Queequeg was a native of Kokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down on any map; true places never are.
When a new-hatched savage1 running wild about his native woodlands in a grass clout2, followed by the nibbling3 goats, as if he were a green sapling; even then, in Queequeg's ambitious soul, lurked4 a strong desire to see something more of Christendom than a specimen5 whaler or two. His father was a High Chief, a King; his uncle a High Priest; and on the maternal6 side he boasted aunts who were the wives of unconquerable warriors7. There was excellent blood in his veins--royal stuff; though sadly vitiated, I fear, by the cannibal propensity8 he nourished in his untutored youth.
A Sag9 Harbor ship visited his father's bay, and Queequeg sought a passage to Christian10 lands. But the ship, having her full complement11 of seamen12, spurned13 his suit; and not all the King his father's influence could prevail. But Queequeg vowed14 a vow15. Alone in his canoe, he paddled off to a distant strait, which he knew the ship must pass through when she quitted the island. On one side was a coral reef; on the other a low tongue of land, covered with mangrove16 thickets17 that grew out into the water. Hiding his canoe, still afloat, among these thickets, with its prow18 seaward, he sat down in the stern, paddle low in hand; and when the ship was gliding19 by, like a flash he darted20 out; gained her side; with one backward dash of his foot capsized and sank his canoe; climbed up the chains; and throwing himself at full length upon the deck, grappled a ring-bolt there, and swore not to let it go, though hacked21 in pieces.
In vain the captain threatened to throw him overboard; suspended a cutlass over his naked wrists; Queequeg was the son of a King, and Queequeg budged22 not. Struck by his desperate dauntlessness, and his wild desire to visit Christendom, the captain at last relented, and told him he might make himself at home. But this fine young savage-- this sea Prince of Wales, never saw the Captain's cabin. They put him down among the sailors, and made a whaleman of him. But like Czar Peter content to toil23 in the shipyards of foreign cities, Queequeg disdained24 no seeming ignominy, if thereby25 he might happily gain the power of enlightening his untutored countrymen. For at bottom--so he told me--he was actuated by a profound desire to learn among the Christians27, the arts whereby to make his people still happier than they were; and more than that, still better than they were. But, alas28! the practices of whalemen soon convinced him that even Christians could be both miserable29 and wicked; infinitely30 more so, than all his father's heathens. Arrived at last in old Sag Harbor; and seeing what the sailors did there; and then going on to Nantucket, and seeing how they spent their wages in that place also, poor Queequeg gave it up for lost. Thought he, it's a wicked world in all meridians31; I'll die a pagan.
And thus an old idolator at heart, he yet lived among these Christians, wore their clothes, and tried to talk their gibberish. Hence the queer ways about him, though now some time from home.
By hints I asked him whether he did not propose going back, and having a coronation; since he might now consider his father dead and gone, he being very old and feeble at the last accounts. He answered no, not yet; and added that he was fearful Christianity, or rather Christians, had unfitted him for ascending32 the pure and undefiled throne of thirty pagan Kings before him. But by and by, he said, he would return,--as soon as he felt himself baptized again. For the nonce, however, he proposed to sail about, and sow his wild oats in all four oceans. They had made a harpooneer of him, and that barbed iron was in lieu of a sceptre now.
I asked him what might be his immediate33 purpose, touching34 his future movements. He answered, to go to sea again, in his old vocation35. Upon this, I told him that whaling was my own design, and informed him of my intention to sail out of Nantucket, as being the most promising36 port for an adventurous37 whaleman to embark38 from. He at once resolved to accompany me to that island, ship aboard the same vessel39, get into the same watch, the same boat, the same mess with me, in short to share my every hap26; with both my hands in his, boldly dip into the Potluck of both worlds. To all this I joyously40 assented41; for besides the affection I now felt for Queequeg, he was an experienced harpooneer, and as such, could not fail to be of great usefulness to one, who, like me, was wholly ignorant of the mysteries of whaling, though well acquainted with the sea, as known to merchant seamen.
His story being ended with his pipe's last dying puff42, Queequeg embraced me, pressed his forehead against mine, and blowing out the light, we rolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were sleeping.
1 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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2 clout | |
n.用手猛击;权力,影响力 | |
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3 nibbling | |
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的现在分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
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4 lurked | |
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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5 specimen | |
n.样本,标本 | |
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6 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
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7 warriors | |
武士,勇士,战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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8 propensity | |
n.倾向;习性 | |
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9 sag | |
v.下垂,下跌,消沉;n.下垂,下跌,凹陷,[航海]随风漂流 | |
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10 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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11 complement | |
n.补足物,船上的定员;补语;vt.补充,补足 | |
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12 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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13 spurned | |
v.一脚踢开,拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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15 vow | |
n.誓(言),誓约;v.起誓,立誓 | |
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16 mangrove | |
n.(植物)红树,红树林 | |
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17 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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18 prow | |
n.(飞机)机头,船头 | |
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19 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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20 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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21 hacked | |
生气 | |
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22 budged | |
v.(使)稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 );(使)改变主意,(使)让步 | |
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23 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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24 disdained | |
鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 ); 不屑于做,不愿意做 | |
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25 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
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26 hap | |
n.运气;v.偶然发生 | |
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27 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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28 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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29 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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30 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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31 meridians | |
n.子午圈( meridian的名词复数 );子午线;顶点;(权力,成就等的)全盛时期 | |
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32 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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33 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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34 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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35 vocation | |
n.职业,行业 | |
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36 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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37 adventurous | |
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 | |
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38 embark | |
vi.乘船,着手,从事,上飞机 | |
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39 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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40 joyously | |
ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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41 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 puff | |
n.一口(气);一阵(风);v.喷气,喘气 | |
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