英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)書(shū)《白鯨記》第685期

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The upper part, known as the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale. And as that famous great tierce is mystically carved in front, so the whale's vast plaited forehead forms innumerable strange devices for the emblematical adornment of his wondrous tun. Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state. Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed in any other part of the creature. Though in life it remains perfectly fluid, yet, upon exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending forth beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is just forming in water. A large whale's case generally yields about five hundred gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances, considerable of it is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away, or is otherwise irrevocably lost in the ticklish business of securing what you can.

那上半爿（叫做腦窩），也可以說(shuō)是抹香鯨的海德堡大桶。因?yàn)槟侵恢闹刑?hào)大桶（中號(hào)大桶——四十二加侖）就神秘地嵌在前邊，所以這條鯨的辮狀的大前額上，就給它那個(gè)具有標(biāo)志性的奇形怪狀的大桶平添了無(wú)數(shù)奇特的圖案。而且正如那種海德堡大桶始終是灌滿了萊茵河流域一帶的名酒一般，這種鯨的大桶也同樣藏有最最名貴的油；就是說(shuō)，有被視若至寶的鯨腦：質(zhì)地純凈，色澤透明，芬香撲鼻。這種名貴的東西，并不是可以在鯨身的任何其它部分找得到的。這種東西，雖然在鯨活著的時(shí)候，是一種純粹的液體，但在它死后，一接觸空氣，就立刻凝結(jié)起來(lái)，變成美麗的芽狀結(jié)晶，有如清水初度凝結(jié)為悅目的薄冰。一條大鯨的腦窩通常的出油量約在五百加侖左右，不過(guò)，由于一些不可避免的情況，它總要給溢掉、漏掉、滴掉不少，要不然，總要在進(jìn)行這件難弄的工作時(shí)，造成其它無(wú)法挽救的損失。

I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun was coated within,

我不知道包在這只海德堡大桶里邊的是什么精良而華貴物質(zhì)，