英语听书《白鲸记》第861期(在线收听) |
But soon my line was out; and following it back, I emerged from the opening where I entered. 可是,不一会,我的麻线拉完了;只得顺着麻线打回头,从刚才进去的那个缺口出来。 I saw no living thing within; naught 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 skull, the priests perceived me taking the altitude of the final rib, 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 Hull, 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 specimens 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 proprietors call quote "the only perfect specimen 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 Constable 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 Sperm 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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