英語聽書《白鯨記》第769期

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Chapter 88 Schools and Schoolmasters

第八十八章 鯨隊和隊長（原文有學(xué)校與校長的意思，作者在本章中即以其雙關(guān)意義隨意諷喻。）

The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm Whales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those vast aggregations.

上一章已經(jīng)說到了大群抹香鯨，還說到為什么會有這么一大群的大概的原因。

Now, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must have been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are occasionally observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each. Such bands are known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those composed almost entirely of females, and those mustering none but young vigorous males, or bulls as they are familiarly designated.

雖說常?？梢耘龅竭@樣大群的鯨，甚至在現(xiàn)今，也還一定可以看到，不過偶爾也可以看到零星小股鯨群，每群約自二十到五十條不等。這種小股鯨群就被稱為鯨隊。它們大約可以分為兩類：一類差不多全都是陰性的，還有一類卻都是體壯力強的雄赳赳的陽性，或者就照大家叫慣的名字管它們叫雄鯨吧。

In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his ladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman, swimming about over the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces and endearments of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his concubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest leviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more than one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male.

雌鯨隊的隨從，始終是一只茁壯碩大、年紀不大的雄鯨，一遇緊急情況，它就英勇豪邁地游到后面，掩護著它那些太太小姐逃命。其實，這位仁兄是個窮奢極欲的土耳其貴族，在水鄉(xiāng)里游來游去，前呼后擁的盡是些嬌妻美妾。這位土耳其貴族跟它那些妻妾的對比倒是相當(dāng)觸目的；因為，它總是身軀最大的大海獸，而那些貴婦，即使是成長了的，也不過只有這種大鯨的平均體軀的三分之一。