you must needs conclude that the great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last.  可还得下这样的结论：大鲸是世界上一种始终无法绘画的动物。

　　True, one portrait may hit the mark much nearer than another, but none can hit it with any very considerable degree of exactness.  不错，也许这张画会比另一张画更成功些，可是，要画得维妙维肖却不容易。

　　So there is no earthly way of finding out precisely what the whale really looks like. 因此，要正确地找出鲸究竟象个什么，可说是毫无办法。

　　And the only mode in which you can derive even a tolerable idea of his living contour, is by going a whaling yourself; 甚至于要对它那活生生的轮廓获得相当的印象，唯一的办法，只有亲自去捕鲸；

　　but by so doing, you run no small risk of being eternally stove and sunk by him.  可是，这样做，却须冒着被它弄得永无完身和沉沦失身的不小的危险。

　　Wherefore, it seems to me you had best not be too fastidious in your curiosity touching this Leviathan. 因此，我觉得，对于这种大海鲸的好奇心，还是别太挑剔为好。

　　Chapter 56 Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes 第五十六章 错误较少的大鲸图像和捕鲸写生

　　In connexion with the monstrous pictures of whales, 关于大鲸的惊人图像，

　　I am strongly tempted here to enter upon those still more monstrous stories of them which are to be found in certain books, both ancient and modern,   我很想在这里着手讲一些关于它们的更为惊人的故事，这些故事都可以在古今一些书本中，

　　especially in Pliny, Purchas, Hackluyt, Harris, Cuvier, etc. But I pass that matter by. 特别是在普利尼，珀切斯（塞缪尔·珀切斯（1575—1626）——英国作家。），哈克鲁特（理查·哈克鲁特（1552—1616）——英国地理学家，著有几本游记。），哈里斯，居维埃等人的作品中找到。但是，我对此都置之不理。

　　I know of only four published outlines of the great Sperm Whale; Colnett's, Huggins's, Frederick Cuvier's, and Beale's.  我只知道有四本已经出版的关于大抹香鲸书的概要；那就是科尔内特、哈金斯（威廉·哈金斯（1824—1910）——英国天文学家。）、弗里德里克、居维埃和比尔等四人的作品。