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Chapter 68 The Blanket
第六十八章 绒毯
I have given no small attention to that not unvexed subject, the skin of the whale. I have had controversies about it with experienced whalemen afloat, and learned naturalists ashore. My original opinion remains unchanged; but it is only an opinion.
我对于鲸皮这个颇为麻烦的问题，已经给予不少的注意。我曾经为了这个问题，跟海上那些经验丰富的捕鲸人，和陆上那些学问渊博的博物学家有过争论。虽然我原来的意见还是不变，但也不过是个意见而已。
The question is, what and where is the skin of the whale. Already you know what his blubber is. That blubber is something of the consistence of firm, close-grained beef, but tougher, more elastic and compact, and ranges from eight or ten to twelve and fifteen inches in thickness.
问题是什么叫鲸皮？它长在什么地方？至于鲸脂是什么，大家都已经知道了。所谓鲸脂，就是一种象似纹路密集的硬牛肉的东西，不过比牛肉更硬，更有弹性，更结实些，厚薄约在八英寸或者十英寸到十二或十五英寸之间。
Now, however preposterous it may at first seem to talk of any creature's skin as being of that sort of consistence and thickness, yet in point of fact these are no arguments against such a presumption; because you cannot raise any other dense enveloping layer from the whale's body but that same blubber; and the outermost enveloping layer of any animal, if reasonably dense, what can that be but the skin? True, from the unmarred dead body of the whale, you may scrape off with your hand an infinitely thin, transparent substance, somewhat resembling the thinnest shreds of isinglass, only it is almost as flexible and soft as satin; that is, previous to being dried, when it not only contracts and thickens, but becomes rather hard and brittle.
虽然谈到任何动物的皮，竟扯到类似于浓度和厚度上去，粗粗一想，似乎颇为荒唐，然而，事实上，这样的一种推定，却是无可置辩的，因为从鲸身上，除了这种鲸脂，是再也揭不出什么细密的表皮来的，而且任何一种动物的那层表皮，如果是相当细密的话，除了管它叫皮，还能叫什么呢？不错，从一条未受损伤的死鲸身上，如果你用手一搔，也许可以抓出一层很薄的、透明的东西来，它有点象是最薄的云母片，不同的是，它简直象缎子一般，又柔又软，就是说，在还没有把它晒干之前，在它不但还没有收缩和变厚，而且也没有发硬和发脆的时候。
