A Pet Jack 宠物鱼杰克
The first fish I ever saw in an aquarium,twenty years ago,was a“Jack,”as he is called when young,or a“Pike,”when he grows older;and ever since then I have contrived to have a pet fish,and this,drawn from life by Mr.Harrison Weir,is an accurate portrait of the one I now possess in the Crystal Palace Aquarium.
There he is,just as he steals round the corner of a bit of rock.He is glaring at a minnow,at which he is taking most accurate aim;he hardly seems to move,but yet he does by a very trifling motion of the edge of his back fin—sometimes resting a little on the tips of his two foremost fins,as they touch the ground,carefully calculating his distance;and then,at the very moment when the minnow has got into a position which leaves a space of clear water in front,so that Mr.Jack shall not hurt his nose against any hard substance when he gets carried on by the violence of his rush,he darts at the minnow with the speed of Shakespeare's Puck:—
“I go,I go!look,how I go!
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.”
二十年前，我在水族馆里见到的第一条鱼是一条“杰克鱼”。它小时候，大家都这样叫它；长大了，大家就叫它“梭子鱼”。从那时起，我就想有一条宠物鱼，而这幅画里的鱼就是我的，它现在生活在水晶宫水族馆里。这幅逼真的肖像画是哈里森·韦尔照着真鱼画的。
你瞧它，从一块石头后面悄悄地探出身子，紧紧盯着一条桃花鱼，瞄准，随时准备发起致命的进攻。看上去它几乎一动不动，其实它在动，它的背鳍边缘在微微摆动——有时候，它的两只前鳍尖触到鱼箱底，稍事休息，仔细测算着前面的距离。好！机会来了！此时桃花鱼所处位置的前方刚好有一片开阔的水域，“杰克先生”此时若冲过去，不会因为用力过猛撞上前面的硬物而碰坏鼻子，于是，说时迟那时快，它以莎士比亚笔下小精灵帕克的速度冲了过去：
“冲呀，冲呀，你看我怎么冲！
比鞑靼人射出的箭还要快。”
