[文学]The Hunting of the Snark_Carroll.doc

The Hunting of the Snark An Agony in Eight Fits by Lewis Carroll Preface If — and the thing is wildly possible — the charge of writing nonsense were ever brought against the author of this brief but instructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line (in p.4) “Then the bowsprit(船首斜桅) got mixed with the rudder(船舵) sometimes.” In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appeal indignantly to my other writings as a proof that I am incapable of such a deed: I will not (as I might) point to the strong moral purpose of this poem itself, to the arithmetical principles so cautiously inculcated in it, or to its noble teachings in Natural History — I will take the more prosaic(散文的, 单调的, 无趣的) course of simply explaining how it happened. The Bellman, who was almost morbidly(病态地) sensitive about appearances, used to have the bowsprit(船首斜桅) unshipped once or twice a week to be revarnished(翻新，修改), and it more than once happened, when the time came for replacing it, that no one on board could remember which end of the ship it belonged to. They knew it was not of the slightest use to appeal to the Bellman about it — he would only refer to his Naval Code, and read out in pathetic tones Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to understand — so it generally ended in its being fastened on, anyhow, across the rudder. The helmsman(舵手)1 used to stand by with tears in his eyes; he knew it was all wrong, but alas! Rule 42 of the Code, “No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm(舵，驾驶盘),” had been completed by the Bellman himself with the words “and the Man at the Helm shall speak to no one.“ So remonstrance(抗议，抱怨) was impossible, and no steering could be done till the next varnishing day. During these bewildering intervals the ship usually sailed backwards. 1 This office was usually undertaken by the Boots, who found in it a refuge from the Baker’s constant complaints about the insufficient blacking of his three pairs of boots. As this poem