評論
打印
"Bah! My friend, there'd be many more without their enemies, scorpionfish and human beings! Do you know how many eggs have been counted in a single female?"
“哎！我的朋友，如果它們沒有天敵——伊豆鲉魚和人類，那還會更多呢！你知道一只雌鱈魚能產多少卵嗎？”
"I'll go all out," Conseil replied. "500,000."
“我盡量說吧，”康塞爾回答說，“50萬顆。”
"11,000,000, my friend."
“110萬顆，我的朋友。”
"11,000,000! I refuse to accept that until I count them myself."
“110萬顆。這我可不會相信，除非我自己數過。”
"So count them, Conseil. But it would be less work to believe me. Besides, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Americans, Danes, and Norwegians catch these cod by the thousands. They're eaten in prodigious quantities, and without the astonishing fertility of these fish, the seas would soon be depopulated of them. Accordingly, in England and America alone, 5,000 ships manned by 75,000 seamen go after cod. Each ship brings back an average catch of 4,400 fish, making 22,000,000. Off the coast of Norway, the total is the same."
“數吧，康塞爾。不過你很快就會相信我。再說，成千上萬的法國人英國人、美洲人、丹麥人、挪威人，他們都在捕捉鱈魚。人們消費鱈魚的數量是驚人的，如果沒有驚人的產出，海里的鱈魚恐怕就要絕跡了。只是在英國和美洲，就有 5000艘由75000名水手駕駛的船只，被遣往捕捉鱈魚。每只船平均約帶回4萬條，這總共就2500萬條。而挪威一帶的海域也是一樣的情形。”
"Fine," Conseil replied, "I'll take master's word for it. I won't count them."
“好，”康塞爾回答，“我就相信先生的話，不數了。”
"Count what?"
“不數什么？”
"Those 11,000,000 eggs. But I'll make one comment."
“110萬顆卵。但我要指出一點。”
"What's that?"
“哪一點？”
"If all their eggs hatched, just four codfish could feed England, America, and Norway."
“就是，如果所有的卵都能孵化，那四條雌鱈魚就能滿足英國、美洲和挪威的供給了。”
