聽著,朋友,我說,你要是有什么重要的事情要跟我們說,就說出來,不過,如果你只想哄騙我們的話,那你可耍錯了把戲啦;我必須說的就是這些。
And it's said very well, and I like to hear a chap talkup that way; you are just the man for him--the likesof ye. Morning to ye, shipmates, morning! Oh! whenye get there, tell 'em I've concluded not to make oneof 'em.
這說得很不錯,我喜歡聽人家用這種方式說話;你正是他要的人。你這樣的人。祝你們早安,船友們,早安!啊,你們到那邊的時候,請跟他們說,我已經(jīng)決定不做他們的水手嘍。
Ah, my dear fellow, you can't fool us that way-you can't fool us. It is the easiest thing in theworld for a man to look as if he had a great secret in him.
噲,我親愛的朋友,你用這種方法是哄不了我們的。你哄不了我們。人生在世最容易做的事,就是裝得象個渾身有什么了不起的秘密那樣。
Morning to ye, shipmates, morning.
祝你們早上好,船友們,早上好。
Morning it is, said I. Come along, Queequeg, let's leave this crazy man. But stop, tell me yourname, will you?Elijah.
今兒早上本來就很好么,我說。走吧,魁魁格,咱們還是丟開這癡子吧。不過且慢,請你告訴我,你叫什么名字,好嗎?以利亞。
Elijah! thought I, and we walked away, both commenting, after each other's fashion, upon thisragged old sailor; and agreed that he was nothing but a humbug, trying to be a bugbear. Butwe had not gone perhaps above a hundred yards, when chancing to turn a corner, and lookingback as I did so, who should be seen but Elijah following us, though at a distance. Somehow,the sight of him struck me so, that I said nothing to Queequeg of his being behind, but passedon with my comrade, anxious to see whether the stranger would turn the same corner that wedid. He did; and then it seemed to me that he was dogging us, but with what intent I couldnot for the life of me imagine. This circumstance, coupled with his ambiguous, half-hinting,half-revealing, shrouded sort of talk, now begat in me all kinds of vague wonderments andhalf-apprehensions, and all connected with the Pequod; and Captain Ahab; and the leg he hadlost; and the Cape Horn fit; and the silver calabash; and what Captain Peleg had said of him,when I left the ship the day previous; and the prediction of the squaw Tistig; and the voyagewe had bound ourselves to sail; and a hundred other shadowy things.
以利亞!我想一想后,我們便走了,我們兩人都對這個衣衫襤褸的老水手說出各自的看法來;最后一致認為,他不過是個騙子,想嚇唬嚇唬人而已。但是,我們也許還走不上一百碼地,剛要拐彎的時候,我回頭一看,卻又看到了以利亞在遠處跟著我們了。不知怎的,我一看到他,就心里一撞,我也不對魁魁格說他還跟在后面,只是和我的同伴繼續(xù)地走著,一心又想看看這陌生人是不是還跟我們同樣拐彎。他拐彎了,于是我認為,他是在跟蹤我們了,但是,他究竟有什么意圖,我卻死也想不出。這種情形,加上他那含含糊糊。半暗示。半揭露,躲躲閃閃的談話方式,一下子使我產(chǎn)生各種講不清楚的驚異和信疑參半的想法,而且全都聯(lián)系到裴廓德號;亞哈船長;他所失掉的那條腿;合恩角的昏厥;銀葫蘆;以及我上一天離開那條船時,法勒船長對我說的關(guān)于亞哈的那些事情等等;也聯(lián)系到那個蒂斯蒂克老太婆的預(yù)言;聯(lián)系到我們自己已經(jīng)答應(yīng)出航的航程以及其它許多朦朦朧朧的事情。