英语听书《白鲸记》第861期

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　　I saw no living thing within; naught¹ was there but bones. 我看不到里面有什么生物；看来看去只是一些骨头。

　　Cutting me a green measuring-rod, I once more dived within the skeleton. 我砍了一根碧绿的量竿，又再一次地跑到骷髅里面去。

　　From their arrow-slit in the skull², the priests perceived me taking the altitude of the final rib³, 那些僧人从脑壳的弓形裂口上，看到我在量着最后一根肋骨的高度。

　　"How now!" they shouted; "Dar'st thou measure this our god! That's for us." "怎么啦！"他们都叫嚷道；"你竟胆敢量起我们这个大神来！那是要我们来量的。"

　　"Aye, priests—well, how long do ye make him, then?" "啊，僧人们——那么，你们量的长短是多少呀？"

　　But hereupon a fierce contest rose among them, concerning feet and inches; 于是乎，他们就掀起一阵有关尺寸的激烈的争辩；

　　they cracked each other's sconces with their yard-sticks— the great skull echoed—and seizing that lucky chance, I quickly concluded my own admeasurements. 他们用量码敲打着彼此的脑袋——弄得那只大脑壳也发出了回声——我抓住这个大好机会，连忙结束我自己的度量工作。

　　These admeasurements I now propose to set before you. 我现在打算把量来的这些尺寸告诉你们。

　　But first, be it recorded, that, in this matter, I am not free to utter any fancied measurements I please. 不过，首先请把它记下来，因为在这方面，我所想说的尺寸是不能随便乱说的。

　　Because there are skeleton authorities you can refer to, to test my accuracy. 因为骷髅的权威家有的是，你尽可以去请教他们，以检验我是否量得准确。

　　There is a Leviathanic Museum, they tell me, in Hull⁴, England, one of the whaling ports of that country, 据说，在英国的赫尔，在英国这个捕鲸港，有个大鲸博物馆，

　　where they have some fine specimens⁶ of fin-backs and other whales. 在那里，陈列有几只脊鳍鲸和其它大鲸的颇为精美的标本。

　　Likewise, I have heard that in the museum of Manchester, in New Hampshire, 同样地，我也听到人们说，在新罕布什尔的孟彻斯特博物馆中，

　　they have what the proprietors⁷ call quote "the only perfect specimen⁵ of a Greenland or River Whale in the United States." End quote 也陈列有一些物主管它叫"美国唯一的格陵兰或者河鲸的地道标本"。

　　Moreover, at a place in Yorkshire, England, Burton Constable⁸ by name, 而且，在英国的约克郡，有一个叫做伯顿·康斯特布尔的地方，

　　a certain Sir Clifford Constable has in his possession the skeleton of a Sperm⁹ Whale, 有某一位叫做克利福德·康斯特布尔爵士的，家里藏有一只抹香鲸的骷髅，

　　but of moderate size, by no means of the full-grown magnitude of my friend King Tranquo's. 不过，那是一条中型的鲸，绝不能跟我的朋友托朗魁王那只茁壮的巨物相比。

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