英语听书《白鲸记》第862期

In both cases, the stranded whales to which these two skeletons belonged, were originally claimed by their proprietors upon similar grounds. King Tranquo seizing his because he wanted it; and Sir Clifford, because he was lord of the seignories of those parts. Sir Clifford's whale has been articulated throughout; so that, like a great chest of drawers, you can open and shut him, in all his bony cavities—spread out his ribs like a gigantic fan— and swing all day upon his lower jaw. Locks are to be put upon some of his trap-doors and shutters; and a footman will show round future visitors with a bunch of keys at his side. Sir Clifford thinks of charging twopence for a peep at the whispering gallery in the spinal column; threepence to hear the echo in the hollow of his cerebellum; and sixpence for the unrivalled view from his forehead.

这两只搁浅了的鲸骷髅，本来就是出自同一个理由而成它们的物主的所有物的。托朗魁王是因为他要这东西才把它占为己有；而克利福德爵士则是因为他是当地的领主。克利福德爵士那条鲸（据百周年纪念版注：这条鲸是在一八二五年四月二十八日搁浅在约克郡海边的。），它的关节完全可以由人们给接拢来；因此，活象一只大橱的抽屉，既可以关，又可以开，在它所有的骨洞里（那些肋骨象一把张开的大扇），一天到晚都在下颚上面晃来晃去。有些活门和百叶窗还加上锁；一个手里拿着一串钥匙的仆役，经常站在它身边，随时把它打开，让参观者看个周遍。克利福德爵士还想收取费用：在这个骨柱的低语高响廊里瞧一瞧的，收费两个便士；听一听它那小脑洞里的回声的，收费三个便士；对它的额头作一次绝无仅有的观察的，收费六个便士。

The skeleton dimensions I shall now proceed to set down are copied verbatim from my right arm, where I had them tattooed; as in my wild wanderings at that period, there was no other secure way of preserving such valuable statistics. But as I was crowded for space, and wished the other parts of my body to remain a blank page for a poem I was then composing— at least, what untattooed parts might remain—I did not trouble myself with the odd inches; nor, indeed, should inches at all enter into a congenial admeasurement of the whale.

且说我现在所要记下来的这个骷髅的大小，是从我的右臂上一笔一划地仔细抄下来的，我把所见的都文在这只右臂上；因为在我当时的浪荡日子里，实在没有更妥当的方法来保存这么贵重的统计材料。而且，由于我身上的地位不多，同时还想留下一些空白地方，来写我当时所构思的一首诗——至少还得留着一块未曾文身的地方——因此，我就不去计较那些零头的尺寸了；而且，老实说，根本也用不着尺码分明地把它弄得象一般鲸的尺寸那样。

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