英語聽書《白鯨記》第336期

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I freely assert, that the cosmopolite philosophercannot, for his life, point out one single peacefulinfluence, which within the last sixty years hasoperated more potentially upon the whole broadworld, taken in one aggregate, than the high andmighty business of whaling. One way and another, ithas begotten events so remarkable in themselves,and so continuously momentous in theirsequential issues, that whaling may well beregarded as that Egyptian mother, who bore offspring themselves pregnant from her womb.It would be a hopeless, endless task to catalogue all these things. Let a handful suffice. Formany years past the whale-ship has been the pioneer in ferreting out the remotest and leastknown parts of the earth. She has explored seas and archipelagoes which had no chart, whereno Cooke or Vancouver had ever sailed. If American and European men-of-war now peacefullyride in once savage harbors, let them fire salutes to the honor and glory of the whale-ship,which originally showed them the way, and first interpreted between them and the savages.They may celebrate as they will the heroes of Exploring Expeditions, your Cookes, YourKrusensterns; but I say that scores of anonymous Captains have sailed out of Nantucket, thatwere as great, and greater, than your Cooke and your Krusenstern. For in their succorlessempty-handedness, they, in the heathenish sharked waters, and by the beaches of unrecorded,javelin islands, battled with virgin wonders and terrors that Cooke with all his marines andmuskets would not willingly have willingly dared. All that is made such a flourish of in theold South Sea Voyages, those things were but the life-time commonplaces of our heroicNantucketers. Often, adventures which Vancouver dedicates three chapters to, these menaccounted unworthy of being set down in the ship's common log. Ah, the world! Oh, theworld!

我可以直率的斷言,具有世界權威的哲學家,無論如何也不能指出在過去六十年來,有一種比聲勢浩大的捕鯨業(yè)更能影響整個世界的穩(wěn)健的勢力?？傊?捕鯨業(yè)本身已經產生出了許多意義非常重大的事件,而且在它連續(xù)的發(fā)展中又不斷有重大事件出現(xiàn),使得捕鯨業(yè)足以被認為是能夠自己懷孕傳宗接代的埃及人的母親。要把這種種事情一一羅列出來,那真是一件做不完做不盡的工作。只要提出幾樁來也就夠了。過去許多年來,捕鯨船已經成為探出地球上最荒僻。最不為人所知的地區(qū)的先鋒隊了。它探查出了許多地圖上所找不到的。庫克和范庫弗的船只從來沒有到過的海洋和群島。如果現(xiàn)在歐美的兵艦能夠平平安安地駛到那些曾經是蠻荒的港埠,請他們先對那些原來為他們開路的。首先在他們與野人間充當翻譯的捕鯨船只鳴炮致敬吧。他們盡可以把你們那些庫克,那些克魯生斯丹恩俄國第一個環(huán)游世界的海軍大將。他在一八○三年作首次環(huán)球航行,想探出俄國到中國的航線,三年結果,發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些島嶼,并以太平洋上一些島嶼命名為克魯生斯丹恩群島,又稱愛露群島。)歌頌為探險隊的英雄;但是,我卻認為無數(shù)從南塔開特來的佚名的船長們,才是偉大的,而且是比你們的庫克和克魯生斯丹恩更要偉大的英雄。因為,他們曾經赤手空拳。孤立無援地在蠻荒的噬人的海洋中,在地圖上所找不到的。滿布荊棘的島嶼的河灘邊,跟那些為庫克和他所有的船舶以及滑膛槍所決不敢面對的原始奇跡與恐怖苦斗過。凡是在古代的南海航行中顯得非常了不起的事情,在我們這些英勇的南塔開特人看來,都完全是平淡無奇的事情。范庫弗大書特書的一些冒險事情,往往是南塔開特人認為不配登入船只的普通航海日志上的事情。人生啊!人生啊!