評論
打印
LESSON 49 Weathering cape horn
第四十九課 風化角
The first introduction of my reader to the good ship Wales, whereby we pass to the Pacific, is as she is lying at the islands called Foul Weather Group, or the Falkland Islands. Cape Horn weather here begins, and the ship and her company put on their Cape Horn suit. This group of islands is so near the gate of the Pacific, though belonging to the Atlantic side, that an account of a ramble over the moss-covered rocks and penguin roosts of the uninhabited land off which we now lie is no inappropriate introduction to the island world we are just entering.
我先向讀者們介紹一艘好船威爾士，讓我們穿過太平洋時，和她正在一個叫惡劣天氣群的島，或?？颂m群島上行駛著。風華角的惡劣天氣在開始了，這艘船和她的所屬公司穿上他們那像斗篷角一樣的服裝。這群島嶼是如此的靠近太平洋的大門，雖然它從屬于大西洋側，但這一系列關于漫步在這布滿大巖石和企鵝的無人居住地的陳述對這樣一個我們剛剛進入的島國世界是一種不合適的介紹。
Selecting a small indentation or bight in the cliff as a landing-place, what was our surprise to find what we had thought a facing of white stone to be innumerable penguins, standing erect, in the rank and file of battle array, upon the declivity of the rocks, and occupying at least two acres, in dense columns, away back to the moss and grass!……
在懸崖上選擇一個小小的凹痕處或者溝灣處作為卸貨港,讓我們驚喜的是發現我們原以為面臨會遇到無數的企鵝白色石頭處,筆直地站立著,成戰斗狀態排列著,在傾斜的巖石上，并占領至少兩英畝的空間,在濃密的列組中，又回到了最初苔草的原始狀態!……
To those who have never seen a picture of the penguin, it would be impossible to convey an idea by description of this odd amphibious creature. It has the head, bill, and two web-feet of a bird, and stands erect on land, sometimes two and a half or three feet in height. Penguins have no wings, nor proper feathers, but a covering intermediate between fur and feather, and two fins or flippers like the seal. Their motion on land is by successive hops, in the most awkward manner conceivable. When going down a declivity, the centre of gravity is often thrown too far forward, and away they tumble, and scramble, and roll, till they get to the sea, in which they dive and swim with great celerity.
對于那些從未見過企鵝照片的人來說，,是不可能僅僅靠描述這種奇怪的兩棲生物就能傳遞一種想法的。它的頭像海報里畫的那樣,是一種兩腳并排的鳥,矗立在陸地上,有時它有兩個半或三英尺高。企鵝沒有翅膀,也沒有足夠多的羽毛,但覆蓋毛皮和羽毛之間的中間覆蓋著兩個鰭鰭像海豹一樣的親密的羽毛。它們在陸地上的運動是連續的跳躍方式,也可能是最尷尬的方式。當它向下傾斜時,它的重心往往向前傾,他們摔倒,連爬帶滾向前進,直到他們到達大海,在大海里它們可以非常敏捷地潛水和游泳。
