英語聽書《白鯨記》第521期
Besides, the English whalers sometimes affect a kind of metropolitan superiority over the American whalers; regarding the long, lean Nantucketer, with his nondesCript provincialisms, as a sort of sea-peasant. But where this superiority in the English whaleman does really consist, it would be hard to say, seeing that the Yankees in one day, collectively, kill more whales than all the English, collectively, in ten years. But this is a harmless little foible in the English whale-hunters, which the Nantucketer does not take much to heart; probably,because he knows that he has a few foibles himself.
此外，英國的捕鯨者往往要裝出一副比美國捕鯨者優(yōu)越的大都市氣派，把那種帶著形容不出的鄉(xiāng)土氣的瘦長的南塔開特人，看做是一種水上農(nóng)民。但是，究竟英國的捕鯨者有些什么可稱優(yōu)越的地方，也很難說，因?yàn)閾P(yáng)基們一天里總共所打的鯨，可就超過英國人十年所打的總數(shù)。不過，英國捕鯨者這種關(guān)系不大的小缺點(diǎn)，南塔開特人倒也不很計較；大概是因?yàn)槟纤_特人也知道他們自己有些缺點(diǎn)吧。
So, then, we see that of all ships separately sailing the sea, the whalers have most reason to be sociable--and they are so. Whereas, some merchant ships crossing each other's wake in the mid-Atlantic, will oftentimes pass on without so much as a single word of recognition, mutually cutting each other on the high seas, like a brace of dandies in Broadway; and all the time indulging, perhaps, in finical Criticism upon each other's rig. As for Men-of-War, when they chance to meet at sea, they first go through such a string of silly bowings and scrapings, such a ducking of ensigns, that there does not seem to be much right-down hearty good-will and brotherly love about it at all. As touching Slave-ships meeting, why, they are in such a prodigious hurry, they run away from each other as soon as possible.
那么，我們就此可以看到，在一切航行于海洋上的各種船只中，捕鯨船應(yīng)該算是最講交情的了——事實(shí)上，它們也是這樣。反之，那些在大西洋中彼此相值的商船，卻往往是連一聲招呼也不打就擦身而過，在公海上彼此裝著沒有看見，就跟兩個花花公子在百老匯大街上擦身而過一樣，而且也許還始終愛對彼此的船式裝備作番吹毛求疵的評頭品足呢。至于說到兵艦，當(dāng)他們偶爾在海上相遇的時候，他們首先得做完那么一連串邊鞠躬邊將腳往后一退的傻里傻氣的動作，又得那么略微降旗，根本就叫人看不出有什么坦率真誠的親善友愛。談到販賣奴隸船的相遇吧，哼，他們可才慌張呢，他們巴不得彼此能快些逃開。
