In the water, their ideal element, I must say these animals swim wonderfully thanks to their flexible backbones, narrow pelvises, close-cropped hair, and webbed feet.

我得说，它们在海水里面生活环境优越，这些脊骨活动，骨盘狭窄，毛又短又密，掌形脚的动物，是游泳的好手。

Resting on shore, they assumed extremely graceful positions.

当它们休息和在地上的时候，它们的姿态十分美观，使人喜欢。

Consequently, their gentle features, their sensitive expressions equal to those of the loveliest women, their soft, limpid eyes, their charming poses, led the ancients to glorify them by metamorphosing the males into sea gods and the females into mermaids.

我跟某些生物学家的意见相同，适当地把海豹训练起来，它们可以当作打鱼的猎狗，给人类服务，做许多有益的事。

I drew Conseil's attention to the considerable growth of the cerebral lobes found in these intelligent cetaceans.

我给康塞尔指出，这种聪明的鲸科动物，大脑叶特别发达。

No mammal except man has more abundant cerebral matter.

除了人类：任何哺乳类都没有这样丰富的脑髓神经。

Accordingly, seals are quite capable of being educated; they make good pets, and together with certain other naturalists, I think these animals can be properly trained to perform yeoman service as hunting dogs for fishermen.

因此，海豹可能接受某种程度的教育；它们容易驯养，成为家畜。

Most of these seals were sleeping on the rocks or the sand.

大部分海豹睡在岩石，或者睡在沙地上。

Among those properly termed seals-which have no external ears, unlike sea lions whose ears protrude-I observed several varieties of the species stenorhynchus, three meters long, with white hair, bulldog heads, and armed with ten teeth in each jaw:

在这些真正的海豹中间，它们是没有外耳的——这一点它们跟有突出的外耳的海獭不同—我看见有好些海獭的变种，长三英尺，毛白色，猎狗一般的头，上下颚共有十枚牙齿，

four incisors in both the upper and lower, plus two big canines shaped like the fleur-de-lis.

各有四枚门牙，两枚百合花形的大虎牙。

Among them slithered some sea elephants, a type of seal with a short, flexible trunk;

在它们中间，又有海象踏来蹋去，这是带有活动的短鼻筒的海豹，

these are the giants of the species, with a circumference of twenty feet and a length of ten meters.

是这种动物中最巨大的类型，周身二十英尺，长十英尺。

They didn't move as we approached.

它们看我们走近前去，动也不动。

Are these animals dangerous? Conseil asked me.

它们不是危险伤人的动物吗？康塞尔问我。