英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)書《白鯨記》第643期
Chapter 71 The Jeroboam's Story
第七十一章 "耶羅波安號(hào)"的故事
Hand in hand, ship and breeze blew on; but the breeze came faster than the ship, and soon the Pequod began to rock.
（耶羅波安——原系以色列王約阿施之子，在撒瑪利亞登基作王四十一年，他"行耶和華眼中看為惡的事"。事見(jiàn)《舊約·列王紀(jì)上》第十二章和《列王紀(jì)下》第五章，這里是船名。）船只跟和風(fēng)，手拉手前進(jìn)；可是，和風(fēng)刮得比船快，不一會(huì)，"裴廓德號(hào)"便搖晃起來(lái)了。
By and by, through the glass the stranger's boats and manned mast-heads proved her a whale-ship. But as she was so far to windward, and shooting by, apparently making a passage to some other ground, the Pequod could not hope to reach her. So the signal was set to see what response would be made.
從望遠(yuǎn)鏡里慢慢地看到那艘陌生船的小艇和桅頂上的人，原來(lái)也是艘捕鯨船。可是，因?yàn)樗€遠(yuǎn)在上風(fēng)那里，而且象箭般穿過(guò)去，顯然是要駛到其它什么漁場(chǎng)去，"裴廓德號(hào)"看來(lái)是不可能趕上它了。于是，只得打起信號(hào)，看看有些什么反應(yīng)。
Here be it said, that like the vessels of military marines, the ships of the American Whale Fleet have each a private signal; all which signals being collected in a book with the names of the respective vessels attached, every captain is provided with it. Thereby, the whale commanders are enabled to recognise each other upon the ocean, even at considerable distance, and with no small facility.
這里應(yīng)該說(shuō)明一下，美國(guó)捕鯨隊(duì)的船只，都象海軍一樣，各有一套私人的信號(hào)，這些信號(hào)連同所屬各船的名稱都收在一本小冊(cè)子里，每個(gè)船長(zhǎng)都備有一冊(cè)。這樣，在海洋上，那些捕鯨船長(zhǎng)，哪怕在相隔很遠(yuǎn)的地方，彼此都能很方便地一認(rèn)就認(rèn)出來(lái)。
The Pequod's signal was at last responded to by the stranger's setting her own; which proved the ship to be the Jeroboam of Nantucket. Squaring her yards, she bore down, ranged abeam under the Pequod's lee, and lowered a boat; it soon drew nigh; but, as the side-ladder was being rigged by Starbuck's order to accommodate the visiting captain, the stranger in question waved his hand from his boat's stern in token of that proceeding being entirely unnecessary.
"裴廓德號(hào)"的信號(hào)終于得到那艘陌生船打起信號(hào)回答了，原來(lái)那艘船就是南塔開(kāi)特的"耶羅波安號(hào)"。它把帆桁扯得跟龍骨和桅檣成直角后，就直駛過(guò)來(lái)，在"裴廓德號(hào)"的后邊打了打橫，放下一只小艇；不一會(huì)兒，小艇就靠攏來(lái)。但是，當(dāng)斯達(dá)巴克下令放下船側(cè)的軟梯，好讓來(lái)訪的船長(zhǎng)登用的時(shí)候，那個(gè)不相識(shí)的陌生人卻在他的艇梢揮起手來(lái)，表示完全不必這樣做。
