While I was observing this phenomenal creature, two jets of steam and water sprang from its blowholes and rose to an altitude of forty meters,

当我观察这只奇怪动物的时候，两道水和汽从它的鼻孔吐出来，直喷到叫十米的高度，

which settled for me its mode of breathing.

这一点使我肯定了它呼吸的方式。

From this I finally concluded that it belonged to the branch Vertebrata, class Mammalia, subclass Monodelphia, group Pisciforma, order Cetacea, family...

我最后断定这动物是属于脊推动物门，哺乳纲，唯一豚鱼亚纲，鱼类，鲸鱼目属。

but here I couldn't make up my mind. The order Cetacea consists of three families,baleen whales, sperm whales, dolphins, and it's in this last group that narwhales are placed.

到这里我便不能往下说了。鲸鱼目有三科：长须鲸，大头鲸和海豚，独角鲸是归在最后一科。

Each of these families is divided into several genera, each genus into species, each species into varieties.

每一科分为好些属，属分为种，种分为变种。

So I was still missing variety, species, genus, and family, but no doubt I would complete my classifying with the aid of Heaven and Commander Farragut.

变种、种、属、科，我还不知道，但我不怀疑，借上帝和法拉古舰长的帮助，我可以完成对于这动物的分类。