評論
打印
As in general shape the noble Sperm Whale's head may be compared to a Roman war-chariot (especially in front, where it is so broadly rounded); so, at a broad view, the Right Whale's head bears a rather inelegant resemblance to a gigantic galliot-toed shoe. Two hundred years ago an old Dutch voyager likened its shape to that of a shoemaker's last. And in this same last or shoe, that old woman of the nursery tale with the swarming brood, might very comfortably be lodged, she and all her progeny.
因為就總的形狀說來，那只高貴的抹香鯨頭也許可以跟古羅馬的戰車相媲美（尤其是它那只真是又大又圓的面孔）；所以，概括地看來，那只露脊鯨頭，倒有幾分粗具一只狹長的大鞋子的樣子。兩百年前，有個荷蘭的老航海家把它的樣子比擬作一只鞋匠的鞋型。就在這一只鞋型或者鞋子里，童話里那個有著豐隆的兒女的老婦和她所有的子孫也許可以住得十分舒服呢。
But as you come nearer to this great head it begins to assume different aspects, according to your point of view. If you stand on its summit and look at these two f-shaped spout-holes, you would take the whole head for an enormous bass viol, and these spiracles, the apertures in its soundingboard. Then, again, if you fix your eye upon this strange, crested, comblike incrustation on the top of the mass—this green, barnacled thing, which the Greenlanders call the "crown," and the Southern fishers the "bonnet" of the Right Whale; fixing your eyes solely on this, you would take the head for the trunk of some huge oak, with a bird's nest in its crotch. At any rate, when you watch those live crabs that nestle here on this bonnet, such an idea will be almost sure to occur to you;
但是，當你再朝這只大頭走近一點，根據你的觀點的不同，它就有各種不同的外形。如果你站在它的頭頂上，對這兩只f型的噴水孔望一望，你就會把整個頭當成一只低音大提琴，而那些個噴孔，就是大提琴的聲板上的壁孔。接著，如果你再定睛望著那大頭頂上的奇特。隆起。雞冠形的覆蓋物——這種碧綠而纏來纏去的東西，格陵蘭人管它叫"王冠"，南海的漁人卻管它叫露脊鯨的"帽子"。你只要把眼睛緊瞪在這件東西上，你就會把這只大頭當成一棵大橡樹的樹干，樹椏上還筑有一只鳥窠。總之，當你看到蹲在這頂帽子上的那些活蟹的時候，包準你幾乎就會有這樣的想法；
