That done, if it belong to a small whale it is hoisted on deck to be deliberately disposed of. But, with a full grown leviathan this is impossible; 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.
这样做后，如果是一条小鲸，那就把它的头拖上甲板来，以后再慢慢处理。不过，如果是一只茁壮的大海兽，就不能这样做了，因为抹香鲸的头差不多要占它整个身躯的三分之一，要把这样重的东西给完全吊上来，即使用捕鲸船里的巨大的复滑车也办不到，这正如想用珠宝店里的厘秤去称荷兰的牛棚一样的白费。
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. 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; there, that blood-dripping head hung to the Pequod's waist like the giant Holofernes's from the girdle of Judith.
且说"裴廓德号"这条鲸，给斩了头，剥了皮后，人们就把那只头挂在船侧——大约有一半露出在海面上，而还有一大半也许是它自行浮起来的。由于下桅顶给曳得大大地向下宕，这只吃重的大船很陡峭地斜靠在那只头上，于是靠近那一面的每一根桁臂都象鹤脖子一般伸向海面。那只血淋淌滴的吊在"裴廓德号"船腰上的头颅，直象是那个挂在朱狄斯（《圣经。旧约》中第十四篇的所谓"伪经"而不为一般新教徒所信者称：朱狄斯系美丽的犹太寡妇，杀死了亚述人的将领荷洛弗恩于营中，使她的城市得以保全，并将其头颅带到她的城中去。）的腰际的、巨人荷洛弗恩的头。
When this last task was accomplished it was noon, and the seamen went below to their dinner. Silence reigned over the before tumultuous but now deserted deck. An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea.
等到做完了最后这一工作，时间已近午刻了，水手们都到舱里去吃中饭。于是，刚才还是闹哄哄的，现在却已空无一人的甲板上便阒无声动了。一片铿锵有声似的宁静，象一棵黄色的大忘忧树（忘忧树——希腊神话：据说吃它的果实就做极乐梦，忘却了尘世的痛苦。），正在把它那无声无息又不可数计的树叶，越来越多地铺开在海面上。
A short space elapsed, and up into this noiselessness came Ahab alone from his cabin.
隔了不多一会儿，亚哈独自从他的舱房里出来，走上这个无声无息的境域。