赫爾曼·梅爾維爾與《白鯨》 Herman Melville and Moby Dick

梁小明

Herman Melville （1819—1891） was an American writer， essayist1 and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby Dick. His first three books gained much contemporary2 attention （the first book， Typee， becoming a bestseller）， but his popularity declined3 precipitously4 in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime.

When he died in 1891， he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the early 20th century that his work won recognition， especially Moby Dick， which is considered to be one of the great American Novels and a treasure of world literature.

Moby Dick was first published in 1851. The story tells the adventures of sailor Ishmael， and his Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab has one purpose on this voyage： to find Moby Dick. Last time， the whale destroyed Ahabs boat and bit off his leg， which now drives Ahab to take revenge5.

赫爾曼·梅爾維爾（1819—1891）是一位美國作家、散文家和詩人。他最著名的小說是《白鯨》。他的前三本書受到了當時的廣泛關注（第一本書《泰比》成為了暢銷書），但他的聲望在19世紀50年代中期急劇下降，在他有生之年未再恢復。

當他在1891年去世時，他幾乎完全被人遺忘了。直到20世紀初，他的作品才獲得認可，尤其是《白鯨》，被譽為美國偉大的小說之一和世界文學的瑰寶。

《白鯨》于1851年第一次出版。這個故事講述了水手以實瑪利以及他的船長亞哈的冒險經歷。以實瑪利很快了解到亞哈在這次航行中有一個目的：找到“白鯨”。上一次，鯨魚摧毀了亞哈的船，咬斷了他的腿，這驅使著亞哈去復仇。

【Notes】

1. essayist [■] n. 隨筆作家，散文家

2. contemporary [■] adj. 發生（屬）于同時期的

3. decline [■] vi. 下降;衰落

4. precipitously [■] adv. 陡然地

5. revenge [■] n. 報復;復仇