英语听书《白鲸记》 第38期

But savages are strange beings; at times you do notknow exactly how to take them. At first they areoverawing; their calm self-collectedness ofsimplicity seems a Socratic wisdom. I had noticedalso that Queequeg never consorted at all, or butvery little, with the other seamen in the inn. Hemade no advances whatever; appeared to have nodesire to enlarge the circle of his acquaintances. Allthis struck me as mighty singular; yet, uponsecond thoughts, there was something almostsublime in it. Here was a man some twentythousand miles from home, by the way of Cape Horn, that is—which was the only way he couldget there—thrown among people as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter;and yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; content with his owncompanionship; always equal to himself. Surely this was a touch of fine philosophy; though nodoubt he had never heard there was such a thing as that. But, perhaps, to be true philosophers,we mortals should not be conscious of so living or so striving. So soon as I hear that such orsuch a man gives himself out for a philosopher, I conclude that, like the dyspeptic oldwoman, he must have "broken his digester."

As I sat there in that now lonely room; the fire burning low, in that mild stage when, after itsfirst intensity has warmed the air, it then only glows to be looked at; the evening shades andphantoms gathering round the casements, and peering in upon us silent, solitary twain; thestorm booming without in solemn swells; I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt amelting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against thewolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it. There he sat, his very indifferencespeaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits. Wild he was;a very sight of sights to see; yet I began to feel myself mysteriously drawn towards him. Andthose same things that would have repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thusdrew me. I'll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollowcourtesy. I drew my bench near him, and made some friendly signs and hints, doing my bestto talk with him meanwhile. At first he little noticed these advances; but presently, upon myreferring to his last night's hospitalities, he made out to ask me whether we were again to bebedfellows. I told him yes; whereat I thought he looked pleased, perhaps a little complimented.

We then turned over the book together, and I endeavored to explain to him the purpose of theprinting, and the meaning of the few pictures that were in it. Thus I soon engaged his interest;and from that we went to jabbering the best we could about the various outer sights to be seenin this famous town.