Slowly wading through the meadows of brit, the Pequod still held on her way north-eastward towards the island of Java; —
慢慢地在不列颠的草地上涉水前行，皮克瓦德仍然沿着东北方向向爪哇岛航行； —

a gentle air impelling her keel, so that in the surrounding serenity her three tall tapering masts mildly waved to that languid breeze, as three mild palms on a plain. —
轻柔的微风推动着她的龙骨，在周围的宁静中，她那三根高高的纤细桅杆温和地随着慵懒的微风摇摆着，像平原上的三棵温和的棕榈树一样。 —

And still, at wide intervals in the silvery night, the lonely, alluring jet would be seen.
而在银白色的夜晚，依旧可以看到寂寞而诱人的喷射。

But one transparent blue morning, when a stillness almost preternatural spread over the sea, however unattended with any stagnant calm; —
但是有一天透明的蓝色清晨，当大海上弥漫着一种几乎超自然的寂静，虽然没有出现任何停滞的平静； —

when the long burnished sun-glade on the waters seemed a golden finger laid across them, enjoining some secrecy; —
当长长的太阳光在水面上闪耀，好像是一根金色的手指横穿其间，蕴含着某种秘密的使命； —

when the slippered waves whispered together as they softly ran on; —
当拖着拖鞋的波浪轻轻交谈着奔跑时； —

in this profound hush of the visible sphere a strange spectre was seen by Daggoo from the main-mast-head.
在这片可见的宇宙深处的深沉寂静中，达古从主桅头上看到了一个奇怪的幽灵。

In the distance, a great white mass lazily rose, and rising higher and higher, and disentangling itself from the azure, at last gleamed before our prow like a snow-slide, new slid from the hills. —
在远处，一团白色的大块慢慢地升起，越来越高，从湛蓝中脱颖而出，在我们的船首前闪耀着，就像新从山上滑下的雪崩。 —

Thus glistening for a moment, as slowly it subsided, and sank. —
在它缓缓下沉和消失之前，闪闪发光。 —

Then once more arose, and silently gleamed. It seemed not a whale; and yet is this Moby Dick? —
然后又一次升起，无声地闪耀着。它似乎不是一只鲸；但这就是白鲸梅比·迪克吗？ —

thought Daggoo. Again the phantom went down, but on re-appearing once more, with a stiletto-like cry that startled every man from his nod, the negro yelled out–“There! —
Daggoo想。幻影再次消失下去，但再次出现时，发出了像匕首一样的尖叫声，震惊了每个人，黑人喊道——“看！ —

there again! there she breaches! right ahead! —
又见！它又跃出水面了！就在正前方！ —

The White Whale, the White Whale!”
那头白鲸，白鲸！”

Upon this, the seamen rushed to the yard-arms, as in swarming-time the bees rush to the boughs. —
听到这个，水手们纷纷冲到桅杆上，就像蜜蜂在繁忙季节涌向树枝。 —

Bare-headed in the sultry sun, Ahab stood on the bowsprit, and with one hand pushed far behind in readiness to wave his orders to the helmsman, cast his eager glance in the direction indicated aloft by the outstretched motionless arm of Daggoo.
阿哈布赤着头站在船头的跨梁上，一只手伸向后方，随时准备指挥舵手，急切地朝达古伸出的静止的胳膊指示的方向扫视。

Whether the flitting attendance of the one still and solitary jet had gradually worked upon Ahab, so that he was now prepared to connect the ideas of mildness and repose with the first sight of the particular whale he pursued; —
那一只还在游动的孤独鲸的一直轻巧的陪伴，也许让阿哈布渐渐将温和与宁静的想法与他追捕的那头特别的鲸连接起来； —

however this was, or whether his eagerness betrayed him; —
无论如何，或者是他的急切泄露了他； —

whichever way it might have been, no sooner did he distinctly perceive the white mass, than with a quick intensity he instantly gave orders for lowering.
无论是如何，一旦他清楚地看到那一团白色的物体，他就迅速而强烈地立即下令降下。

The four boats were soon on the water; Ahab’s in advance, and all swiftly pulling towards their prey. Soon it went down, and while, with oars suspended, we were awaiting its reappearance, lo! —
四艘小船很快下水；阿哈布的小船领先，所有的小船都迅速向猎物驶去。很快鲸下去了，当我们悬停着桨等待它再次出现时，哎呀！ —

in the same spot where it sank, once more it slowly rose. —
在它沉下去的同一处，它又慢慢地升起。 —

Almost forgetting for the moment all thoughts of Moby Dick, we now gazed at the most wondrous phenomenon which the secret seas have hitherto revealed to mankind. —
几乎忘记了梅比·迪克的思想，我们现在凝视着海洋中迄今为止向人类显露的最奇妙的现象。 —

A vast pulpy mass, furlongs in length and breadth, of a glancing cream-color, lay floating on the water, innumerable long arms radiating from its centre, and curling and twisting like a nest of anacondas, as if blindly to clutch at any hapless object within reach. —
一团巨大的浆糊状物，长宽数英里，闪闪发光的奶油色，漂浮在水面上，无数的长臂从中心辐射出来，如同无数条蟒蛇般蜿蜒盘旋，似乎盲目地伸向范围内的任何不幸物体。 —

No perceptible face or front did it have; no conceivable token of either sensation or instinct; —
它没有可察觉的面孔或正面；没有感知或本能的可想象的迹象； —

but undulated there on the billows, an unearthly, formless, chance-like apparition of life.
但在波涛之上起伏，一种超自然、无形、像机缘一样的生命幻象。

As with a low sucking sound it slowly disappeared again, Starbuck still gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice exclaimed–“Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, than to have seen thee, thou white ghost!”
当它缓缓消失时，还发出低沉的吸入声，斯塔巴克仍然凝视着它下沉的激荡水面，带着狂热的声音喊道——“我宁可见到白鲸梅比·迪克并与它搏斗，也不愿见到你，你这个白色幽灵！”

“What was it, Sir?” said Flask.
“那是什么，先生？”弗拉斯克问道。

“The great live squid, which, they say, few whale-ships ever beheld, and returned to their ports to tell of it.”
“那是大型活章鱼，据说很少有鲸船看到，并且回港告知。”

But Ahab said nothing; turning his boat, he sailed back to the vessel; —
但艾哈布什么也没说；他转向小船，驶回船上； —

the rest as silently following.
其余人默默跟随。

Whatever superstitions the sperm whalemen in general have connected with the sight of this object, certain it is, that a glimpse of it being so very unusual, that circumstance has gone far to invest it with portentousness. —
尽管所有抓鲸人与这种物体的视觉联系所具有的任何迷信，它却是如此罕见，以至于这一情况已经摇身一变成为不祥之兆。 —

So rarely is it beheld, that though one and all of them declare it to be the largest animated thing in the ocean, yet very few of them have any but the most vague ideas concerning its true nature and form; —
它如此罕见，尽管他们个个声称它是海洋中最大的有生命的东西，但他们中很少有人对它的真正本质和形态有任何除了最模糊的想法； —

notwithstanding, they believe it to furnish to the sperm whale his only food. —
尽管如此，他们相信它提供鲸鱼唯一的食物。 —

For though other species of whales find their food above water, and may be seen by man in the act of feeding, the spermaceti whale obtains his whole food in unknown zones below the surface; —
虽然其他种类的鲸类在水面上找到它们的食物，并且人们可以看到它们在觅食的过程中，而头部抹香鲸则在水下未知区域获得全部食物； —

and only by inference is it that any one can tell of what, precisely, that food consists. —
只有通过推断，有人才能说出关于这种食物究竟是什么。 —

At times, when closely pursued, he will disgorge what are supposed to be the detached arms of the squid; —
有时，在遭到紧密追逐时，它会呕吐出被认为是鱿鱼分离的触手； —

some of them thus exhibited exceeding twenty and thirty feet in length. —
有些触手如此展示，长度超过二十至三十英尺。 —

They fancy that the monster to which these arms belonged ordinarily clings by them to the bed of the ocean; —
他们想象这些触手所属的怪物通常会以它们紧贴海床。 —

and that the sperm whale, unlike other species, is supplied with teeth in order to attack and tear it.
那只海豹鲸，与其他物种不同，具有牙齿来攻击和撕裂猎物。

There seems some ground to imagine that the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan may ultimately resolve itself into Squid. The manner in which the Bishop describes it, as alternately rising and sinking, with some other particulars he narrates, in all this the two correspond. —
似乎有理由认为Pontoppodan主教所谓的巨大的Kraken最终可能会变成鱿鱼。主教描述的方式，它时而上升时而下沉，以及他叙述的其他一些细节，所有这些都相符。 —

But much abatement is necessary with respect to the incredible bulk he assigns it.
但是，关于他赋予它的不可思议的庞大体积，需要有很大的减少。

By some naturalists who have vaguely heard rumors of the mysterious creature, here spoken of, it is included among the class of cuttle-fish, to which, indeed, in certain external respects it would seem to belong, but only as the Anak of the tribe.
有些自然学家所谓传闻中的神秘生物，被包括在所谓的乌贼类中，它在某些外部特征上似乎确实属于这一类别，但只是该类别中的巨人。