英语听书《白鲸记》第377期

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

Very shy; always going solitary¹; unexpectedly rising to the surface in the remotest and most sullen² waters;  它很怕羞,始终独来独往;出人不意地在最远僻最阴沉的海洋上冒出海面;

his straight and single lofty jet rising like a tall misanthropic³ spear upon a barren plain;  它那又直又高的单股喷水,一射起来,就象是插在荒原上一把愤世嫉俗的长矛;

gifted with such wondrous⁴ power and velocity⁵ in swimming, as to defy all present pursuit from man;  游起水来,天生有那么惊人的力气和速度,好象是不把人类会随时随刻对它追捕放在眼里似的;

this leviathan seems the banished⁶ and unconquerable Cain of his race, bearing for his mark that style upon his back.  这种大海兽就象它族类中的被放逐而不可征服的该隐,背负着那标志在它的背上的记号。

From having the baleen⁷ in his mouth, the Fin⁸-Back is sometimes included with the right whale, among a theoretic species denominated Whalebone whales, that is, whales with baleen.  由于它嘴上有须,因此,脊鳍鲸有时就被算做露脊鲸,在理论上被列入须鲸类,就是说,是有须的鲸。

Of these so-called Whalebone whales, there would seem to be several varieties, most of which, however, are little known.  关于这些所谓须鲸,看来倒有好几种,不过,其中大多是默默无闻的。

Broad-nosed whales and beaked⁹ whales; pike-headed whales; bunched whales; under-jawed whales and rostrated whales, are the fisherman's names for a few sorts. 阔鼻鲸;钩鼻鲸;矛头鲸;拳头鲸;低颚鲸和突嘴鲸,都是捕鲸者的几种叫法。

In connexion with this appellative of Whalebone whales, it is of great importance to mention,  关于须鲸这名称,极其值得提出的是,

that however such a nomenclature may be convenient in facilitating allusions¹⁰ to some kind of whales, yet it is in vain to attempt a clear classification of the Leviathan, founded upon either his baleen, or hump, or fin, or teeth;  不管这样一个专门名称对于某几种鲸的提法上可以有多大的方便,然而,对于这种大海兽,要想根据它的鲸须。

notwithstanding that those marked parts or features very obviously seem better adapted to afford the basis for a regular system of Cetology than any other detached bodily distinctions, which the whale, in his kinds, presents.  背峰,或者是根据大鳍。牙齿来获得一种明确的分类却是徒劳的;虽然这种特点或者特征,看似比之它的同类所具有的其它任何个别的体躯上的特点更为明显,更易于得出正规的鲸类学体系的根据。

分享到：