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Wooden whales, or whales cut in profile out of the small dark slabs of the noble South Sea war-wood, are frequently met with in the forecastles of American whalers. Some of them are done with much accuracy.
木刻鲸，或者用南海那种高贵的战木似的小块黑石板所刻成的鲸侧面像，都可以经常在美国捕鲸船的船头楼里看到。其中有一些而且做得很是精细。
At some old gable-roofed country houses you will see brass whales hung by the tail for knockers to the road-side door. When the porter is sleepy, the anvil-headed whale would be best. But these knocking whales are seldom remarkable as faithful essays. On the spires of some old-fashioned churches you will see sheet-iron whales placed there for weathercocks; but they are so elevated, and besides that are to all intents and purposes so labelled with "Hands off!" you cannot examine them closely enough to decide upon their merit.
在乡间一些老式的人字形屋顶上，还可以看到在靠路旁的大门上，挂有当做门环的鲸尾。如果那个看门人是昏昏欲睡的话，那只砧头鲸就最管用。可是，这些充当敲门砖的鲸总是不大经得起考验。在一些老式教堂的尖顶上，还可以看到把铁板做的鲸放在那上面做风信标；不过，这些鲸都是那么高高在上，而且实际上，旁边还标有"请勿动手"的条子，使人无法仔细观察它们，从而肯定它们的价值。
In bony, ribby regions of the earth, where at the base of high broken cliffs masses of rock lie strewn in fantastic groupings upon the plain, you will often discover images as of the petrified forms of the Leviathan partly merged in grass, which of a windy day breaks against them in a surf of green surges.
在土地贫瘠的地区，在高耸而支离破裂的峭壁底下，平地上都散布有一堆堆奇形怪状的岩石块，在这种地方，就经常可以找到一种化石鲸形象，在草里露出半个身体来，那是因为一阵大风而把它们刮到草丛里去的。
Then, again, in mountainous countries where the traveller is continually girdled by amphitheatrical heights; here and there from some lucky point of view you will catch passing glimpses of the profiles of whales defined along the undulating ridges.
再说，在峰峦起伏的地方，旅客始终给包围在那象圆形剧场的高峰中，如果有眼福的话，就可以这里那里地偶然在起伏的山脊间瞥见轮廓分明的鲸侧面像。
