英語聽書《白鯨記》第635期

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I should say that those New England rocks on the seacoast, which Agassiz imagines to bear the marks of violent scraping contact with vast floating icebergs—I should say, that those rocks must not a little resemble the Sperm Whale in this particular. It also seems to me that such scratches in the whale are probably made by hostile contact with other whales; for I have most remarked them in the large, full-grown bulls of the species.

我敢說，新英格蘭沿海的那些巖石，也就是阿伽西（路易士·約翰·魯?shù)婪?middot;阿伽西（1807—1878）——瑞士博物學家。）認為那上面是跟大浮冰塊相碰擊的結果，才有那么厲害的傷痕——我敢說，在這方面說來，那些巖石準是跟抹香鯨極其相似的。我也認為，大鯨之所以有這些搔痕，大概是跟其它大鯨爭斗所致，因為我常常在那種茁壯結實的大鯨身上看到那種搔痕。

A word or two more concerning this matter of the skin or blubber of the whale. It has already been said, that it is stript from him in long pieces, called blanket-pieces. Like most sea-terms, this one is very happy and significant. For the whale is indeed wrapt up in his blubber as in a real blanket or counterpane; or, still better, an Indian poncho slipt over his head, and skirting his extremity. It is by reason of this cosy blanketing of his body, that the whale is enabled to keep himself comfortable in all weathers, in all seas, times, and tides. What would become of a Greenland whale, say, in those shuddering, icy seas of the North, if unsupplied with his cosy surtout? True, other fish are found exceedingly brisk in those Hyperborean waters; but these, be it observed, are your cold-blooded, lungless fish, whose very bellies are refrigerators; creatures, that warm themselves under the lee of an iceberg, as a traveller in winter would bask before an inn fire; whereas, like man, the whale has lungs and warm blood.

關于鯨皮或者鯨脂這問題，還得再說一兩句話。我已經說過，人們把那種從它身上剝下來的長條條叫做絨毯。這名稱，跟大多數(shù)的航海術語一樣，也是十分巧妙而深具意義的。因為大鯨確實是裹在它的鯨脂里，好象真的裹著一條絨毯或者被單；或者，不如更恰切地說，是裹著一件印第安人穿的那種從頭上套下去的硬大衣，把它四周都裹得緊緊密密。正是由于它身上裹有這種舒適的絨毯，鯨才能夠在各種氣候、各種海洋、各種時間、各種潮汐中過得舒舒服服。比如拿格陵蘭鯨來說，它在北極那種冰封雪凍，冷徹肌膚的海洋里，如果它沒有那件舒適的大衣，將會有什么結果呢？不錯，其它的魚類，在那種北方樂土似的海里是過得非常活潑的；不過，請注意，那些魚，都是冷血無肺的魚類，它們的肚皮本來就是冰箱，這些在冰塊下取暖的生物，就象一個寒冬的旅客，在小客店里的火盆前烤火一樣。反之，鯨卻跟人一樣，既有肺又有熱血。