海底兩萬里 第89期 第7章 一種從未見過的魚(12)

　　I swiftly hoisted myself to the summit of this half-submerged creature or object that was serving as our refuge.

　　我很快爬到這個半浸在水中，已經(jīng)作了我們的臨時避難所的生物上面。

　　I tested it with my foot. Obviously it was some hard, impenetrable substance, not the soft matter that makes up the bodies of our big marine mammals.

　　我用腳踢它，它分明是堅固結(jié)實、鉆不透的硬物體，而不是構(gòu)成海中哺乳類動物的龐大軀體的柔軟物質(zhì)。

　　But this hard substance could have been a bony carapace, like those that covered someprehistoric animals,

　　不過這個堅硬物體可能是一種骨質(zhì)的甲殼，跟太古時代動物的甲殼相似，

　　and I might have left it at that and classified this monster among such amphibiousreptiles as turtles or alligators.

　　我很可以把這個怪物歸人兩棲的爬蟲類，如龜鱉、鱷魚、遙龍之類。

　　Well, no. The blackish back supporting me was smooth and polished with no overlappingscales.

　　可是!不然!在我腳下的灰黑色的背脊是有光澤的。滑溜溜的，而不是粗糙有鱗的。

　　On impact, it gave off a metallic sonority, and as incredible as this sounds, it seemed, I swear, to be made of riveted plates.

　　它被撞時發(fā)出金屬的響亮聲，這是那么不可思議，看來，我只好說它是由螺絲釘鉚成的鐵板制造的了。

　　No doubts were possible!

　　再不可能懷疑了!