The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits

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 got mixed with the rudder sometimes.'

如果——这完全有可能——有人指责这首简洁但富有教育意义的诗的作者写作无稽之谈，我相信，这会基于第4页的这一行：‘然后船首斜桅有时会和舵混在一起。’

The Bellman, who was almost morbidly sensitive about appearances, used to have the bowsprit unshipped once or twice a week to be revarnished, 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.

这位领航员对外表几乎到了病态敏感的程度，他每周都会拆下船首斜桅一到两次重新上漆，而当需要重新安装时，船上的人经常记不清它应该装在哪一端。