英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)書(shū)《白鯨記》第711期

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yet it is this "holding on," As It Is called; this hooking up by the sharp barbs of his live flesh from the back; this it is that often torments the Leviathan into soon rising again to meet the sharp lance of his foes. Yet not to speak of the peril of the thing, it is to be doubted whether this course is always the best; for it is but reasonable to presume, that the longer the stricken whale stays under water, the more he is exhausted. Because, owing to the enormous surface of him— in a full grown sperm whale something less than 2000 square feet— the pressure of the water is immense. We all know what an astonishing atmospheric weight we ourselves stand up under; even here, above-ground, in the air; how vast, then, the burden of a whale, bearing on his back a column of two hundred fathoms of ocean! It must at least equal the weight of fifty atmospheres. One whaleman has estimated it at the weight of twenty line-of-battle ships, with all their guns, and stores, and men on board.

然而，正是這種所謂"拉住"，這種用銳利的倒鉤鉤住了鯨背的肉體的方法，這種往往教大鯨吃足了苦頭的方法，才能夠迫使它不得不又立刻冒出水來(lái)，來(lái)嘗嘗它的敵人的尖槍。這樣做法，有沒(méi)有危險(xiǎn)且不去說(shuō)它，倒是不免令人發(fā)生懷疑：這種做法是不是始終都是極可靠的。因?yàn)?，只消合理的推想一下，這條負(fù)傷的鯨越在水里停得久，它就會(huì)越加精疲力竭。因?yàn)?，它的體積這么大——一只茁壯的抹香鯨，總在二千平方英尺左右——水的壓力當(dāng)然也很大。我們大家都知道，我們本身所處的氣壓具有多么驚人的力量，甚至在這里，在地上，在空中也都如此；那么，這么一條大鯨，沉在一千二百英尺的海洋里，可背負(fù)著多大的壓力呀！它至少相等于五十倍的氣壓。有個(gè)捕鯨人曾經(jīng)估計(jì)過(guò)，它的重量可等于二十艘裝足槍炮、物資、戰(zhàn)士的戰(zhàn)船。

As the three boats lay there on that gently rolling sea, gazing down into its eternal blue noon; and as not a single groan or cry of any sort, nay, not so much as a ripple or a bubble came up from its depths; what landsman would have thought, that beneath all that silence and placidity, the utmost monster of the seas was writhing and wrenching in agony!

當(dāng)這三只小艇這樣擱在微波細(xì)浪的海面上，直瞪著下面那個(gè)在午刻時(shí)分始終是蔚藍(lán)的水面的時(shí)候；這時(shí)，既沒(méi)有一聲呻吟，又沒(méi)有任何的叫聲，而且連海底激起的漣漪，泡泡也不多；可是，在這種全然靜寂和穆的水面之下，那只最厲害的大海獸正在苦痛地扭絞，這情況，陸地人會(huì)有什么想法呀！