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Chapter 114 The Gilder
第一百十四章 镀金匠
Penetrating further and further into the heart of the Japanese cruising ground the Pequod was soon all astir in the fishery. Often, in mild, pleasant weather, for twelve, fifteen, eighteen, and twenty hours on the stretch, they were engaged in the boats, steadily pulling, or sailing, or paddling after the whales, or for an interlude of sixty or seventy minutes calmly awaiting their uprising; though with but small success for their pains.
由于越来越深入日本的巡游腹地，"裴廓德号"不久就哄动了整个捕鱼界。天气暖和的时候，他们往往坐着小艇，一气划上十二、十五、十八或者二十个钟头，慢慢地摇呀，划呀，扬帆驶去、追踪大鲸，有时就在半中间休息个六十或者七十分钟，泰然地等候大鲸冒头；不过，他们这样的辛苦总是白费的居多。
At such times, under an abated sun; afloat all day upon smooth, slow heaving swells; seated in his boat, light as a birch canoe; and so sociably mixing with the soft waves themselves, that like hearth-stone cats they purr against the gunwale; these are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang.
在这种时分，在暖和的阳光下，整天飘荡在那光坦而微波稍泛的海面上：坐在小艇里，象坐在一只桦木的独木舟里一般轻松；又因为跟那微波不兴的气氛这样投合地融混在一起，他们倚在船舷边，就象偎依在火炉边的小猫；这就是梦一般静穆的时刻，一看到海洋这种外表那么风平浪静的美景，光芒四闪的景色，真会叫人忘记了海洋下面还有狼虎似的心脏在跳动着；而且也不愿意想到，这种丝绒也似的脚爪里还隐藏有凶残的毒牙。
These are the times, when in his whale-boat the rover softly feels a certain filial, confident, land-like feeling towards the sea; that he regards it as so much flowery earth; and the distant ship revealing only the tops of her masts, seems struggling forward, not through high rolling waves, but through the tall grass of a rolling prairie: as when the western emigrants' horses only show their erected ears, while their hidden bodies widely wade through the amazing verdure.
也就是在这样的时分，坐着捕鲸小艇的漂泊者，会不经意地对海洋怀着一种孝顺的，把它当成陆地那样的信赖的感情，把海洋看成是百花绚烂的大地、在远处的那艘只露出一些桅顶的大船，似乎不是在冲过滔天大浪，而是在穿过杂草掩膝的起伏的大草原似的挣着向前：有如当年那些西部移民的马匹只露出直竖的耳朵尖，而它们那些被掩住的身体正在费劲地穿过那翠绿的奇境一样。
