away, whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow — wife? wife? — rather a widow with her husband alive? Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow, with which, for a thousand lowerings old Ahab has furiously, foamingly chased his prey — more a demon than a man! — aye, aye! what a forty years' fool — fool — old fool, has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? how the richer or better is Ahab now? Behold. Oh, Starbuck! is it not hard, that with this weary load I bear, one poor leg should have been snatched from under me? Here, brush this old hair aside; it blinds me, that I seem to weep. Locks so grey did never grow but from out some ashes! But do I look very old, so very, very old, Starbuck? I feel deadly faint, bowed, and humped, as though I were Adam, staggering beneath the piled centuries since Paradise. God! God! God! — crack my heart! — stave my brain! — mockery! mockery!
走了，远走重洋，离开我那过了五十岁才结婚的年轻妻子，第二天出发到合恩角去，只在我结婚的枕头上留下了一个凹痕——妻子？妻子？——还不如说是在守活寡！唉，斯达巴克，我一跟她结婚，就叫那个可怜的姑娘守寡；于是，疯呀，狂呀，热血呀，汗水直冒的额头呀，亚哈老头就这样放下了无数次的小艇，愤怒凶狂地去追击他的猎物——简直不是个人，而是个恶魔！——唉，唉！亚哈老头可过了四十年多么傻瓜——傻瓜——老傻瓜的生活呀！干吗要这样拚命的追击？又干吗要这样不怕疲累，不怕双手发麻地扳桨？拿标枪，拿捕鲸枪呢？亚哈现在可发了财，可过得好些？斯达巴克啊，你瞧！我背着这么个发腻的包袱，可怜一条腿又给搞掉了，这不艰苦吗？喏，给我把这簇老发撩开吧；它弄得我看不见了，弄得我象是要哭了。这么灰白的头发，决不是长出来的，而是打什么灰堆里出来的！可是，斯达巴克，我可显得很老，非常非常的老了吗？我觉得极其乏力，腰弯，背曲，好象我是打乐园时代起便蹒蹒跚跚地走了不知多少年代的亚当。天啊！天啊！天啊！——费尽我的心机，——绞尽我的脑汁！——滑稽！滑稽！