英語聽書《白鯨記》第872期

But not alone has this Leviathan left his pre-adamite traces in the stereotype plates of nature, and in limestone and marl bequeathed his ancient bust; but upon Egyptian tablets, whose antiquity seems to claim for them an almost fossiliferous character, we find the unmistakable print of his fin. In an apartment of the great temple of Denderah, some fifty years ago, there was discovered upon the granite ceiling a sculptured and painted planisphere, abounding in centaurs, griffins, and dolphins, similar to the grotesque figures on the celestial globe of the moderns. Gliding among them, old Leviathan swam as of yore; was there swimming in that planisphere, centuries before Solomon was cradled.

但是，這種大鯨在亞當以前的蹤跡不只是印在大自然的鉛板上，而且在灰石和泥土中還遺留有它的古老的半身像；同時在埃及的竹簡上（從這種竹簡那副古老的神氣看來，似乎就得把它們當作一種跡近化石的東西），我們也還發(fā)現(xiàn)出它的鰭上有一絲不差的印記。大約在五十年前，在丹德拉（丹德拉——尼羅河旁的一個小村，該地有一個埃及的司戀愛及娛樂的女神廟。）大廟的一個房間里，在那花崗石的天花板上還發(fā)現(xiàn)了雕刻和繪畫的平面天體圖，其中有許多半人半馬的怪物，鷹頭獅身帶有翅膀的怪物和海豚，跟現(xiàn)代的球儀上那些奇形怪狀的圖樣相仿佛。在那個平面天體圖中，就有那條早在所羅門沒有出世的幾百年前的古代老鯨，在那些怪獸中游來游去。

Nor must there be omitted another strange attestation of the antiquity of the whale, in his own osseous postdiluvian reality, as set down by the venerable John Leo, the old Barbary traveller.

這里還有一個不能忽略的奇特的證據(jù)：也就是那個古代的北非巴巴利的老旅行家，約翰·里奧（約翰·里奧（1494—1552）——又稱里奧·阿非利加奴斯，出生于西班牙的摩爾族，長期在非洲腹地旅行，著有《非洲記游》一書。）所提出的，那條只存一副骨殖的挪亞洪水以后時期的古鯨。

Not far from the Sea-side, they have a Temple, the Rafters and Beams of which are made of Whale-Bones; for Whales of a monstrous size are oftentimes cast up dead upon that shore. The Common People imagine, that by a secret Power bestowed by God upon the Temple, no Whale can pass it without immediate death. But the truth of the Matter is, that on either side of the Temple, there are Rocks that shoot two Miles into the Sea, and wound the Whales when they light upon 'em.

離海邊不遠的地方，有座古廟，它的椽木和橫梁都是鯨骨做的；因為體積非常巨大的鯨經(jīng)常給撞死在那一帶的岸上。一般老百姓都認為，上天賦予那個古廟以一種神秘的力量，因此鯨一經(jīng)過廟前，無不立刻死亡。不過，實際上，是因為大廟兩旁，都有直伸向海里二英里長的巖礁，所以鯨一碰到這些巖礁就要受傷。

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