译）Moby Dick c1-5

Chief among these motives was the overwhelming idea of the great whale himself. Such a portentous and mysterious monster roused all my curiosity. Then the wild and distant seas where he rolled his island bulk; the undeliverable, nameless perils of the whale; these, with all the attending marvels of a thousand Patagonian sights and sounds, helped to sway me to my wish. With other men, perhaps, such things would not have been inducements; but as for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in.

By reason of these things, then, the whaling voyage was welcome; the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open, and in the wild conceits that swayed me to my purpose, two and two there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, midmost of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air.

这诸多原因当中，最主要的是那条大鲸鱼本身。我对这可怕而奇妙的生物是多么好奇啊！它的身躯像一座岛屿，在遥远荒寂的海里翻腾；它将带来的惊险难以名状；再加上我在巴塔哥尼亚的见闻奇遇，我下定决心出海。其他人可能不把这些当回事；但对我而言，遥远的事物有种永恒的魅力，让我朝思暮想。我喜欢在惊涛环绕的海中航行，然后登陆那住着野人的海岸。我不会忽略好事，对于恐怖的事也是同样机敏，但我尚能应对它（如果他们允许的话，毕竟在别人屋檐下，与人为善总是好的。）

因为以上种种，我万分期待这捕鲸航行。奇妙世界的闸门打开，那驱使我出海的狂想洪流般冲泻而出；无限的鲸鱼成群结队，向我灵魂最深处涌去。队列当中，有个蒙着头的灵兽，像一座耸入云霄的雪山。