of the majority of the crew, when some capricious whale raised its black back above the waves!
我多少次与船员中的大多数人一起分享着他们的激动，当一只刁钻的鲸鱼把它的黑背升到海面之上！ —

The poop of the vessel was crowded in a moment.
船舶上的厕所一下子挤满了人。 —

The cabins poured forth a torrent of sailors and officers, each with heaving breast and troubled eye watching the course of the cetacean.
舱房里涌出了一大批水手和官员，每个人的胸膛都在翻涌，眼神不安地注视着鲸鱼的航线。 —

I looked and looked, till I was nearly blind, whilst Conseil, always phlegmatic, kept repeating in a calm voice:
我一直看啊看，直到我眼睛都快瞎了，而康塞尔却始终保持冷静，平静地重复着：

“If, sir, you would not squint so much, you would see better!”
“先生，如果您不这么斜视，您会看得更清楚！”

But vain excitement! The Abraham Lincoln checked its speed and made for the animal signalled, a simple whale, or common cachalot, which soon disappeared amidst a storm of execration.
然而，却是徒然的兴奋！亚伯拉罕·林肯号调整速度，驶向被信号指示的动物，一只普通的抹香鲸，很快就在一阵咒骂声中消失了。

But the weather was good.
但天气很好。 —

The voyage was being accomplished under the most favourable auspices.
航行正在以最有利的兆头进行。 —

It was then the bad season in Australia, the July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe, but the sea was beautiful and easily scanned round a vast circumference.
当时是澳大利亚的旺季，该区域的七月对应于我们欧洲的一月，但海面美丽而广阔，易于观察。

The 20th of July, the tropic of Capricorn was cut by 105° of longitude, and the 27th of the same month we crossed the equator on the 110th meridian.
7月20日，摩羯座被穿过105°经度，同月27日我们在第110度经线上穿越赤道。 —

This passed, the frigate took a more decided westerly direction, and scoured the central waters of the Pacific.
通过这一路过，军舰采取了更明确的西线方向，扫荡太平洋的中心水域。 —

Commander Farragut thought, and with reason, that it was better to remain in deep water, and keep clear of continents or islands, which the beast itself seemed to shun (perhaps because there was not enough water for him!
法拉格特指挥官认为，理智地选择留在深水中，远离看似避开的大陆或岛屿（或许是因为那里没有足够的水给这兽类！） —

suggested the greater part of the crew).
建议大部分船员). —

The frigate passed at some distance from the Marquesas and the Sandwich Islands, crossed the tropic of Cancer, and made for the China Seas. We were on the theatre of the last diversions of the monster:
护卫舰在从马克萨斯群岛和三明治群岛经过时有一段距离，穿过北回归线，前往中国海域。我们正处于怪兽最后一次行动的舞台上。 —

and, to say truth, we no longer lived on board.
并说实话，我们不再在船上“活着”。 —

Hearts palpitated, fearfully preparing themselves for future incurable aneurism.
心脏急剧跳动，恐惧地为未来不可治愈的动脉瘤做准备。 —

The entire ship’s crew were undergoing a nervous excitement, of which I can give no idea:
整个船员都经历了一种无法形容的紧张刺激： —

they could not eat, they could not sleep—twenty times a day, a misconception or an optical illusion of some sailor seated on the taffrail, would cause dreadful perspirations, and these emotions, twenty times repeated, kept us in a state of excitement so violent that a reaction was unavoidable.
他们无法进食，无法入睡—一天中有二十次，一位坐在舷尾上的水手的误解或光学错觉会引发可怕的出汗，而这些情绪，二十次重复，让我们处于极度兴奋的状态，以至于反应是不可避免的。

And truly, reaction soon showed itself. For three months, during which a day seemed an age, the Abraham Lincoln furrowed all the waters of the Northern Pacific, running at whales, making sharp deviations from her course, veering suddenly from one tack to another, stopping suddenly, putting on steam, and backing ever and anon at the risk of deranging her machinery, and not one point of the Japanese or American coast was left unexplored.
而且，真的很快就能看到反应。在接下来的三个月里，每一天都如同永远，亚伯拉罕·林肯号在北太平洋的所有海域中穿行，追逐着鲸鱼，径直偏离航线，突然改变航向，突然停下来，一会加速，一会又倒退，危及到机械设备的正常运行。日本和美国的海岸线没有一点被遗漏。

The warmest partisans of the enterprise now became its most ardent detractors.
对这项计划最热情的支持者现在成了最激烈的反对者。 —

Reaction mounted from the crew to the captain himself, and certainly, had it not been for resolute determination on the part of Captain Farragut, the frigate would have headed due southward.
反对意见已经从船员中蔓延到船长自己身上，如果不是法拉格特船长的坚决决心，这艘战舰可能已经掉头向南。 —

This useless search could not last much longer.
这样毫无意义的搜索不能再持续太久了。 —

The Abraham Lincoln had nothing to reproach herself with, she had done her best to succeed.
亚伯拉罕·林肯号没有任何可指责之处，她已经尽力完成任务。 —

Never had an American ship’s crew shown more zeal or patience;
美国船员从未显示出如此的热忱和耐心； —

its failure could not be placed to their charge—there remained nothing but to return.
不能怪罪于他们，失败的责任不得不归还。

This was represented to the commander.
这一点被向指挥官报告了。 —

The sailors could not hide their discontent, and the service suffered.
水手们无法掩饰他们的不满，任务受到了影响。 —

I will not say there was a mutiny on board, but after a reasonable period of obstinacy, Captain Farragut (as Columbus did) asked for three days’ patience.
我不会说船上发生了叛变，但经过一段时间的顽固之后，法拉格特船长（像哥伦布一样）要求再等三天。 —

If in three days the monster did not appear, the man at the helm should give three turns of the wheel, and the Abraham Lincoln would make for the European seas.
如果三天内怪物没有出现，舵手应该转动舵盘三次，亚伯拉罕·林肯号将前往欧洲海域。

This promise was made on the 2nd of November.
这个承诺是在11月2日作出的。 —

It had the effect of rallying the ship’s crew.
它起到了团结船员的效果。 —

The ocean was watched with renewed attention.
大洋再次受到密切关注。 —

Each one wished for a last glance in which to sum up his remembrance.
每个人都希望最后一眼来总结他的回忆。 —

Glasses were used with feverish activity.
望远镜被焦急地使用着。 —

It was a grand defiance given to the giant narwhal, and he could scarcely fail to answer the summons and “appear.”
这是对巨型鲸鱼的一次宣战，并且他几乎不可能不回应这个召唤而“出现”。

Two days passed, the steam was at half pressure;
两天过去了，蒸汽压力降到了一半； —

a thousand schemes were tried to attract the attention and stimulate the apathy of the animal in case it should be met in those parts.
为了吸引这种动物的注意和激发它的冷漠，在那些地方尝试了无数计策。 —

Large quantities of bacon were trailed in the wake of the ship, to the great satisfaction (I must say) of the sharks.
大量的培根在船行进的尾流中拖着，这让鲨鱼非常满意（我必须说）。 —

Small craft radiated in all directions round the Abraham Lincoln as she lay to, and did not leave a spot of the sea unexplored.
小型船只围绕着亚伯拉罕·林肯号舰艇四处辐射，没有留下一片海域未被探索。 —

But the night of the 4th of November arrived without the unveiling of this submarine mystery.
但11月4日的夜晚到来了，这个水下神秘没有被揭开的迹象。

The next day, the 5th of November, at twelve, the delay would (morally speaking) expire;
第二天，11月5日，中午时分，这个（道义上的）延迟将到期； —

after that time, Commander Farragut, faithful to his promise, was to turn the course to the south-east and abandon for ever the northern regions of the Pacific.
在那之后，根据法拉格特指挥官的承诺，航向将转向东南方，并永远离开太平洋北部地区。

The frigate was then in 31° 15′ north latitude and 136° 42′ east longitude.
那时，护卫舰位于北纬31°15′、东经136°42′的位置。 —

The coast of Japan still remained less than two hundred miles to leeward.
日本的海岸仍然位于下风处两百英里之内。 夜幕将至。 他们刚刚敲响了八点钟； —

Night was approaching. They had just struck eight bells;
（The coast of Japan remained less than two hundred miles to leeward. Night was approaching. They had just struck eight bells;） —

large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.
大片的云层遮住了月亮的面孔，而那正是它的第一季弦月。(Large clouds veiled the face of the moon, then in its first quarter.) —

The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.
海洋在船尾平静地起伏着。（The sea undulated peaceably under the stern of the vessel.）

At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting.
那一刻，我向右舷的篷索倾斜着身子。站在我旁边的Conseil直直地望着前方。 —

Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.
（At that moment I was leaning forward on the starboard netting. Conseil, standing near me, was looking straight before him.） —

The crew, perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon, which contracted and darkened by degrees.
船员们趴在鼠索上审视着逐渐收缩和变暗的地平线。（The crew, perched in the ratlines, examined the horizon, which contracted and darkened by degrees.） —

Officers with their night glasses scoured the growing darkness;
用夜视镜的官员们在逐渐暗下来的天空中搜索。(Officers with their night glasses scoured the growing darkness;) —

sometimes the ocean sparkled under the rays of the moon, which darted between two clouds, then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.
有时候，海洋在云层之间射出的月光下闪耀着；然后所有的光芒都在黑暗中消失了。（Sometimes the ocean sparkled under the rays of the moon, which darted between two clouds, then all trace of light was lost in the darkness.）

In looking at Conseil, I could see he was undergoing a little of the general influence.
看着康塞伊，我能感觉到他受到了一些普遍影响。 —

At least I thought so.
至少我是这么认为的。 —

Perhaps for the first time his nerves vibrated to a sentiment of curiosity.
也许这是他第一次对好奇心产生兴奋的感受。

“Come, Conseil,” said I, “this is the last chance of pocketing the two thousand dollars.”
“来吧，康塞伊，这是把两千美元揣进口袋的最后机会了。”

“May I be permitted to say, sir,” replied Conseil, “that I never reckoned on getting the prize;
“先生，如果我被允许说，”康塞伊回答说，” 我从来没有指望得到这份奖金； —

and, had the government of the Union offered a hundred thousand dollars, it would have been none the poorer.”
而且，就算美利坚合众国政府提供了十万美元，它也不会因此变得穷困潦倒。”

“You are right, Conseil. It is a foolish affair after all, and one upon which we entered too lightly.
“你是对的，康塞伊。这毕竟是一件愚蠢的事情，我们参与其中也太轻率了。 —

What time lost, what useless emotions!
浪费了多少时间，多了些无用的情感！ —

We should have been back in France six months ago.”
我们本应在六个月前就回到法国了。”

“In your little room, sir,” replied Conseil, “and in your museum, sir, and I should have already classed all your fossils, sir.
“在你的小房间里，先生，”康塞伊回答说，” 在你的博物馆里，先生，我早就把你的化石都分类好了，先生。 —

And the Babiroussa would have been installed in its cage in the Jardin des Plantes, and have drawn all the curious people of the capital!”
巴比鲁萨也会被放在巴黎植物园的笼子里，并吸引首都的所有好奇心人士！”

“As you say, Conseil. I fancy we shall run a fair chance of being laughed at for our pains.”
“就像你说的那样，康塞尔。我觉得我们有可能因为白费功夫而被人嘲笑。”

“That’s tolerably certain,” replied Conseil, quietly;
“那几乎是确定的了，”康塞尔平静地回答， —

“I think they will make fun of you, sir. And, must I say it?”
“我觉得他们会取笑您，先生。我必须这么说吗？”

“Go on, my good friend.”
“请说吧，我亲爱的朋友。”

“Well, sir, you will only get your deserts.”
“嗯，先生，您只会得到应有的结果。”

“Indeed!”
“真的吗！”

“When one has the honour of being a savant as you are, sir, one should not expose one’s self to——”
“当一个人像您这样有荣幸成为一个学者时，不应该让自己暴露于——”

Conseil had not time to finish his compliment.
康塞尔还没来得及完成他的称赞。 —

In the midst of general silence a voice had just been heard.
在这片寂静中，突然传来了一声声音。 —

It was the voice of Ned Land shouting—
那是尼德·兰德的声音喊道——

“Look out there! The very thing we are looking for—on our weather beam!”
“当心那边！我们要找的东西——就在我们的风向右舷！”