the Town-Ho had all but certainly arrived in perfect safety at her port without the occurrence of the least fatality, ‘大鲸出来了号’，随便怎样都不会遭到一点意外，一定能够绝对安全地抵达口岸。”

　　had it not been for the brutal overbearing of Radney, the mate, a Vineyarder,  如果不是那个维因耶德人的大副拉德尼狂妄傲慢，

　　and the bitterly provoked vengeance of Steelkilt, a Lakeman and desperado from Buffalo. 同那个布法罗(这里的湖即指伊利湖。布法罗(在纽约西部的一个市)是伊利湖上的商港。)的湖上人，那个恶棍斯蒂尔基尔特激起复仇之念的话，

　　"Lakeman! Buffalo! Pray, what is a Lakeman, and where is Buffalo?' said Don Sebastian, rising in his swinging mat of grass. “湖上人！野牛！请问，什么叫做湖上人，野牛又是什么地方？塞瓦斯蒂安先生从他那摇摇摆摆的草垫子上立起来问道。

　　On the eastern shore of our Lake Erie, Don; but - I crave your courtesy--may be, you shall soon hear further of all that. “先生，那是在我们的伊利湖的东岸。不过——我请你原谅一下——也许你马上就可以全部都听到了。

　　Now, gentlemen, in square-sail brigs and three-masted ships, well nigh as large and stout as any that ever sailed out of your old Callao to far Manilla; 诸位先生，且说那种横帆二桅船和三桅船，就跟随便哪一艘从你们的古老的卡亚俄(卡亚俄——秘鲁的主要商港。)驶到老远的马尼拉的那种船差不多，又大又结实。

　　this Lakeman, in the land-locked heart of our America,  这个湖上人，虽然生在我们美国那种四面着陆的中心，

　　had yet been nurtured by all those agrarian freebooting impressions popularly connected with the open ocean. 却又是受过那种爱把大海看做可以抢劫的农民观念所熏陶的。

　　For in their interflowing aggregate, those grand fresh-water seas of ours, Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and Superior, and Michigan, 因为我们那些淡水大海——伊利湖，安大略湖，休伦湖，苏必利尔湖和密歇根湖——在它们合流的时候，

　　possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many of the ocean's noblest traits; with many of its rimmed varieties of races and of climes." 就有一种象大洋似的滔滔气派，有大洋许多最高贵的特点，有各式各样相似的人种和风土习俗。