英語聽書《白鯨記》第697期

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It is moreover declared in his pyramidical silence. And this reminds me that had the great Sperm Whale been known to the young Orient World, he would have been deified by their child-magian thoughts. They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is tongueless; and the Sperm Whale has no tongue, or at least it is so exceedingly small, as to be incapable of protrusion. If hereafter any highly cultured, poetical nation shall lure back to their birth-right, the merry May-day gods of old; and livingly enthrone them again in the now egotistical sky; in the now unhaunted hill; then be sure, exalted to Jove's high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it.

而且是表現(xiàn)在它那種莫測高深的緘默上。說到這里，教我想起如果年輕的東方人看到過大抹香鯨的話，那么，在他們那童稚未開的思想中，一定會把它奉為神明。他們因為鱷魚沒有舌頭，而把尼羅河的鱷魚奉為神明，抹香鯨就正是沒有舌頭，或者至少可以說是舌頭極小，小得伸都伸不出來。如果此后有任何一個文化發(fā)達、富有詩趣的民族要誘人回復到他們的生得權上去，去過那古代的快活的五朔群神節(jié)（五朔節(jié)——五月一日，系從前歐洲的節(jié)日，是日大家以花冠飾在"五月后"的頭上，或者在飾滿花朵的"五月柱"邊跳舞。），興致勃勃地想再把他們升到現(xiàn)在這個自私自利的天上；安到現(xiàn)在這個人跡罕到的小丘里；那么，即使把他們捧到約芙的高座上，大抹香鯨還是高出于他們的。

Champollion deciphered the wrinkled granite hieroglyphics. But there is no Champollion to decipher the Egypt of every man's and every being's face. Physiognomy, like every other human science, is but a passing fable. If then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the simplest peasant's face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whale's brow? I but put that brow before you. Read if it if you can.

尚波利翁（讓·弗朗索瓦·尚波利翁（1790—1832）——法國的埃及學家。）認得出那些曲曲皺皺的花崗巖上的象形文字。但是，卻沒有一個尚波利翁能從一切人類，一切生物的面孔中辨認出埃及來。相術這東西，正如其它各種人間的學問一樣，只不過是一種傳說而已。于是，如果說是懂得了三十種語言的威廉·瓊斯爵士（威廉·瓊斯（1746—1794）——英國的東方通。），連在最簡單的農(nóng)民的面孔上，都還看不出那種比較奧妙、難解的意義來，那么，怎能希望一個目不識丁的以實瑪利懂得抹香鯨的額頭上那種可怕的預言呢？我只不過是把那只額頭擺在你的面前。你如力能勝任，就去研究它吧。