英语听书《白鲸记》第875期

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The whale of to-day is as big as his ancestors in Pliny's time. 现代的鲸正跟普利尼时代的它的祖先一般大小。

And if ever I go where Pliny is, I, a whaleman (more than he was), will make bold to tell him so. 如果我能够跑到普利尼那地方去，我，作为一个捕鲸人（这就比他强了），一定会斗胆跟他这样说。

Because I cannot understand how it is, that while the Egyptian mummies that were buried thousands of years before even Pliny was born, 因为我就不明白：为什么那些甚至早在普利尼还未出世的几千年前就埋葬起的、已在棺材里的埃及木乃伊，

do not measure so much in their coffins¹ as a modern Kentuckian in his socks; 其大小甚至还不及那些穿着轻软鞋的现代的肯塔基人，

and while the cattle and other animals sculptured on the oldest Egyptian and Nineveh tablets, by the relative proportions in which they are drawn², 同时，为什么那些雕刻在古埃及和尼尼微的石碑上的牲畜动物（就所雕刻的相对的比例说来），

just as plainly prove that the high-bred, stall-fed, prize cattle of Smithfield, not only equal, but far exceed in magnitude the fattest of Pharaoh's fat kine; 恰好明明白白地证明出那种斯密斯非尔德的纯种、用干草饲养的超等牲畜，不仅在体躯上相等于、而且远超于法老时代的肥大的母牛，

in the face of all this, I will not admit that of all animals the whale alone should have degenerated³. 在这一切事实面前，我不承认在各种动物中，独独大鲸竟会退化了。

But still another inquiry⁴ remains⁵; one often agitated⁶ by the more recondite⁷ Nantucketers. 但是，还有另一个值得追究的问题，也是一个经常为那些比较高深的南塔开特人所提出的问题。

Whether owing to the almost omniscient⁸ look-outs at the mast-heads of the whaleships, 究竟是否因为捕鲸船桅顶上那些几乎是无所不知的守望者，

now penetrating⁹ even through Behring's straits, and into the remotest secret drawers and lockers¹⁰ of the world; 一会儿甚至长驱直入白令海峡，一会儿又冲进了世界的最荒僻的角角落落；

and the thousand harpoons¹¹ and lances darted¹² along all continental¹³ coasts; 无数的标枪和捕鲸枪都掷遍了各处的海岸的缘故；

the moot¹⁴ point is, whether Leviathan can long endure so wide a chase, and so remorseless a havoc¹⁵; 值得讨论的地方就是，究竟鲸能否长期经受得起这样无所不至的追击，这样无情的打击；

whether he must not at last be exterminated¹⁶ from the waters, and the last whale, like the last man, smoke his last pipe, and then himself evaporate in the final puff¹⁷. 还是到头来它一定不会从海里绝迹，而那条最后的鲸，也不至于象一个最后的人那样，吸起他的最后一筒烟后，就此连他自己也在最后一口烟里烟消雾散了呢。

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