The precipitating1 manner in which Captain Ahab had quitted the Samuel Enderby of London, had not been unattended with some small violence to his own person. He had lighted with such energy upon a thwart2 of his boat that his ivory leg had received a half-splintering shock. And when after gaining his own deck, and his own pivot-hole there, he so vehemently3 wheeled round with an urgent command to the steersman (it was, as ever, something about his not steering4 inflexibly5 enough); then, the already shaken ivory received such an additional twist and wrench6, that though it still remained entire, and to all appearances lusty, yet Ahab did not deem it entirely7 trustworthy.
And, indeed, it seemed small matter for wonder, that for all his pervading8, mad recklessness, Ahab, did at times give careful heed9 to the condition of that dead bone upon which he partly stood. For it had not been very long prior to the Pequod's sailing from Nantucket, that he had been found one night lying prone10 upon the ground, and insensible; by some unknown, and seemingly inexplicable11, unimaginable casualty, his ivory limb having been so violently displaced, that it had stake-wise smitten12, and all but pierced his groin; nor was it without extreme difficulty that the agonizing13 wound was entirely cured.
Nor, at the time, had it failed to enter his monomaniac mind, that all the anguish14 of that then present suffering was but the direct issue of a former woe15; and he too plainly seemed to see, that as the most poisonous reptile16 of the marsh17 perpetuates18 his kind as inevitably19 as the sweetest songster of the grove20; so, equally with every felicity, all miserable21 events do naturally beget22 their like. Yea, more than equally, thought Ahab; since both the ancestry23 and posterity24 of Grief go further than the ancestry and posterity of Joy. For, not to hint of this: that it is an inference from certain canonic teachings, that while some natural enjoyments25 here shall have no children born to them for the other world, but, on the contrary, shall be followed by the joy-childlessness of all hell's despair; whereas, some guilty mortal miseries26 shall still fertilely beget to themselves an eternally progressive progeny27 of griefs beyond the grave; not at all to hint of this, there still seems an inequality in the deeper analysis of the thing. For, thought Ahab, while even the highest earthly felicities ever have a certain unsignifying pettiness lurking28 in them, but, at bottom, all heartwoes, a mystic significance, and, in some men, an archangelic grandeur29; so do their diligent30 tracings-out not belie31 the obvious deduction32. To trail the genealogies33 of these high mortal miseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the gods; so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and softcymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: that the gods themselves are not for ever glad. The ineffaceable, sad birth-mark in the brow of man, is but the stamp of sorrow in the signers.
Unwittingly here a secret has been divulged34, which perhaps might more properly, in set way, have been disclosed before. With many other particulars concerning Ahab, always had it remained a mystery to some, why it was, that for a certain period, both before and after the sailing of the Pequod, he had hidden himself away with such Grand-Lama-like exclusiveness; and, for that one interval35, sought speechless refuge, as it were, among the marble senate of the dead. Captain Peleg's bruited36 reason for this thing appeared by no means adequate; though, indeed, as touching37 all Ahab's deeper part, every revelation partook more of significant darkness than of explanatory light. But, in the end, it all came out; this one matter did, at least. That direful mishap38 was at the bottom of his temporary recluseness. And not only this, but to that ever-contracting, dropping circle ashore39, who for any reason, possessed40 the privilege of a less banned approach to him; to that timid circle the above hinted casualty--remaining, as it did, moodily41 unaccounted for by Ahab--invested itself with terrors, not entirely underived from the land of spirits and of wails42. So that, through their zeal43 for him, they had all conspired44, so far as in them lay, to muffle45 up the knowledge of this thing from others; and hence it was, that not till a considerable interval had elapsed, did it transpire46 upon the Pequod's decks.
But be all this as it may; let the unseen, ambiguous synod in the air, or the vindictive47 princes and potentates48 of fire, have to do or not with earthly Ahab, yet, in this present matter of his leg, he took plain practical procedures;-- he called the carpenter.
And when that functionary49 appeared before him, he bade him without delay set about making a new leg, and directed the mates to see him supplied with all the studs and joists of jaw-ivory (Sperm Whale) which had thus far been accumulated on the voyage, in order that a careful selection of the stoutest50, clearest-grained stuff might be secured. This done, the carpenter received orders to have the leg completed that night; and to provide all the fittings for it, independent of those pertaining51 to the distrusted one in use. Moreover, the ship's forge was ordered to be hoisted52 out of its temporary idleness in the hold; and, to accelerate the affair, the blacksmith was commanded to proceed at once to the forging of whatever iron contrivances might be needed.
1 precipitating | |
adj.急落的,猛冲的v.(突如其来地)使发生( precipitate的现在分词 );促成;猛然摔下;使沉淀 | |
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2 thwart | |
v.阻挠,妨碍,反对;adj.横(断的) | |
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3 vehemently | |
adv. 热烈地 | |
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4 steering | |
n.操舵装置 | |
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5 inflexibly | |
adv.不屈曲地,不屈地 | |
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6 wrench | |
v.猛拧;挣脱;使扭伤;n.扳手;痛苦,难受 | |
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7 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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8 pervading | |
v.遍及,弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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9 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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10 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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11 inexplicable | |
adj.无法解释的,难理解的 | |
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12 smitten | |
猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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13 agonizing | |
adj.痛苦难忍的;使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦;折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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14 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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15 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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16 reptile | |
n.爬行动物;两栖动物 | |
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17 marsh | |
n.沼泽,湿地 | |
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18 perpetuates | |
n.使永存,使人记住不忘( perpetuate的名词复数 );使永久化,使持久化,使持续 | |
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19 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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20 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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21 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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22 beget | |
v.引起;产生 | |
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23 ancestry | |
n.祖先,家世 | |
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24 posterity | |
n.后裔,子孙,后代 | |
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25 enjoyments | |
愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 ); 令人愉快的事物; 享有; 享受 | |
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26 miseries | |
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
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27 progeny | |
n.后代,子孙;结果 | |
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28 lurking | |
潜在 | |
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29 grandeur | |
n.伟大,崇高,宏伟,庄严,豪华 | |
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30 diligent | |
adj.勤勉的,勤奋的 | |
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31 belie | |
v.掩饰,证明为假 | |
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32 deduction | |
n.减除,扣除,减除额;推论,推理,演绎 | |
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33 genealogies | |
n.系谱,家系,宗谱( genealogy的名词复数 ) | |
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34 divulged | |
v.吐露,泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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36 bruited | |
v.传播(传说或谣言)( bruit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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38 mishap | |
n.不幸的事,不幸;灾祸 | |
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39 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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40 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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41 moodily | |
adv.喜怒无常地;情绪多变地;心情不稳地;易生气地 | |
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42 wails | |
痛哭,哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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43 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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44 conspired | |
密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 ); 搞阴谋; (事件等)巧合; 共同导致 | |
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45 muffle | |
v.围裹;抑制;发低沉的声音 | |
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46 transpire | |
v.(使)蒸发,(使)排出 ;泄露,公开 | |
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47 vindictive | |
adj.有报仇心的,怀恨的,惩罚的 | |
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48 potentates | |
n.君主,统治者( potentate的名词复数 );有权势的人 | |
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49 functionary | |
n.官员;公职人员 | |
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50 stoutest | |
粗壮的( stout的最高级 ); 结实的; 坚固的; 坚定的 | |
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51 pertaining | |
与…有关系的,附属…的,为…固有的(to) | |
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52 hoisted | |
把…吊起,升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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