英语听书《白鲸记》第795期

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　　我搞到了——我搞到了——斯塔布喜形于色地说道，同时在那底里戳一样东西，"一只荷包，一只荷包！"

　　Dropping his spade, he thrust both hands in, and drew out handfuls of something that looked like ripe Windsor soap, or rich mottled old cheese; very unctuous² and savory³ withal. You might easily dent⁴ it with your thumb; it is of a hue⁵ between yellow and ash color. And this, good friends, is ambergris, worth a gold guinea an ounce to any druggist. Some six handfuls were obtained; but more was unavoidably lost in the sea, and still more, perhaps, might have been secured were it not for impatient Ahab's loud command to Stubb to desist, and come on board, else the ship would bid them good-bye.

　　他放下他的铲子，把两只手都插了进去，拉出一大把样子象红润的温莎香皂（温莎香皂——一种褐色的香皂。）或者象芳醇斑斓的陈乳酪般的东西；气味十分馥郁芬芳。这东西只消用大拇指一捏，就一下子可以把它捏出一个凹痕来；它是一种色泽介于黄灰两色之间的东西。老朋友呀，这就是龙诞香呀，拿去卖给随便哪一个药房老板，可就一两值一个几尼。他已抓到了六大把；不过落在海里的还不止这些，而且，要不是亚哈不耐烦地高声命令斯塔布歇手，快上船来，否则，船就要跟他们再会了的话，捞到的也许还要多些。

　　Chapter 92 Ambergris

　　第九十二章 龙涎香

　　Now this ambergris is a very curious substance, and so important as an article of commerce, that in 1791 a certain Nantucket-born Captain Coffin⁷ was examined at the bar of the English House of Commons on that subject. For at that time, and indeed until a comparatively late day, the precise origin of ambergris remained, like amber⁶ itself, a problem to the learned. Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct.

　　且说这种龙诞香，是一种十分珍奇的东西，也是非常重要的商品，因此，在一七九一年，有一个南塔开特人科芬船长还为此而受过英国众议院法庭的审问。因为在当时，事实上也可说是直至晚近，龙涎香的真正来源，在学者们看来，正如琥珀一般，还是个问题。虽然龙诞香这个词儿就是法文的灰琥珀的复合词，然而，这两样东西却是完全不同的。

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