by considerations touching the great inherent dignity and sublimity of the Sperm Whale; 我是由于考虑到抹香鲸本身具有无限威严与雄壮的气概，而不得不下这个结论的；

I account him no common, shallow being, 我认为它不是普通浅薄的东西，

inasmuch as it is an undisputed fact that he is never found on soundings, or near shores; all other whales sometimes are. 因为，无可争辩的，它决不象其它一般鲸那样，可以在水深的地方或者在岸边让人们发现到。

He is both ponderous and profound. 它是既稳重又具有深谋远虑的动物。

And I am convinced that from the heads of all ponderous profound beings, such as Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, Jupiter, Dante, and so on, 我认为，在一切既稳重而又有深谋远虑的人们的脑袋里，象柏拉图，皮洛（怀疑主义的始创者），阎王，天神，但丁（意大利诗人）等等，

there always goes up a certain semi-visible steam, while in the act of thinking deep thoughts. 当他们正在思索奥妙的问题时，总会冒起一股隐约可见的雾气来。

While composing a little treatise on Eternity, I had the curiosity to place a mirror before me; 我在构思一篇《论灵魂不灭》的小文章的时候，就曾经好奇地在我面前摆着一面镜子；

and ere long saw reflected there, a curious involved worming and undulation in the atmosphere over my head. 于是，不久就看到那里面反映出：一阵古怪的烟气在我头顶四周缭绕起伏。

The invariable moisture of my hair, while plunged in deep thought, after six cups of hot tea in my thin shingled attic, of an August noon; 我在八月的正午，在我那间简陋的阁楼里，喝了六大杯热茶后沉思苦想时，头发里就一定是湿漉漉的；

this seems an additional argument for the above supposition. 这似乎又为上边的假设增添一个论据了。

And how nobly it raises our conceit of the mighty, misty monster, to behold him solemnly sailing through a calm tropical sea; 看到大鲸威风十足地游过热带那种风平浪静的海洋时，这只魁梧而迷蒙蒙的巨兽，可一下子教我们激起了多么壮丽的幻想。

his vast, mild head overhung by a canopy of vapor, engendered by his incommunicable contemplations, 在它那硕大、柔和的头顶，由于它那无法言传的沉思默想而挂着一顶雾气重重的华盖，

and that vapor— as you will sometimes see it—glorified by a rainbow, as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts.  而那种雾气——你有时看得到——又被虹彩照耀得光辉灿烂，仿佛上天已经批准它的思想似的。