英语听书《白鲸记》第769期

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Chapter 88 Schools and Schoolmasters

第八十八章 鲸队和队长（原文有学校与校长的意思，作者在本章中即以其双关意义随意讽喻。）

The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd of Sperm Whales, and there was also then given the probable cause inducing those vast aggregations.

上一章已经说到了大群抹香鲸，还说到为什么会有这么一大群的大概的原因。

Now, though such great bodies are at times encountered, yet, as must have been seen, even at the present day, small detached bands are occasionally observed, embracing from twenty to fifty individuals each. Such bands are known as schools. They generally are of two sorts; those composed almost entirely of females, and those mustering none but young vigorous males, or bulls as they are familiarly designated.

虽说常常可以碰到这样大群的鲸，甚至在现今，也还一定可以看到，不过偶尔也可以看到零星小股鲸群，每群约自二十到五十条不等。这种小股鲸群就被称为鲸队。它们大约可以分为两类：一类差不多全都是阴性的，还有一类却都是体壮力强的雄赳赳的阳性，或者就照大家叫惯的名字管它们叫雄鲸吧。

In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his ladies. In truth, this gentleman is a luxurious Ottoman, swimming about over the watery world, surroundingly accompanied by all the solaces and endearments of the harem. The contrast between this Ottoman and his concubines is striking; because, while he is always of the largest leviathanic proportions, the ladies, even at full growth, are not more than one-third of the bulk of an average-sized male.

雌鲸队的随从，始终是一只茁壮硕大、年纪不大的雄鲸，一遇紧急情况，它就英勇豪迈地游到后面，掩护着它那些太太小姐逃命。其实，这位仁兄是个穷奢极欲的土耳其贵族，在水乡里游来游去，前呼后拥的尽是些娇妻美妾。这位土耳其贵族跟它那些妻妾的对比倒是相当触目的；因为，它总是身躯最大的大海兽，而那些贵妇，即使是成长了的，也不过只有这种大鲸的平均体躯的三分之一。