Yet, oh, the great sun is no fixture; and if, at midnight, we would fain snatch some sweet solace from him, we gaze for him in vain! This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still sadly to me. I will quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely."
然而,啊,伟大的太阳可不是始终屹立不动的;如果在午夜时分,我们真想从它那里获取一点温存的安慰的话,那就是望穿了眼,也是徒劳的!这块金币表现得真聪明、柔顺、忠实,可是在我看来,还是有点忧伤。我得赶紧离开它,否则,真理倒要变成谎言了。"
There now's the old Mogul, soliloquized Stubb by the try-works, "he's been twigging it; and there goes Starbuck from the same, and both with faces which I should say might be somewhere within nine fathoms long. And all from looking at a piece of gold, which did I have it now on Negro Hill or in Corlaer's Hook, I'd not look at it very long ere spending it. Humph! in my poor, insignificant opinion, I regard this as queer. I have seen doubloons before now in my voyagings; your doubloons of old Spain, your doubloons of Peru, your doubloons of Chili, your doubloons of Bolivia, your doubloons of Popayan; with plenty of gold moidores and pistoles, and joes, and half joes, and quarter joes. What then should there be in this doubloon of the Equator that is so killing wonderful? By Golconda! let me read it once. Halloa! here's signs and wonders truly! That, now, is what old Bowditch in his Epitome calls the zodiac, and what my almanack below calls ditto.
瞧那老蒙兀儿,斯塔布在炼油间旁边自言自语道,"他刚才已经看明白了;斯达巴克也是为了这才去的,可是,他们两个人的脸儿呀,我敢说,都大约拉得有三十六英尺长。这都是因为看了那块金币的缘故,如果我在黑人山或者在柯尔拉尔岬找到这块东西的话,我准不会瞧它好久,马上把它拿去花掉。哼!照我的微不足道的鄙见看来,这就是一种怪事。我在以前的多次航行中,早就看到过好些种杜柏仑;你们那些古西班牙的杜柏仑,秘鲁的杜柏仑,智利的杜柏仑,玻利维亚的杜柏仑,波巴扬(波巴扬——南美哥伦比亚的一个城市。)的杜柏仑,还看到许多金蒙伊多尔(蒙伊多尔——葡萄牙旧金币名。),比斯多(比斯多——西班牙的旧金币名。),约伊(约伊——英国对于值四个便士的银元的称呼。),半个约伊,四分之一的约伊。那么,这种厄瓜多尔的杜柏仑居然有这么了不起?乖乖(原文为"By Golconda"按戈康第是印度海达拉巴特城,从前是著名的金刚钻矿。这里似有类似英文的"By God"即惊奇。发誓之感叹语。)!让我也去看它一看吧。啊!这倒真是奇迹!那么,这大概就是波狄奇老头在他那本《概论》(纳·波狄奇(1773—1838)——美国数学家和天文学家。《概论》出版于一八零二年。)里管它叫黄道的东西,也就是我放在下面那本历书上同样管它叫黄道的东西吧。