英語聽書《白鯨記》第370期

And here be it said, that the Greenland whale is an usurper upon the throne of the seas. He is not even by any means the largest of the whales. Yet, owing to the long priority of his claims, and the profound ignorance which till some seventy years back, invested the then fabulous and utterly unknown sperm-whale, and which ignorance to this present day still reigns in all but some few scientific retreats and whale-ports; this usurpation has been every way complete. Reference to nearly all the leviathanic allusions in the great poets of past days, will satisfy you that the Greenland whale, without one rival, was to them the monarch of the seas. But the time has at last come for a new proclamation. This is Charing Cross; hear ye! good people all,--the Greenland whale is deposed,-- the great sperm whale now reigneth!

而且,其中也只有一個人是真正的職業(yè)標槍手和捕鯨人。我指的是斯哥斯比船長。在論格陵蘭大鯨,又稱露脊鯨的各別的科目中,他是現(xiàn)存的最優(yōu)秀的權(quán)威。但是,對于那種抹香鯨(與之相比,格陵蘭鯨幾乎是不值一提的),斯哥斯比還是毫無所知,一無記載。不過,請注意,格陵蘭鯨是海上王座的僭奪者。它甚至還算不上鯨中的最大的呢。然而,由于人們長期承認它的既得權(quán),同時,在過去七十年來,人們對當時所傳說的,也可說是全然陌生的抹香鯨是完全無知的,而且時至今日,除了少數(shù)科學(xué)研究所和捕鯨港以外,人們對于抹香鯨仍然是一無所知;于是,這種僭奪權(quán)就給弄得天衣無縫了。人們幾乎查遍了過去許多偉大詩人的有關(guān)大海獸的一切引喻,都只能看到格陵蘭鯨就是詩人眼中的世無其匹的海上王君。但是,終于到了喊出新的呼聲的時候了。這里就是查林的十字架為紀念其妻伊林娜,命人精工制成一只十字架。查林即在倫敦的特拉法加廣場之南。一八四七年十字架為議會派所毀。這地方是英國張貼一切皇家公告(包括新皇登基等)的處所。你們聽著,一切的善男信女呀,格陵蘭鯨已經(jīng)被黜廢了,大抹香鯨才是當今的主宰者!

There are only two books in being which at all pretend to put the living sperm whale before you, and at the same time, in the remotest degree succeed in the attempt. Those books are Beale's and Bennett's; both in their time surgeons to the English South-Sea whale-ships, and both exact and reliable men. The original matter touching the sperm whale to be found in their volumes is necessarily small; but so far as it goes, it is of excellent quality, though mostly confined to scientific description. As yet, however, the sperm whale, scientific or poetic, lives not complete in any literature.

只有兩本書自以為已經(jīng)讓你看到活的抹香鯨,同時,就其成就的程度說來,卻還差得很遠。這就是比爾和貝內(nèi)特所寫的兩本書;他們兩人都曾經(jīng)做過當時英國南海捕鯨船的船醫(yī),并且都是嚴正可靠的人物。要在他們的書中找到有關(guān)抹香鯨的原始材料必然是不會很多的;不過,就其僅有的材料說來,卻都是上乘的,雖然大多還是局限于科學(xué)性的記述。不過,迄今說來,不論在科學(xué)的或者詩歌的作品中,對于抹香鯨仍是記載不完全的。