英语听书《白鲸记》第484期（打印版）

Not only that, but the subtle insanity of Ahab respecting Moby Dick was noways more significantly manifested than in his superlative sense and shrewdness in foreseeing that, 不仅如此，这个又机灵又癫狂的亚哈对于莫比－迪克的看法也决不会明显地表现出来，而是运用他那最高的判断力和机灵性预先看出了，

for the present, the hunt should in some way be stripped of that strange imaginative impiousness which naturally invested it; 在目前，应该设法除去那层本来蒙在猎击上的奇特。

that the full terror of the voyage must be kept withdrawn into the obscure background 不可思议的邪恶性的外衣，应该把航行的恐怖性给掩盖起来

(for few men's courage is proof against protracted meditation unrelieved by action); (因为人的勇气抵挡不住为行动所无法解决的长期胡思乱想)，

that when they stood their long night watches, his officers and men must have some nearer things to think of than Moby Dick. 他也看出了当那些大小船员在漫漫长夜中值班的时候，心里所想的一定都是一些私人的事情，决不会想到莫比－迪克。

For however eagerly and impetuously the savage crew had hailed the announcement of his quest; 因为，不管这些野蛮的水手对他所宣布的搜捕鲸鱼计划，报以多么热烈和激动的欢呼；

yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable-- they live in the varying outer weather, 这些包括各式人等的水手，总不免有点反复无常、不可靠——他们生活在变化无常的海洋上，

and they inhale its fickleness-- and when retained for any object remote and blank in the pursuit, 吸到的又是海洋那种变幻无定的气息——既然是雇他们来追击一种缥缈的东西，

however promissory of life and passion in the end, 不论到头来需要付出怎样的生命和热情，

it is above all things requisite that temporary interests and employments should intervene and hold them healthily suspended for the final dash. 那么，目前最需要做的就是公私兼顾，使他们养精蓄锐，以便用于最后一击了。

Nor was Ahab unmindful of another thing. 亚哈也注意到另外一件事情。

In times of strong emotion mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent. 人在情绪激动的时候，虽然不作种种卑劣的打算；可是，这种时分却是倏忽而逝的。

The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man, thought Ahab, is sordidness. 亚哈认为，生来矫揉造作的人始终是卑鄙的。

Granting that the White Whale fully incites the hearts of this my savage crew, 就算白鲸的确已使我这些野蛮的水手的心都跳动起来了，

and playing round their savageness even breeds a certain generous knight-errantism in them, 甚至使他们的野心滋长出一种慷慨好义的侠义行为来；

still, while for the love of it they give chase to Moby Dick, they must also have food for their more common, daily appetites. 然而，为了使他们心甘情愿地去追击莫比－迪克，也还必须满足他们那日常的口腹之需。

For even the high lifted and chivalric Crusaders of old times 因为，哪怕是古代那些情绪激昂，富有骑士风的十字军，

were not content to traverse two thousand miles of land to fight for their holy sepulchre, 他们也不见得会心甘情愿，跋涉二千多英里去为他们那圣墓作战。

without committing burglaries, picking pockets, and gaining other pious perquisites by the way. 要是不让他们顺便干些偷盗，摸摸口袋的勾当，顺便捞到其它一些以宗教为口实的油水的话，

英语听书《白鲸记》第484期（在线收听）