英語聽書《白鯨記》第736期

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Furthermore, as his windpipe solely opens into the tube of his spouting canal, and as that long canal—like the grand Erie Canal— is furnished with a sort of locks (that open and shut) for the downward retention of air or the upward exclusion of water, therefore the whale has no voice; unless you insult him by saying, that when he so strangely rumbles, he talks through his nose. But then again, what has the whale to say? Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to this world, unless forced to stammer out something by way of getting a living. Oh! happy that the world is such an excellent listener!

而且，因?yàn)樗臍夤苁菃为?dú)通向它那噴水道的管子的，同時(shí)，因?yàn)槟歉L長的水道——象伊利大運(yùn)河一樣——還裝有兩扇水閘似的東西（可開可關(guān)），向下可以扣住空氣，向上可以排泄水量，因此大鯨也沒有聲音；除非你侮辱它，說它在非常奇特地發(fā)出咕嚕聲來時(shí)，是靠鼻子說話的。那么請問，大鯨會有什么可說的呢？我就不大聽到任何城府很深的人會對世人公開說些什么，除非為了偷生茍活，這才不得不結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地哼出些什么來。呵，幸而人間是一個(gè)如此卓越的傾聽者！

Now, the spouting canal of the Sperm Whale, chiefly intended As It Is for the conveyance of air, and for several feet laid along, horizontally, just beneath the upper surface of his head, and a little to one side; this curious canal is very much like a gas-pipe laid down in a city on one side of a street. But the question returns whether this gas-pipe is also a water-pipe; in other words, whether the spout of the Sperm Whale is the mere vapor of the exhaled breath, or whether that exhaled breath is mixed with water taken in at the mouth, and discharged through the spiracle. It is certain that the mouth indirectly communicates with the spouting canal; but it cannot be proved that this is for the purpose of discharging water through the spiracle.

說到抹香鯨的噴水道，它生來主要就是要傳遞空氣的，它剛好長在它頭部上層的下端，稍微靠邊一點(diǎn)的地方，平平地伸展幾英尺。這條希奇古怪的水道，極象一根鋪設(shè)在城市街旁的煤氣管。但是問題又來了，這根煤氣管究竟是否也就是一根自來水管，換句話說，抹香鯨的噴口究竟只是呼出來的一陣氣呢，還是呼出的氣跟嘴里吸進(jìn)去的水混在一起，又通過那噴水孔排泄出來呢。嘴巴肯定是間接跟那支噴水道互通聲氣的，只是不能由此而得出結(jié)論說：這是為了要通過噴水孔排水而設(shè)的。