and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter,  可是，他们控制这件事情却可以说是巧妙得出奇，

　　that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod's main-mast.  而且他们之间都能保守秘密，所以从来没有传到“裴廓德号”的主桅以后的地方去。

　　Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, 等到这个故事在船上公开出来的时候，人们把一些隐秘的线索给织进原来的故事里，

　　the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record. 我现在打算把这整个奇特的故事弄成一种垂之久远的记录。

　　Footnote：Town-Ho—The ancient whale-cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head, still used by whalemen in hunting the famous Gallipagos terrapin. End of footnote. （原注：这是古代捕鲸者在桅顶上一看到大鲸就叫出来的呼号，迄今仍为那些捕著名的卡利巴哥斯鳖的捕鲸船所应用。）

　　For my humor's sake, I shall preserve the style in which I once narrated it at Lima,  为了我的幽默，我还是保持我某回在利马所讲的那种方式，

　　to a lounging circle of my Spanish friends, one saint's eve, smoking upon the thick-gilt tiled piazza of the Golden Inn. 当时是在某一圣节的前夕，在幸福客店那重镶金色瓦片的。 烟雾缭绕的走廊上，对我那些懒洋洋的坐在一圈的西班牙朋友讲的。

　　Of those fine cavaliers, the young Dons, Pedro and Sebastian, were on the closer terms with me;  在这些漂亮的骑士中，有两个青年绅士，佩德罗和塞瓦斯蒂安，是我的至交；

　　and hence the interluding questions they occasionally put, and which are duly answered at the time. 因此，他们偶尔插进一些问题来，我也随时给以适当的答复。

　　Qoute: Some two years prior to my first learning the events which I am about rehearsing to you, gentlemen, “各位先生，在我初次得知这故事——也就是我现在要向你们讲的这个故事——约两年前左右，那时候，

　　the Town-Ho, Sperm Whaler of Nantucket, was cruising in your Pacific here, not very many days' sail eastward from the eaves of this good Golden Inn.  那艘叫做‘大鲸出来了号’的南塔开特捕抹香鲸船，正在你们这里的太平洋巡游，也就是从这个讨人喜欢的幸福客店的门口，坐船向西驶上不消几天就可到达的地方。