unless, indeed, your fancy has been fixed by the technical term "crown" also bestowed upon it; in which case you will take great interest in thinking how this mighty monster is actually a diademed king of the sea, whose green crown has been put together for him in this marvellous manner. But if this whale be a king, he is a very sulky looking fellow to grace a diadem. Look at that hanging lower lip! what a huge sulk and pout is there! a sulk and pout, by carpenter's measurement, about twenty feet long and five feet deep; a sulk and pout that will yield you some 500 gallons of oil and more.
除非是你的想法確實(shí)已經(jīng)著眼在它那另一個(gè)專門名稱"王冠"上。如果是這樣的話,你就會極感興趣地揣思起來,這大怪物怎么實(shí)際上就是海上的有冠之王,它那頂綠帽子竟是這樣希奇古怪地掇拾攏來的。不過,如果這條鯨是個(gè)國王,那它就正是一個(gè)戴了王冠、相貌十分陰森的家伙。瞧它那低掛的下唇!多么陰森又多么倔氣呀!這個(gè)又陰森又倔氣的東西,根據(jù)木匠的尺寸,約莫有二十來英尺長,五英尺縱深;這個(gè)又陰森又倔氣的東西,卻會給你出產(chǎn)五百多加侖的油量。
A great pity, now, that this unfortunate whale should be hare-lipped. The fissure is about a foot across. Probably the mother during an important interval was sailing down the Peruvian coast, when earthquakes caused the beach to gape. Over this lip, as over a slippery threshold, we now slide into the mouth. Upon my word were I at Mackinaw, I should take this to be the inside of an Indian wigwam. Good Lord! is this the road that Jonah went? The roof is about twelve feet high, and runs to a pretty sharp angle, as if there were a regular ridge-pole there; while these ribbed, arched, hairy sides, present us with those wondrous, half vertical, scimitar-shaped slats of whalebone, say three hundred on a side, which depending from the upper part of the head or crown bone, form those Venetian blinds which have elsewhere been cursorily mentioned.
真可惜,你瞧,這條不幸的鯨竟然是兔唇。那裂隙約近一英尺闊。大概它母親在緊要關(guān)頭時(shí)分,循著秘魯沿海下游游去時(shí),恰好碰上地震把海灘震裂了的緣故。我們象跨過一個(gè)滑溜溜的門檻似的,跨過這片嘴唇,已經(jīng)不知不覺地走進(jìn)它的嘴里了。要是我在馬啟諾海峽的話,我準(zhǔn)會以為是走進(jìn)了一間印第安人的小屋。天呀!這就是約拿走過的路么?屋頂約有十二英尺高,斜成一個(gè)很銳的角度,仿佛有一根齊整的棟梁撐在那里似的;那嶙峋起伏、拱彎而毛茸茸的兩邊,就教我們看到了那些奇奇怪怪、半垂直的、彎刀形的鯨須,大約一邊有三百根,都從頭顱或者冠骨的上部掛下來,形成我們已在別處略為提過的那種細(xì)長窗簾。