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"Wet the line! wet the line!" cried Stubb to the tub oarsman (him seated by the tub) who, snatching off his hat, dashed the sea-water into it. More turns were taken, so that the line began holding its place. The boat now flew through the boiling water like a shark all fins. Stubb and Tashtego here changed places—stem for stern—a staggering business truly in that rocking commotion.
“把索子弄湿！把索子弄湿！”斯塔布对那个管小桶的桨手嚷着（他就坐在小桶旁边），那个人急忙抓下帽子，把海水舀在帽子里。再绕几圈后，捕鲸索就开始恢复原状了。现在，这只小艇象条挺起所有的鱼鳍的鲨鱼一般，飞也似的穿过滚滚的浪涛。这会儿，斯塔布和塔斯蒂哥对换了座位——把艇头艇梢的地位对调一下——在那样颠颠簸簸的大混乱里，这倒确实是桩非常了不起的事儿。
Partly to show the indispensableness of this act, it may here be stated, that, in the old Dutch fishery, a mop was used to dash the running line with water; in many other ships, a wooden piggin, or bailer, is set apart for that purpose. Your hat, however, is the most convenient.
（原注:为了表示这种做法是不可缺少的，这里必须说明一下，在古代的荷兰捕鱼业中，有一支拖把专用来给滚动的捕鲸索泼水；但在其它许多船只中，却单独置有一种木勺子，或者一只小水桶。不过，帽子却是最方便的。）
From the vibrating line extending the entire length of the upper part of the boat, and from its now being more tight than a harpstring, you would have thought the craft had two keels—one cleaving the water, the other the air—as the boat churned on through both opposing elements at once. A continual cascade played at the bows; a ceaseless whirling eddy in her wake; and, at the slightest motion from within, even but of a little finger, the vibrating, cracking craft canted over her spasmodic gunwale into the sea.
从那根拉扯着这只小艇的整个上半部的震颤的捕鲸索，又从它现在绷得比竖琴弦还更紧的情况看来，你准会以为这只小艇有两条龙骨——一条在海里破浪前进，一条在向天空猛冲——因为这只小艇正同时朝两个相反的空间突进。一阵小瀑布在船头不住奔泻；船梢又是个不停旋卷的涡流；因此，艇里只消轻轻一动，哪怕只要弹一弹小指头，这只震颤不停、咯咯作响的小艇就会把它那患中风症似的船舷翻进海里去。
