In short, he is what the fishermen technically call a "grey-headed whale."
總之,它就是捕魚人特稱為"白頭鯨"的東西。
Let us now note what is least dissimilar in these heads— namely, the two most important organs, the eye and the ear. Far back on the side of the head, and low down, near the angle of either whale's jaw, if you narrowly search, you will at last see a lashless eye, which you would fancy to be a young colt's eye; so out of all proportion is it to the magnitude of the head.
現(xiàn)在我們不妨來看看這兩只頭的最為相似的地方吧——那就是,那兩種最主要的器官:眼睛和耳朵。在鯨頭的極后邊,還要下面一些,在靠近嘴角的左右兩邊,如果你仔細(xì)地找一找,最后就可以看到一只沒有睫毛的眼睛,你也許會把它當(dāng)做一只小馬的眼睛,因?yàn)檠劬χ「穷^顱之大竟是如此極不相稱。
Now, from this peculiar sideway position of the whale's eyes, it is plain that he can never see an object which is exactly ahead, no more than he can one exactly astern. In a word, the position of the whale's eyes corresponds to that of a man's ears; and you may fancy, for yourself, how it would fare with you, did you sideways survey objects through your ears. You would find that you could only command some thirty degrees of vision in advance of the straight side-line of sight; and about thirty more behind it. If your bitterest foe were walking straight towards you, with dagger uplifted in broad day, you would not be able to see him, any more than if he were stealing upon you from behind. In a word, you would have two backs, so to speak; but, at the same time, also, two fronts (side fronts): for what is it that makes the front of a man— what, indeed, but his eyes?
那么,從大鯨的眼睛這樣長在側(cè)方的特殊位置上看來,它顯然是決不可能看到正前方的東西,也同樣看不到正后方的東西了。總括一句,鯨眼的位置正相當(dāng)于人類的耳朵的位置。那么,你可以想一想,換了是你,你該怎么辦,你曾經(jīng)用你的耳朵往斜里看過東西么?你準(zhǔn)會發(fā)覺你只能控制正斜方前后三十度的視力。因此,如果你的最狠心的敵人,在大白天里,手里舉起一把匕首,直沖著你走過來的時(shí)候,你一定無法看到他,正如你無法看到他從背后躡手躡腳來攻擊你一樣??傊路鹉憔驮撻L兩個(gè)背脊,而且,同時(shí),也得長有兩個(gè)面孔(側(cè)臉),因?yàn)闃?gòu)成一個(gè)人的面孔的是什么呀——不正是一對眼睛嗎?