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but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly have compared with the silken pearl-colored membrane, like the lining of a fine pelisse, forming the inner surface of the Sperm Whale's case.
不过，就最为豪贵方面说来，那层衣包，却不是那种白珠色的网膜，象那构成抹香鲸的脑窝内层的精美大衣里子所可比拟的。
It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale embraces the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since—as has been elsewhere set forth—the head embraces one third of the whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship's side.
必须看到，抹香鲸这只海德堡大桶，它的长度就等于它的头部的整个顶端；而且因为——在另外的地方已经提到过——这只头本来就等于鲸的身长的三分之一，于是，假定一条中等鲸的身长有八十英尺的话，那么，在把它从舷边直吊起来的时候，这只大桶可就有二十六英尺以上的纵深了。
As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close to the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its invaluable contents. It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which is at last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter.
在砍鲸头的时候，因为那个操作者的工具跟那个紧接着鲸脑的宝库的出入口极相贴近，因此，他就得非常谨慎小心，否则，稍一粗心大意，一刀砍得不准，就会侵犯到那内殿，把那里边的无价之宝白白地溢掉。于是这只砍下来后的头，最后就被拉出了水面，由一只巨大的剖割复滑车吊在那里，船舷上便缠七缠八的尽是许多绳索。
Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and— in this particular instance—almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale's great Heidelburgh Tun is tapped.
已经说了这许多，现在，我请你注意一下那种敲击抹香鲸的海德堡大桶的不可思议的、而又——特别是这一回——简直是性命交关的工作吧。
