Moby Dick 白鯨記

愛、生活、人生系列

「約拿和鯨魚」: 取材自聖經約拿書第1-4章
神要約拿去傳教，他本來應該到尼尼微城，叫人民悔改，但是約拿不想去那個地方。他上了船，渡海到另一個城市。海上狂風大作，水手們都很怕船會沉下去！約拿知道，因為他逃跑，所以神使這場狂風臨到他們。他告訴水手們，把他丟到海裡，風暴就會停止。神差遣一條鯨魚來救約拿，他在鯨魚的肚子裡待了三天。約拿作禱告，決定要悔改，跟從神。神告訴鯨魚把約拿吐在乾地上。約拿前往尼尼微，教導那裡的人民。尼尼微的人民相信他的話！他們開始再一次跟隨神。
當我作了不對的選擇，我可以悔改，然後重新努力去做。神愛約拿，祂也愛我！
Herman Melville (1819-1891) was born into a family of substantial (優渥) means in New York City on August 19, 1819. He spent a secure and comfortable childhood. However, he soon drifted into a variety of occupations. He worked for a time as a clerk in a store owned by an older brother, as a messenger for a bank, and later, as a country schoolteacher near his uncle’s home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Finally, in 1839, he signed on a British ship, the St. Lawrence, bound to Liverpool and back. In the years immediately following his travels, Melville began his career as a writer. In 1846, he published Typee. Omoo in 1847, Mardi and Redburn in 1849, and White Jacket in 1850. It was also during these first few years at home following his travels that Melville became established as an important member of the New York literary group. Unfortunately, for Melville, the critical reaction to Moby Dick was negative. At his death on September 28, 1891, Melville left in manuscript a considerable number of verses as well as the short novel, Billy Budd, which was not published until 1924.
Moby Dick is told by a man named Ishmael. He leaves New York and travels to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he spends a night with a South Seas cannibal Queequeg as a roommate. At Nantucket Island, Queequeg tells Ishmael that his god has decided that Ishmael must choose the ship on which they will sail, and Ishmael chooses the Pequod because it is so picturesque. Both men sign on, and are told that the ship’s captain is Ahab, an unusual man.
The ship sails on a cold, gray Christmas day. Ishmael presents the three mates, Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, and then the harpooners. He also describes the crew in general. Ishmael tells whales, categorizing them according to the size and the type, and showing why he considers the sperm whale (抹香鯨) the noblest of all. The captain, Ahab, has sworn to hunt to the death the great whale, Moby Dick, that ripped his leg off on his last voyage. He inflames the crew so that they are eager to pursue Moby Dick, except for Starbuck. Moby Dick has a savage temper which has led him to destroy many a whaleboat and kill a number of seamen. He is so ferocious (凶猛) to know what he is doing, and to destroy boats and men with conscious malice. Most frightening of his characteristics is his whiteness, which is mysterious.
As the Pequod sails across the Pacific, Ahab becomes ever more intense in his desire to destroy Moby Dick. He asks each one of the ships he encounters. When he sails the ship down to the equator, he finally meets a ship which has seen Moby Dick. The first day the boats approach Moby Dick, but he dives into and comes up under Ahab’s boat, bites it in half. The Pequod sails up, drives the whale off, and picks up all its boats. On the second day, all three whaleboats get harpoons into Moby Dick, but he fights furiously. Two boats are smashed and Ahab’s boat is overturned. On the third day, Ahab harpoons the whale, but is left to fight him alone when the other two boats, damaged, are forced to return to the Pequod. Moby Dick breaks loose from Ahab’s boat, turns, and dashes his immense forehead into the Pequod’s bow. The crushed boat sinks. As it settles, Ahab darts one last harpoon into Moby Dick, but the line catches him around the neck, and he is dragged down into the sea. The sinking ship pulls down everything except Ishmael. He is rescued by the Rachel, which is cruising the area looking for survivors. The sea now rolls on and on as it did thousands of years ago.
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