Nor are there wanting other motions of the whale in his general body, full of strangeness, and unaccountable to his most experienced assailant. Dissect him how I may, then, I go but skin deep. I know him not, and never will. But if I know not even the tail of this whale, how understand his head? much more, how comprehend his face, when face he has none? Thou shalt see my back parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face shall not be seen. But I cannot completely make out his back parts; and hint what he will about his face, I say again he has no face.
在整个鲸身上,还不乏其它种种动作,在它的最有经验的攻击者看来,它浑身都是奇迹,而且不可理解。那么,象我这样略知皮毛的人,怎能分析它呢。我对它毫无所知,而且永远也摸它不透。不过,如果我连鲸的尾巴都弄不清楚的话,又怎能了解它的头?而且,它本来就没有面孔,更叫我怎能理解它的面孔?它好象在说,你们可以看我的后部,我的尾巴,却不能让你们看见我的面孔。但是,我连它的后部都还没有完全弄清楚哩;那么,随它怎样去显现它的面孔吧,我还是要再说一遍,它是没有面孔的。
Chapter 87 The Grand Armada
第八十七章 大舰队(特指一五八八年西班牙出征英国的舰队)
The long and narrow peninsula of Malacca, extending south-eastward from the territories of Birmah, forms the most southerly point of all Asia. In a continuous line from that peninsula stretch the long islands of Sumatra, Java, Bally, and Timor; which, with many others, form a vast mole, or rampart, lengthwise connecting Asia with Australia, and dividing the long unbroken Indian ocean from the thickly studded oriental archipelagoes. This rampart is pierced by several sally-ports for the convenience of ships and whales; conspicuous among which are the straits of Sunda and Malacca.
狭长的马六甲半岛,从缅甸领土向东南方伸展,形成整个亚洲的极南角。这个半岛象一条连续不断的线,由一长串岛屿组成:苏门答腊岛,爪哇岛,巴厘岛和帝汶岛;这些岛屿连同其它许多岛屿,构成了一条巨大的突堤,或者叫做壁垒,纵连亚澳两洲,把那个野性难驯的大印度洋跟东方那些星罗棋布的群岛给分隔开来。这个壁垒已被一些方便船只和大鲸往来的暗门所洞穿了;其中最惹人注目的就是巽他海峡和马六甲海峡。