英语听书《白鲸记》第370期

And here be it said, that the Greenland whale is an usurper upon the throne of the seas. He is not even by any means the largest of the whales. Yet, owing to the long priority of his claims, and the profound ignorance which till some seventy years back, invested the then fabulous and utterly unknown sperm-whale, and which ignorance to this present day still reigns in all but some few scientific retreats and whale-ports; this usurpation has been every way complete. Reference to nearly all the leviathanic allusions in the great poets of past days, will satisfy you that the Greenland whale, without one rival, was to them the monarch of the seas. But the time has at last come for a new proclamation. This is Charing Cross; hear ye! good people all,--the Greenland whale is deposed,-- the great sperm whale now reigneth!

而且,其中也只有一个人是真正的职业标枪手和捕鲸人。我指的是斯哥斯比船长。在论格陵兰大鲸,又称露脊鲸的各别的科目中,他是现存的最优秀的权威。但是,对于那种抹香鲸(与之相比,格陵兰鲸几乎是不值一提的),斯哥斯比还是毫无所知,一无记载。不过,请注意,格陵兰鲸是海上王座的僭夺者。它甚至还算不上鲸中的最大的呢。然而,由于人们长期承认它的既得权,同时,在过去七十年来,人们对当时所传说的,也可说是全然陌生的抹香鲸是完全无知的,而且时至今日,除了少数科学研究所和捕鲸港以外,人们对于抹香鲸仍然是一无所知;于是,这种僭夺权就给弄得天衣无缝了。人们几乎查遍了过去许多伟大诗人的有关大海兽的一切引喻,都只能看到格陵兰鲸就是诗人眼中的世无其匹的海上王君。但是,终于到了喊出新的呼声的时候了。这里就是查林的十字架为纪念其妻伊林娜,命人精工制成一只十字架。查林即在伦敦的特拉法加广场之南。一八四七年十字架为议会派所毁。这地方是英国张贴一切皇家公告(包括新皇登基等)的处所。你们听着,一切的善男信女呀,格陵兰鲸已经被黜废了,大抹香鲸才是当今的主宰者!

There are only two books in being which at all pretend to put the living sperm whale before you, and at the same time, in the remotest degree succeed in the attempt. Those books are Beale's and Bennett's; both in their time surgeons to the English South-Sea whale-ships, and both exact and reliable men. The original matter touching the sperm whale to be found in their volumes is necessarily small; but so far as it goes, it is of excellent quality, though mostly confined to scientific description. As yet, however, the sperm whale, scientific or poetic, lives not complete in any literature.

只有两本书自以为已经让你看到活的抹香鲸,同时,就其成就的程度说来,却还差得很远。这就是比尔和贝内特所写的两本书;他们两人都曾经做过当时英国南海捕鲸船的船医,并且都是严正可靠的人物。要在他们的书中找到有关抹香鲸的原始材料必然是不会很多的;不过,就其仅有的材料说来,却都是上乘的,虽然大多还是局限于科学性的记述。不过,迄今说来,不论在科学的或者诗歌的作品中,对于抹香鲸仍是记载不完全的。