英語聽書《白鯨記》第874期

Of all the pre-adamite whales yet exhumed, by far the largest is the Alabama one mentioned in the last chapter, and that was less than seventy feet in length in the skeleton. Whereas, we have already seen, that the tape-measure gives seventy-two feet for the skeleton of a large sized modern whale. And I have heard, on whalemen's authority, that Sperm Whales have been captured near a hundred feet long at the time of capture.

至于在迄今所已發(fā)掘的亞當(dāng)以前的大鯨中，上一章所提到的那條亞拉巴馬鯨應(yīng)該算是最大的了，可它那骷髏的長(zhǎng)度還不滿七十英尺。反之，我們已經(jīng)看到，一條現(xiàn)代最大的鯨，用卷尺量來，它的骷髏就有七十英尺。而且，我根據(jù)捕鯨權(quán)威家的說法，還得知在人們所捕到的抹香鯨中，在它剛被捕到的時(shí)候，身長(zhǎng)將近一百英尺咧。

But may it not be, that while the whales of the present hour are an advance in magnitude upon those of all previous geological periods; may it not be, that since Adam's time they have degenerated?

但是，現(xiàn)代的大鯨，在身軀上，也許不可能超過所有先前的地質(zhì)年代紀(jì)的那些鯨吧；自從亞當(dāng)時(shí)代以來，它們也許不可能退化吧？

Assuredly, we must conclude so, if we are to credit the accounts of such gentlemen as Pliny, and the ancient naturalists generally. For Pliny tells us of Whales that embraced acres of living bulk, and Aldrovandus of others which measured eight hundred feet in length— Rope Walks and Thames Tunnels of Whales! And even in the days of Banks and Solander, Cooke's naturalists, we find a Danish member of the Academy of Sciences setting down certain Iceland Whales (reydan-siskur, or Wrinkled Bellies) at one hundred and twenty yards; that is, three hundred and sixty feet. And Lacepede, the French naturalist, in his elaborate history of whales, in the very beginning of his work (page 3), sets down the Right Whale at one hundred metres, three hundred and twenty-eight feet. And this work was published so late as A.D. 1825.

如果我們信任象普利尼這些先生以及古代一般博物學(xué)家們的說法，那么，無疑地，我們就必須下這樣的結(jié)論了。因?yàn)槠绽岣嬖V我們說，鯨魚的活身軀有好幾英畝大，而阿德羅凡提（阿德羅凡提（1522—1607）——意大利博物學(xué)家。）則說，有些鯨身長(zhǎng)達(dá)八百英尺——真是象制索廠和泰晤士河隧道（泰晤士河隧道——由羅忒希底通到瓦平，由馬克·伊·布魯奈耳爵士所設(shè)計(jì)，工程達(dá)二十年之久，至一八四三年始完工。）似的鯨！甚至在班克斯（約翰·班克斯（1743—1820）——英國(guó)博物學(xué)家。），梭蘭德（梭蘭德（1736—1782）——住在英國(guó)的瑞典生物學(xué)家。）和庫克這些博物學(xué)家的時(shí)代，我們還發(fā)現(xiàn)皇家科學(xué)院的一個(gè)丹麥籍院長(zhǎng)宣稱某一種冰島鯨（列丹——西斯庫或者叫做縐腹鯨）身長(zhǎng)達(dá)一百二十碼；這就要合到三百六十英尺了。而那位法國(guó)博物學(xué)家拉塞佩德，在他那部詳盡闡述的大鯨史上的開頭（第三頁）就宣稱露脊鯨有一百公尺，即合三百二十八英尺的身長(zhǎng)。這部作品還是遲至一八二五年才發(fā)表的呢。

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