Shifting the barrow from my hand to his, he told me a funny story about the first wheelbarrow he had ever seen.
独轮车由我手里转到他手里时,魁魁格给我讲了一个关于他第一次见到独轮车的故事。
It was in Sag Harbor. The owners of his ship, it seems, had lent him one, in which to carry his heavy chest to his boarding house.
在萨格港,船主借给他一辆独轮车,让他装行李。此前,对于独轮车,他是闻所未闻见所未见的,
Not to seem ignorant about the thing—though in truth he was entirely so, concerning the precise way in which to manage the barrow—Queequeg puts his chest upon it;lashes it fast; and then shoulders the barrow and marches up the wharf.
但为了不让别人看出他是个生手,他就把行李结结实实地捆在小车上,然后运足力气一下子就把小车扛到了肩上,大步流星地走上了码头。
"Why," said I, "Queequeg, you might have known better than that, one would think. Didn't the people laugh?"
“啊,魁魁格,你就这么走到的客店?” 我几乎笑出声来。
Upon this, he told me another story.
他又给我讲了一个故事。
The people of his island of Rokovoko, it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water of young cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl;
说的是他们那个岛上的事。岛上的人,在结婚时,要把从嫩椰子里挤出来的椰汁,滴到一个大葫芦里,
and this punchbowl always forms the great central ornament on the braided mat where the feast is held.
然后把这个大葫芦放在桌子上最显眼的位置上。
Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commanderfrom all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain—this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.
一次,一条大船靠了岸。一位绅士派头的船长被邀请参加魁魁格妹妹的婚礼,他的妹妹当时刚满十周岁。
Well; when all the wedding guests were assembled at the bride's bamboo cottage, this Captain marches in, and being assigned the post of honour, placed himself over against the punchbowl, and between the High Priest and his majesty the King, Queequeg's father.
船长被请到了上席,面前正摆着那只大葫芦,两旁分别坐着魁魁格的父亲和叔叔。
Grace being said,—for those people have their grace as well as we—though Queequeg told me that unlike us, who at such times look downwards to our platters, they, on the contrary, copying the ducks, glance upwards to the great Giver of all feasts—Grace,
做过饭前祷告—岛上的人做饭前祷告不像我们俯对杯盘,而是仰起脸来,
I say, being said, the High Priest opens the banquet by the immemorial ceremony of the island;
但做祷告则有共同点—祭司长便宣布婚筵开始了。
that is, dipping his consecrated and consecrating fingers into the bowl before the blessed beverage circulates.
按照这个岛国的习俗,祭司长要把他的神圣的手指往那还未向客人敬酒的喜酒壶里浸一浸。