然而，在她充当众目所瞩的目标的全部期间，她不时感到眼前茫茫一片，至少，人群象一大堆支离破碎、光怪陆离的幻象般地朦胧模糊。她的思绪，尤其是她的记忆，却不可思议地活跃，越出这蛮荒的大洋西岸边缘上的小镇的祖创的街道，不断带回来别的景色与场面；她想到的，不是那些尖顶高帽帽植下藐视她的面孔。她回忆起那些最琐碎零散、最无关紧要的事情；孩提时期和学校生活，儿时的游戏和争哆，以及婚前在娘家的种种琐事蜂拥回到她的脑海，其中还混杂着她后来生活中最重大的事件的种种片断，一切全都历历如在目前；似乎全都同等重要，或者全都象一出戏。可能，这是她心理上的一种本能反应：通过展现这些备色各样、变幻莫测的画面，把自己的精神从眼前这残酷现实的无情重压下解脱出来。
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7
白鲸
Nor was it his unwonted magnitude， nor his remarkable hue， nor yet his deformed lower jaw， that so much invested the whale with natural terror， as that unexampled， intelligent malignity which， according to specific accounts， he had over and over again evinced in his assaults. More than all， his treacherous retreats struck more of dismay than perhaps aught else. For， when swimming before his exulting pursuers， with every apparent symptom of alarm， he had several times been known to turn around suddenly， and， bearing down upon them， either stave their boats to splinters， or drive them back in consternation to their ship.
Already several fatalities had attended his chase. But though similar disasters， however little bruited ashore， were by no means unusual in the fishery； yet， in most instances， such seemed the White Whale's infernal aforethought of ferocity， that every dismembering or death that he caused， was not wholly regarded as having been inflicted by an unintelligent agent.
Judge， then， to what pitches of inflamed， distracted fury the minds of his more desperate hunters were impelled， when amid the chips of chewed boats， and the sinking limbs of torn comrades， they swam out of the white curds of the whale's direful wrath into the serene， exasperating sunlight， that smiled on， as if at a birth or a bridal.
His three boats stove around him， and oars and men both whirling in the eddies； one captain， seizing the line-knife from his broken prow， had dashed at the whale， as an Arkansas duellist at his foe， blindly seeking with a six inch blade to reach the fathom-deep life of the whale. That captain was Ahab. And then it was， that suddenly sweeping his sickle-shaped lower jaw beneath him， Moby Dick had reaped away Ahab's leg， as a mower a blade of grass in the field. No turbaned Turk， no hired Venetian or Malay， could have smote him with more seeming malice. Small reason was there to doubt， then， that ever since that almost fatal encounter， Ahab had cherished a wild vindictiveness against the whale， all the more fell for that in his frantic morbidness he at last came to identify with him， not only all his bodily woes， but all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations. The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them， till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung. That intangible malignity which has been from the beginning； to whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the worlds； which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue devil；—— Ahab did not fall down and worship it like them； but deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred white whale， he pitted himself， all mutilated， against it. All that most maddens and torments； all that stirs up the lees of things； all truth with malice in it； all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain； all the subtle demonisms of life and thought； all evil， to crazy Ahab， were visibly personified， and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down； and then， as if his chest had been a mortar， he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.
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这种鲸之所以天生使人畏惧,与其说是由于它那罕有的硕大,突出的色泽,畸形的下颚,倒不如说是(按照它那特有的情形说来)由于它在突击的时候,一再表现出来的那种无以伦比的充满机智的阴险.尤其是它那种可说是比之任何事情都更使人丧胆的奸诈的退却.因为,它在它那些兴高采烈的追击者面前一路游去的时候,就显得非常警觉,还故意突然转了几次身,可是,一下子就扑上他们,不是把他们的小艇撞得粉碎,就是把他们吓得手足无措,赶紧逃回大船. 为了追击它,已经发生了好几次惨案.虽则这些类似的不幸事件,在岸上是不大传布的,但在捕鱼业中,也决不是什么了不起的;而且,在多数场合上,似乎还有人并不完全把白鲸每次使得人们断肢失体或者丧命的凶残的预谋,看成是遭到无理性的神力的打击.
那么,看一看那些身处险境的猎手的内心给迫得多么激动.气得发昏的情况吧.当时,他们的四周尽是些被嚼得细碎的小艇残片,同伴们被折断了的.行将下沉的肢体,他们总算从大鲸那可怕的怒火所发出来的白色浆液中游了出来,游到那仿佛在对着新生婴孩或者新娘含笑相迎的.恬静而强烈的阳光里来.
那个船长的四周是三只被冲破了的小艇,船桨和水手都在涡流里旋来旋去;他从那破烂的艇头抓到一把小刀,朝大鲸猛地掷去,象个阿肯色州人在跟他的宿敌决斗,胡乱地找到一把六英寸的刀,想结束那条大鲸的深不可测的生命.那个船长就是亚哈.而且正在这时,莫比－迪克突然从他下边挥起它那镰刀似的下颚,如同一架刈草机在地里刈草一样,把亚哈的腿给刈掉了.这是裹着头巾的土耳其人,被雇佣的威尼斯人或者马来人,都也不会对他使出如此毒辣的手段的(参阅莎士比亚的《奥瑟罗》第五幕第二场中奥瑟罗的对话:\在阿勒普地方,曾经有个裹着头巾的满怀敌意的土耳其人殴打一个威尼斯人,诽谛我们的国家.\于是,无可置疑地,经过这番简直是致命的遭遇后,亚哈就对这只大鲸怀了一种狂热的报仇心,而在他的狂乱的病态中,他尤更被这股念头迷住了,终于把它看成不但是他肉体上的宿敌,也是他的理智上.精神上的愤激的宿敌.他把浮游在他面前的白鲸,看成是种种属于心怀恶念的神力的偏热症的化身,这种神力把那些意志强烈的人都腐蚀得只剩半颗心和半只肺在苟延残喘着.那种一开始就是无从捉摸的恶行,甚至现代的基督教徒也认为有半个宇宙是归它支配的,也是古代东方的拜蛇教(拜蛇教......第二世纪时的教派,以蛇为神智之象征,加以崇拜.)对他们的魔王铸像顶礼膜拜的东西......亚哈可不象他们那样向它屈膝膜拜,而是神志昏乱地把它的概念都移植到这条令人憎恶的白鲸身上,他不惜以遍体鳞伤之躯跟这种恶行敌对到底.举凡一切最使人狂怒和痛苦的事情,一切足以搅起事物的残渣的东西,一切附有恶念的真理,一切使人焦头烂额的东西,一切有关生命思想的神秘而不可思议的鬼神邪说;一切的邪恶等等,在疯狂的亚哈看来,都是莫比－迪克的显明的化身,因而实际上它是可诛的.他把他整个种族自古以来的一切愤怒和憎恨全都加在大鲸的白色背峰上;于是,仿佛他的胸膛就是一架臼炮,他就在那上面发射出他那火热的心弹来.
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Walden
This small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals of a gentle rain-storm in August， when， both air and water being perfectly still， but the sky overcast， mid-afternoon had all the serenity of evening， and the wood thrush sang around， and was heard from shore to shore. A lake like this is never smoother than at such a time； and the clear portion of the air above it being， shallow and darkened by clouds， the water， full of light and reflections， becomes a lower heaven itself so much the more important. From a hill-top near by， where the wood had been recently cut off， there was a pleasing vista southward across the pond， through a wide indentation in the hills which form the shore there， where their opposite sides sloping toward each other suggested a stream flowing out in that direction through a wooded valley， but stream there was none. That way I looked between and over the near green hills to some distant and higher ones in the horizon， tinged with blue. Indeed， by standing on tiptoe I could catch a glimpse of some of the peaks of the still bluer and more distant mountain ranges in the northwest， those true-blue coins from heaven's own mint， and also of some portion of the village. But in other directions， even from this point， I could not see over or beyond the woods which surrounded me. It is well to have some water in your neighborhood， to give buoyancy to and float the earth. One value even of the smallest well is， that when you look into it you see that earth is not continent but insular. This is as important as that it keeps butter cool. When I looked across the pond from this peak toward the Sudbury meadows， which in time of flood I distinguished elevated perhaps by a mirage in their seething valley， like a coin in a basin， all the earth beyond the pond appeared like a thin crust insulated and floated even by this small sheet of interverting water， and I was reminded that this on which I dwelt was but dry land.
八月里，在轻柔的斜凤细雨暂停的时候，这小小的湖做我的邻居，最为珍贵，那时水和空气都完全平静了，天空中却密布着乌云，下午才过了一半却已具备了一切黄昏的肃穆，而画眉在四周唱歌，隔岸相闻。这样的湖，再没有比这时候更平静的了；湖上的明净的空气自然很稀薄，而且给乌云映得很黯淡了，湖水却充满了光明和倒影，成为一个下界的天空，更加值得珍视。从最近被伐木的附近一个峰顶上向南看，穿过小山间的巨大凹处，看得见隔湖的一幅愉快的图景，那凹处正好形成湖岸，那儿两座小山坡相倾斜而下，使人感觉到似有一条溪涧从山林谷中流下，但是，却没有溪涧。我是这样地从近处的绿色山峰之间和之上，远望一些蔚蓝的地平线上的远山或更高的山峰的。真的，踮起了足尖来，我可以望见西北角上更远、更蓝的山脉，这种蓝颜色是天空的染料制造厂中最真实的出品，我还可以望见村镇的一角。但是要换一个方向看的话，虽然我站得如此高，却给郁茂的树木围住，什么也看不透，看不到了。在邻近，有一些流水真好，水有浮力，地就浮在上面了。便是最小的井也有这一点值得推荐，当你窥望井底的时候，你发现大地并不是连绵的大陆；而是隔绝的孤岛。这是很重要的，正如井水之能冷藏牛油。当我的目光从这一个山顶越过湖向萨德伯里草原望过去的时候，在发大水的季节里，我觉得草原升高了，大约是蒸腾的山谷中显示出海市蜃楼的效果，它好像沉在水盆底下的一个天然铸成的铜市，湖之外的大地都好像薄薄的表皮，成了孤岛，给小小一片横亘的水波浮载着，我才被提醒，我居住的地方只不过是干燥的土地。
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