yet it is this "holding on," as it is called; this hooking up by the sharp barbs of his live flesh from the back; this it is that often torments the Leviathan into soon rising again to meet the sharp lance of his foes. Yet not to speak of the peril of the thing, it is to be doubted whether this course is always the best; for it is but reasonable to presume, that the longer the stricken whale stays under water, the more he is exhausted. Because, owing to the enormous surface of him— in a full grown sperm whale something less than 2000 square feet— the pressure of the water is immense. We all know what an astonishing atmospheric weight we ourselves stand up under; even here, above-ground, in the air; how vast, then, the burden of a whale, bearing on his back a column of two hundred fathoms of ocean! It must at least equal the weight of fifty atmospheres. One whaleman has estimated it at the weight of twenty line-of-battle ships, with all their guns, and stores, and men on board.
然而，正是这种所谓"拉住"，这种用锐利的倒钩钩住了鲸背的肉体的方法，这种往往教大鲸吃足了苦头的方法，才能够迫使它不得不又立刻冒出水来，来尝尝它的敌人的尖枪。这样做法，有没有危险且不去说它，倒是不免令人发生怀疑：这种做法是不是始终都是极可靠的。因为，只消合理的推想一下，这条负伤的鲸越在水里停得久，它就会越加精疲力竭。因为，它的体积这么大——一只茁壮的抹香鲸，总在二千平方英尺左右——水的压力当然也很大。我们大家都知道，我们本身所处的气压具有多么惊人的力量，甚至在这里，在地上，在空中也都如此；那么，这么一条大鲸，沉在一千二百英尺的海洋里，可背负着多大的压力呀！它至少相等于五十倍的气压。有个捕鲸人曾经估计过，它的重量可等于二十艘装足枪炮、物资、战士的战船。
As the three boats lay there on that gently rolling sea, gazing down into its eternal blue noon; and as not a single groan or cry of any sort, nay, not so much as a ripple or a bubble came up from its depths; what landsman would have thought, that beneath all that silence and placidity, the utmost monster of the seas was writhing and wrenching in agony!
当这三只小艇这样搁在微波细浪的海面上，直瞪着下面那个在午刻时分始终是蔚蓝的水面的时候；这时，既没有一声呻吟，又没有任何的叫声，而且连海底激起的涟漪，泡泡也不多；可是，在这种全然静寂和穆的水面之下，那只最厉害的大海兽正在苦痛地扭绞，这情况，陆地人会有什么想法呀！