海底兩萬里 第187期 第14章 黑潮暖流(1)

　　If you don't mind, professor, Captain Nemo told me, we'll determine our exact position and fix the starting point of our voyage. It's fifteen minutes before noon. I'm going to rise to the surface of the water.

　　教授，尼摩船長對我說，如果您高興，我們先明確地記下我們現(xiàn)在的方位，決定這次旅行的出發(fā)點。現(xiàn)在時間是正午差一刻我現(xiàn)在叫船浮上水面來。

　　The captain pressed an electric bell three times. The pumps began to expel water from the ballast tanks; on the pressure gauge, a needle marked the decreasing pressures that indicated the Nautilus's upward progress; then the needle stopped.

　　船長按了三次電鈴;抽水機開始把儲水他的水排出，氣壓表上的針從不同的氣壓度數(shù)，指出諾第留斯號的上升運動，后來船停住了。

　　Here we are, the captain said.

　　船長說：我們到了。

　　I made my way to the central companionway, which led to the platform. I climbed its metal steps, passed through the open hatches, and arrived topside on the Nautilus.

　　我走上通到平臺去的中央梯子;我踏上一層一層的鋼鐵梯級，從打開的鐵蓋板，到了諾第雷斯號的上面部分。

　　The platform emerged only eighty centimeters above the waves. The Nautilus's bow and stern boasted that spindle-shaped outline that had caused the ship to be compared appropriately to a long cigar. I noted the slight overlap of its sheet-iron plates, which resembled the scales covering the bodies of our big land reptiles. So I had a perfectly natural explanation for why, despite the best spyglasses, this boat had always been mistaken for a marine animal.

　　平臺僅僅浮出水面八十厘米。諾第留斯號前頭和后部現(xiàn)出象紡錘形狀，正好比一根長雪茄煙。我看到船身上的鋼板，彼此稍微的鱗次著，很像地上大爬蟲類動物身上所有的鱗甲。所以我很自然地明白了，即使有最好的望遠鏡，這船總會被認為是一只海中動物。

　　Near the middle of the platform, the skiff was half set in the ship's hull, making a slightbulge. Fore and aft stood two cupolas of moderate height, their sides slanting and partly inset with heavy biconvex glass, one reserved for the helmsman steering the Nautilus, the other for the brilliance of the powerful electric beacon lighting his way.

　　約在平臺中間,有那只半藏在船殼中的小艇,好象是一個微微突出的瘤。在平臺前后，各裝上一個不很高的籠間、向側(cè)邊傾斜，一部分裝著很厚的凹凸玻璃鏡：這兩個籠間卜一個作為諾第留斯號領航人之用，另一個裝著強力的電燈，光芒四射，探照航路。

　　The sea was magnificent, the skies clear. This long aquatic vehicle could barely feel the broad undulations of the ocean. A mild breeze out of the east rippled the surface of the water. Free of all mist, the horizon was ideal for taking sights.

　　海上風平浪靜，天空清朗無云。長長的船身差不多感不到海洋的闊大波動。一陣輕微的東風吹皺了洋面。夭慚全無煙霧，可以望得很遠。