英語聽書《白鯨記》第391期

Such large virtue lurks in these small things when extreme political superstitions invest them, that in some royal instances even to idiot imbecility they have imparted potency. But when, as in the case of Nicholas the Czar, the ringed crown of geographical empire encircles an imperial brain; then, the plebeian herds crouch abased before the tremendous centralization. Nor, will the tragic dramatist who would depict mortal indomitableness in its fullest sweep and direct swing, ever forget a hint, incidentally so important in his art, as the one now alluded to.

這些微不足道的東西,一旦加上極端的政治迷信,就有這么的了不起的效力,以致在一些王室的事例中,連大笨伯也給弄得權(quán)力十足了。而且,正如尼古拉沙皇的情形一樣,那頂?shù)乩韺W(xué)上的王國的王冠一箍上那只至尊的腦袋,平民也就自卑地匍伏在那可怕的中央集權(quán)之前了。悲劇家要描摹那種氣勢萬千。不可一世而具有不屈不撓的精神的人物,也始終忘不了這里所說的這種暗示,因?yàn)?這在他的藝術(shù)作品中是有意想不到的重大意義的。

But Ahab, my Captain, still moves before me in all his Nantucket grimness and shagginess; and in this episode touching Emperors and Kings, I must not conceal that I have only to do with a poor old whale-hunter like him; and, therefore, all outward majestical trappings and housings are denied me. Oh, Ahab! what shall be grand in thee, it must needs be plucked at from the skies, and dived for in the deep, and featured in the unbodied air!

不過,出現(xiàn)在我眼前的我的亞哈船長,卻還是帶著南塔開特人的嚴(yán)酷的表情,穿得邋里邋遢;因此,在這個(gè)有關(guān)帝王的插話中,我必須不加隱瞞地承認(rèn),象他這樣的人,我只有把他作為一個(gè)可憐的捕鯨老頭來處理了;因此,一切外表堂皇的服飾和鞍褥都給我摒棄了。亞哈呵!說到你的偉大,真是如天之高,如海之深,如太空之廣漠!