英语听书《白鲸记》第505期
Chapter 50 Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah
第五十章 亚哈的小艇和艇员——费达拉
"Who would have thought it, Flask!" CRIed Stubb; "if I had but one leg you would not catch me in a boat, unless maybe to stop the plug-hole with my timber toe. Oh! he's a wonderful old man!"
“谁想得到呀，弗拉斯克！”斯塔布大声说；“我要是只有一条腿，你一定不会在小艇上碰到我，除非是把我的木头做的脚趾头塞在锚链孔里。他可真是个怪老头啊！”
"I don't think it so strange, after all, on that account," said Flask. "If his leg were off at the hip, now,it would be a different thing. That would disable him; but he has one knee, and good part of the other left,you know."
“在这方面，我毕竟认为没有什么奇怪，”弗拉斯克说。“要是他那条腿齐胯断了的话，那自然又是另一回事啦。那准会使他动也动不来；可是，他一条腿还剩下到膝盖的一截，另一条腿是好好的，你知道。”
"I don't know that, my little man; I never yet saw him kneel."
“这个我可不清楚，我的小朋友；我从来还没有看到他跪倒过。”
Among whale-wise people it has often been argued whether, considering the paramount importance of his life to the success of the voyage, it is right for a whaling captain to jeopardize that life in the active perils of the chase. So Tamerlane's soldiers often argued with tears in their eyes, whether that invaluable life ofhis ought to be carried into the thickest of the fight.
在捕鲸行家中，常常有过这样的争论：考虑到捕鲸船长的生命对于航程的成败得失关系极其重大，他是否应该冒生命的危险，亲临追击的险境。这正如铁木儿的战士们常常为铁木儿那非常贵重的生命应否亲临战阵而争辩得眼泪汪汪一样。
But with Ahab the question assumed a modified aspect. Considering that with two legs man is but a hobbling wight in all times of danger; considering that the pursuit of whales is always under great and extraordinary difficulties; that every individual moment, indeed, then comprises a peril; under these circumstances is it wise for any maimed man to enter a whale-boat in the hunt? As a general thing, the joint-owners of the Pequod must have plainly thought not.
但是，这问题对于亚哈说来，却更有所不同。因为长有两条腿的人，在一切危急关头中，也不过是一个趑趄不前的家伙；因为捕鲸工作，往往会碰到种种非同一般的大困难；因为事实上每一分钟都有危险的可能，在这种情况下，让任何一个残废者坐上小艇参加猎击，是明智的吗？一般说来，“裴廓德号”的合伙老板们一定会明白地认为，这决不是明智的。
