英语听书《白鲸记》第372期

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To be short, then, a whale is a spouting² fish with a horizontal tail. There you have him.  那么,简单说来,就是,鲸是一种会喷水,有平尾的鱼。这样人们就明白了。

However contracted, that definition is the result of expanded meditation⁴.  这个定义不管是怎样被压缩了,它可是经过广泛思考的结果。

A walrus⁵ spouts⁶ much like a whale, but the walrus is not a fish, because he is amphibious.  海象也象鲸一样很会喷水,可是海象并不是鱼,因为它是两栖动物。

But the last term of the definition is still more cogent⁷, as coupled with the first.  不过,这个定义的后半段,一跟前半段连在一起,就变得更为使人信服了。

Almost any one must have noticed that all the fish familiar to landsmen have not a flat, but a vertical⁸, or up-and-down tail.  几乎任何人都会注意到,陆地人所熟见的鱼都没有平尾,只有一根垂直的,或者向上向下的尾巴。

Whereas, among spouting fish the tail, though it may be similarly shaped, invariably assumes a horizontal position. 反之,在一切会喷水的鱼中,它们的尾巴,虽然形状可能相似,却都一定有一种平面的形态。

By the above definition of what a whale is,  我在上面对鲸所下的定义,

I do by no means exclude from the leviathanic brotherhood⁹ any sea creature hitherto identified with the whale by the best informed Nantucketers;  可决不是想借此而把鲸类跟任何海族都隔绝起来,因为一般见多识广的南塔开特人迄今仍把海族与鲸一视同仁;

nor, on the other hand, link with it any fish hitherto authoritatively¹⁰ regarded as alien. 同时,另一方面,也并不企图把那种迄今仍被权威地认为是异类的任何鱼类拿来跟鲸联系起来

Hence, all the smaller, spouting and horizontal tailed fish must be included in this ground-plan of Cetology. Now, then, come the grand divisions of the entire whale host. 于是,一切身材较小的。会喷水而又有平尾的鱼类都必须包括在这个鲸类学的平面图中。那么,现在就来把整个鲸群分成六大类吧。

But as these pig-fish are a noisy, contemptible¹¹ set, mostly lurking¹² in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet hay, and especially as they do not spout³, I deny their credentials¹³ as whales; and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom of Cetology. 但是,说到这种咸水火鱼,它却是一种吵吵闹闹,十分无聊的鱼,大多潜伏在河口,赖湿草为生,尤其是它们并不会喷水,因此,我吊销了它们作为鲸的国籍证,签发给它们一张离开鲸类学王国的护照。

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