英语听书《白鲸记》第681期

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Wherefore, you must now have perceived  因此，你现在一定看得出，

that the front of the Sperm¹ Whale's head is a dead, blind wall, without a single organ or tender prominence² of any sort whatsoever³. 抹香鲸头的正面就是一堵没有窗的墙，既没有一种器官，也没有任何突出的特点。

Furthermore, you are now to consider that only in the extreme, lower, backward sloping part of the front of the head, is there the slightest vestige⁴ of bone; 而且，你这时就得考虑到，只在头部的正面的极低而后倾的部分，才稍微显出骨胳的形迹，

and not till you get near twenty feet from the forehead do you come to the full cranial development. 如果你不从前额更走近二十英尺，准看不到整个头盖的轮廓。

So that this whole enormous boneless mass is as one wad. 所以这整个硕大的、无骨的一团东西就象一团棉絮。

Finally, though, as will soon be revealed, its contents partly comprise the most delicate oil; 最后，虽则（不久就可发现）它那里面也含有一部分非常珍贵的鲸油；

yet, you are now to be apprised⁵ of the nature of the substance which so impregnably invests all that apparent effeminacy. 然而，你现在就将知道那种非常牢靠地裹住一切外表的很柔软的东西的本质了。

In some previous place I have described to you how the blubber wraps the body of the whale, as the rind wraps an orange. 在前文某个地方，我已经给你描摹出，鲸脂包裹着鲸身，正如橘皮包裹着橘子。

Just so with the head; but with this difference: about the head this envelope,  这只头正是这般情况；不过，却有这种不同之处：包着这只头的那一层东西，

though not so thick is of a boneless toughness, inestimable by any man who has not handled it. 虽然并不怎么厚，却是一种无骨的坚韧体，是一种任何一个未曾触摸到它的人所估量不出来的东西。

The severest pointed⁶ harpoon⁷, the sharpest lance darted⁸ by the strongest human arm, impotently rebounds⁹ from it. 力气最大的人臂，使起最尖最快的标枪、鱼枪，一碰上它就会萎靡地给弹回来。

It is as though the forehead of the Sperm Whale were paved with horses' hoofs¹⁰. 仿佛抹香鲸的前额钉上了马蹄铁。

I do not think that any sensation lurks¹¹ in it. 我认为那只头根本就是毫无感觉的。

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