總之,這本古老而又精湛的荷蘭語(yǔ)書,雖然講的是荷蘭的商業(yè),不過,除了其它許多題目,還有一篇關(guān)于荷蘭捕鯨業(yè)的頗饒興趣的文章。而且在這章題為"斯米爾"或者叫做"油脂"中,我發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張?jiān)敱?,記載著一百八十艘荷蘭捕鯨船所配備的食品庫(kù)和酒窖的數(shù)字,現(xiàn)在我把這張由斯諾黑特博士翻譯出來的表,抄列如下:
400,000 lbs. of beef. 60,000 lbs. Friesland pork. 150,000 lbs. of stock fish. 550,000 lbs. of biscuit. 72,000 lbs. of soft bread. 2,800 firkins of butter. 20,000 lbs. of Texel and Leyden cheese. 144,000 lbs. cheese (probably an inferior article). 550 ankers of Geneva. 10,800 barrels of beer.
牛肉 四十萬磅;佛里斯蘭豬肉 六萬磅;魚 十五萬磅;硬面包 五十五萬磅;軟面包 七萬二千磅;牛油 二千八百小桶(小桶(firkin)——約合九加侖。);泰克塞爾和來頓奶酪 二萬磅;奶酪 十四萬四千磅(大概是次等品);杜松子酒 五百五十安克(安克——荷蘭液量名,約十加侖。);啤酒 一萬零八百桶
Most statistical tables are parchingly dry in the reading; not so in the present case, however, where the reader is flooded with whole pipes, barrels, quarts, and gills of good gin and good cheer.
統(tǒng)計(jì)表格大多讀來頗為枯燥乏味,可是,這張表卻不是這樣,因?yàn)樽x者一看,就都浸沉在無數(shù)的好酒和美味食物中而其樂陶陶了。
At the time, I devoted three days to the studious digesting of all this beer, beef, and bread, during which many profound thoughts were incidentally suggested to me, capable of a transcendental and Platonic application;
當(dāng)時(shí),我花了三天工夫,仔細(xì)地消納所有這些啤酒、肉和面包,可是,在這期間,突然又產(chǎn)生許多深邃的想法,可以稱得上是一種直覺的和柏拉圖式的思想;