海底兩萬里 第453期 第27章 南極(10)

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Only if they're attacked, I replied.

不，我回答，除非是人家要攻擊它們。

But when these giant seals defend their little ones, their fury is dreadful, and it isn't rare for them to smash a fisherman's longboat to bits.

當一條海豹保衛(wèi)它的子女的時候，它是憤怒得怕人，它把漁人的小船弄成碎片，并不是希罕的事。

They're within their rights, Conseil answered.

那是它的正當權利?？等麪柫⒓凑f。

I don't say nay.

我沒有說不是呀。

Two miles farther on, we were stopped by a promontory that screened the bay from southerly winds.

再走兩海里遠，我們就被保護港灣不受南風吹打的尖峽擋住了。

It dropped straight down to the sea, and surf foamed against it.

尖峽靠海矗立，回潮打來，泡沫飛濺，

From beyond this ridge there came fearsome bellows, such as a herd of cattle might produce.

呷外有隆隆的吼叫聲發(fā)出，就像一群牛羊反芻類可能發(fā)出的聲響那么利害。

Gracious, Conseil put in, a choir of bulls?

怎么，康塞爾說，是水牛的音樂會嗎？

No, I said, a choir of walruses.

不，我說，是海馬的音樂會。

Are they fighting with each other?

它們打架嗎？

Either fighting or playing.

它們或者是打架，或者是玩耍。

With all due respect to master, this we must see.

請先生原諒，我們應當去看一下。

Then see it we must, Conseil.

我們應當去看一下，康塞爾。

And there we were, climbing these blackish rocks amid sudden landslides and over stones slippery with ice.

我們于是在意想不到的亂石間，被冰塊弄得很滑溜的碎石上走過那些灰黑的巖石地。

More than once I took a tumble at the expense of my backside.

不止一次，我滑倒了，弄得腰部酸痛。

Conseil, more cautious or more stable, barely faltered and would help me up, saying:

康塞爾，或者是因為他比較小心，或者是因為他比較結實，沒有摔過：他把我扶起來，說：

If master's legs would kindly adopt a wider stance, master will keep his balance.

如果先生愿意把兩腿挪開一些，先生就更能保持身體的平衡了。

Arriving at the topmost ridge of this promontory, I could see vast white plains covered with walruses.

到了尖呷的高脊背上，我望見一片白色的廣大平原，上面全是海馬。

These animals were playing among themselves.

這些海馬正在成群玩耍，剛才聽到的是它們的快樂的聲音，

They were howling not in anger but in glee.

不是它們憤怒的壕叫。

Walruses resemble seals in the shape of their bodies and the arrangement of their limbs.

海馬從軀體的外形上看，從四肢的安排上看，跟海豹很相象。

But their lower jaws lack canines and incisors, and as for their upper canines, they consist of two tusks eighty centimeters long with a circumference of thirty-three centimeters at the socket.

可是它們的下鄂沒有虎牙和門牙，至于上鄂的虎牙，那是兩枚長八十厘米，下槽周圓三十三厘米的角牙，這些牙由致密無疵的牙質(zhì)上成，比象牙更硬，又比較不易變黃。