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but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly have compared with the silken pearl-colored membrane, like the lining of a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface of the Sperm Whale's case.
不過，就最為豪貴方面說來，那層衣包，卻不是那種白珠色的網膜，象那構成抹香鯨的腦窩內層的精美大衣里子所可比擬的。
It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale embraces the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since—as has been elsewhere set forth—the head embraces one third of the whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship's side.
必須看到，抹香鯨這只海德堡大桶，它的長度就等于它的頭部的整個頂端；而且因為——在另外的地方已經提到過——這只頭本來就等于鯨的身長的三分之一，于是，假定一條中等鯨的身長有八十英尺的話，那么，在把它從舷邊直吊起來的時候，這只大桶可就有二十六英尺以上的縱深了。
As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its invaluable contents. It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which is at last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter.
在砍鯨頭的時候，因為那個操作者的工具跟那個緊接著鯨腦的寶庫的出入口極相貼近，因此，他就得非常謹慎小心，否則，稍一粗心大意，一刀砍得不準，就會侵犯到那內殿，把那里邊的無價之寶白白地溢掉。于是這只砍下來后的頭，最后就被拉出了水面，由一只巨大的剖割復滑車吊在那里，船舷上便纏七纏八的盡是許多繩索。
Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and— in this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale's great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped.
已經說了這許多，現在，我請你注意一下那種敲擊抹香鯨的海德堡大桶的不可思議的、而又——特別是這一回——簡直是性命交關的工作吧。
