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 coffins 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 drawn, 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 degenerated. 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 inquiry remains; one often agitated by the more recondite 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 omniscient 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 penetrating even through Behring's straits, and into the remotest secret drawers and lockers 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 harpoons and lances darted along all continental coasts; 无数的标枪和捕鲸枪都掷遍了各处的海岸的缘故；

the moot point is, whether Leviathan can long endure so wide a chase, and so remorseless a havoc; 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 exterminated from the waters, and the last whale, like the last man, smoke his last pipe, and then himself evaporate in the final puff. 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。