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The ribs were ten on a side. The first, to begin from the neck, was nearly six feet long; the second, third, and fourth were each successively longer, till you came to the climax of the fifth, or one of the middle ribs, which measured eight feet and some inches. From that part, the remaining ribs diminished, till the tenth and last only spanned five feet and some inches. In general thickness, they all bore a seemly correspondence to their length. The middle ribs were the most arched. In some of the Arsacides they are used for beams whereon to lay footpath bridges over small streams.
這些肋骨每邊各有十根、第一根，就是從頸部數起的那一根，幾乎有六英尺長；第二根、第三根和第四根都一根比一根長，等你數到最長的第五根或者是中間的那一根，它量起來有八英尺幾英寸長。打從第五根起，其余的肋骨就逐漸縮短了，直縮到第十根，也就是最后的一根，看來只不過五英尺多點。就一般的粗細說來，它們都跟長度差不多。不過中間的那些肋骨都很彎。在阿薩西提地方，有些肋骨還被當橫木用，拿來架在小河上做小橋。
In considering these ribs, I could not but be struck anew with the circumstance, so variously repeated in this book, that the skeleton of the whale is by no means the mould of his invested form. The largest of the Tranque ribs, one of the middle ones, occupied that part of the fish which, in life, is greatest in depth. Now, the greatest depth of the invested body of this particular whale must have been at least sixteen feet; whereas, the corresponding rib measured but little more than eight feet. So that this rib only conveyed half of the true notion of the living magnitude of that part. Besides, for some way, where I now saw but a naked spine, all that had been once wrapped round with tons of added bulk in flesh, muscle, blood, and bowels. Still more, for the ample fins, I here saw but a few disordered joints; and in place of the weighty and majestic, but boneless flukes, an utter blank!
一想到這些肋骨，我不禁重新想起本書中一再提到的那些情況，那就是說，鯨骷髏絕不就是它原來的身體的形狀。托朗魁那條鯨的最大的肋骨，也就是中間的那根，在鯨活著的時候，就是鯨身的最厚部分。而這條鯨本來的身軀的最厚部分至少一定有十六英尺長；可是，這根肋骨量起來卻不過是八英尺。所以這根肋骨只不過是表達了這只大活物的那一部分的一半真相而已。此外，我總覺得，我現在所看到的這種不過是一根光堂堂的椎骨，卻曾經給一噸一噸的鮮肉，肌肉，鮮血和內臟四面緊緊包圍著。還有，說到那些原來是豐滿的鰭，我現在所看到的，卻只是一堆零亂的骨節了；而且原來那些極有分量與威風凜凜的，而且一點骨頭也沒有的鯨尾裂片，如今純然一無所有了！
