As Queequeg and I are now fairly embarked in this business of whaling; and as this business of whaling has somehow come to be regarded among landsmen as a rather unpoetical and disreputable pursuit; therefore, I am all anxiety to convince ye, ye landsmen, of the injustice hereby done to us hunters of whales.
因为我和魁魁格现在都顺利地参加了捕鲸这一行业;又因为捕鲸这个行业,不知怎地,总被陆地人看成是一种颇为缺乏诗意而又声名狼藉的职业;因此,我真急于要使你们,要使你们这些陆地人,认识到对我们这些猎鲸者的这种看法是不公道的。
In the first place, it may be deemed almost superfluous to establish the fact, that among people at large, the business of whaling is not accounted on a level with what are called the liberal professions. If a stranger were introduced into any miscellaneous metropolitan society, it would but slightly advance the general opinion of his merits, were he presented to the company as a harpooneer, say; and if in emulation of the naval officers he should append the initials S.W.F. (Sperm Whale Fishery) to his visiting card, such a procedure would be deemed preeminently presuming and ridiculous.
要澄清这一事实,首先也许会被认为简直是多余的,因为一般人并不把捕鲸业看作是同那所谓自由职业相等的。如果把一个陌生人引进到大城市任何性质的交际界中,比如说,如果把他你为一个标枪手介绍给交际场的人,那是只会引起大家对他訾议一番而已,而如果他也仿效一般海军官员的做法,在他的名片上印上他的职号的简称字母Ｓ．Ｗ．Ｆ．(捕抹香鲸业),那么,这般作法准会被人们认为非常放肆荒唐。
Doubtless one leading reason why the world declines honoring us whalemen, is this: they think that, at best, our vocation amounts to a butchering sort of business; and that when actively engaged therein, we are surrounded by all manner of defilements. Butchers we are, that is true. But butchers, also, and butchers of the bloodiest badge have been all Martial Commanders whom the world invariably delights to honor. And as for the matter of the alleged uncleanliness of our business, ye shall soon be initiated into certain facts hitherto pretty generally unknown, and which, upon the whole, will triumphantly plant the sperm whale-ship at least among the cleanliest things of this tidy earth. But even granting the charge in question to be true; what disordered slippery decks of a whale-ship are comparable to the unspeakable carrion of those battle-fields from which so many soldiers return to drink in all ladies' plaudits?
毫无疑问,世人之所以不肯尊敬我们这些捕鲸者,主要的理由就是:他们都认为,我们这个职业充其量也不过是等于一种屠宰业;认为凡是实际从事这一行业的,都难免沾有各式各样的污秽。不错,我们的确是屠夫。但是,同是屠夫,那些嗜杀成性的屠夫却都做了大将,世人还都一定尊敬他们。至于说到我们这一行业之所谓不干净,那么立刻就可以教你接触到一些迄今不很受世人普遍了解的事实,而且,这些事实,一般说来,还至少可以得意洋洋地将捕抹香鲸的船只列为这个干净的人间的最干净的东西呢。不过,话得说回来,就算这种非难是千真万确的,捕鲸船的杂乱无章的滑溜溜的甲板,怎么比得过那摆着许多说不出的臭尸的战场?