大概沒有哪一種東西能像鯨魚這大海獸那樣,被寫人《圣經(jīng)·約伯記》中的了吧1
And who composed the first narrative of awhaling-voyage? Who, but no less a prince thanAlfred the Great, who, with his own royal pen, tookdown the words from Other,
鯨座是天上的一個星座,捕鯨者是何等的威風也便可想而知了。
the Norwegian whale-hunter of those times! And who pronounced our glowing eulogy inParliament? Who, but Edmund Burke!
還有后來英國的艾爾弗雷德大帝所編寫的那些關(guān)于捕鯨的故事、埃德蒙·伯克對捕鯨者熱烈的贊頌!
True enough, but then whalemen themselves are poor devils; they have no good blood in theirveins.
有人說捕鯨者不高雅,他們的血管里流淌的不是高貴的血。果真如此嗎?非也。
NO GOOD BLOOD IN THEIR VEINS? They have something better than royal blood there. Thegrandmother of Benjamin Franklin was Mary Morrel;
又有人說,捕鯨業(yè)不大體面。 本杰明·弗蘭克林的奶奶就是瑪麗·莫雷爾,她嫁到南塔開特以后,
afterwards, by marriage, Mary Folger, one of the old settlers of Nantucket, and the ancestress toa long line of Folgers and harpooneers
從夫姓,叫瑪麗·福爾杰,她是以后福爾杰標槍手家族的女祖宗,
all kith and kin to noble Benjamin—this day darting the barbed iron from one side of the worldto the other.
這些標槍手都是高貴的弗蘭克林的親戚!他們那種帶倒鉤的標槍如今正在世界各地的捕鯨船上飛來擲去。