A hundred black faces turned round in their rows to peer; and beyond, a black Angel of Doom was beating a book in a pulpit.  许多黑脸成排地转过来;另外还有一个执掌命运的黑天使正站在讲坛上拍击一本书。

It was a negro church; and the preacher's text was about the blackness of darkness, and the weeping and wailing and teeth-gnashing there.  原来是个黑人教堂;那个传道者所讲的是地狱的阴森可怕.那边的悲泣。恸哭和咬牙切齿的情况哈!

Ha, Ishmael, muttered I, backing out, Wretched entertainment at the sign of 'The Trap!' 以实玛利,我嘟哝了一下,赶紧退出去,那块陷阱的招牌上还应该加上招待恶劣四个字!

Moving on, I at last came to a dim sort of light not far from the docks, and heard a forlorn creaking in the air;  我继续往前走,终于看到离码头不远的地方,有一股昏蒙蒙的灯光,又听到空中有一阵凄绝的嘎叫声;

and looking up, saw a swinging sign over the door with a white painting upon it, faintly representing a tall straight jet of misty spray, and these words underneath 我抬起头来,看到一块白漆的招牌在门顶上晃着,那招牌隐约显出一道高高迸射的蒙雾,

The Spouter Inn:--Peter Coffin. 下边写着大鲸客店:彼得.科芬。

Coffin?--Spouter?--Rather ominous in that particular connexion, thought I.  科芬?大鲸?光就这方面说来,就有几分凶兆,我心里想。

But it is a common name in Nantucket, they say, and I suppose this Peter here is an emigrant from there.  但是,据说,这是南塔开特地方的普通姓氏,我推想这个彼得大概是从南塔开特来的移民。

As the light looked so dim, and the place, for the time, looked quiet enough,  因为灯光这样昏暗,当时那个地方又显得十分寂静,加上那间要坍似的小木屋本身的样子,

and the dilapidated little wooden house itself looked as if it might have been carted here from the ruins of some burnt district,  仿佛是从什么火烧场里装运来的,

and as the swinging sign had a poverty-stricken sort of creak to it,  更因为那块摇摇晃晃的招牌又在发出一阵苦恼的叫声,

I thought that here was the very spot for cheap lodgings, and the best of pea coffee. 我估量这准是个价钱便宜的宿店,而且还一定可以喝到上好的土咖啡。