海底兩萬里 第205期 第15章 一封邀請信(7)

I did justice to this meal. It was made up of various fish and some slices of sea cucumber, that praiseworthy zoophyte, all garnished with such highly appetizing seaweed as the Porphyra laciniata and the Laurencia primafetida.

我這頓飯吃得很飽。各式各樣的菜是由魚類，海參，美味的植蟲動物，另外還有助消化的海藻類植物，像青紅片海藻，苦乳味海藻等等做出來的。

Our beverage consisted of clear water to which, following the captain's example, I added some drops of a fermented liquor extracted by the Kamchatka process from the seaweed known by name as Rhodymenia palmata.

飲料是用水和酵素酒合成，這酒是按照勘察加島人的方法，從有名的海藻，即所謂掌形薔蔽藻釀造出來的。

At first Captain Nemo ate without pronouncing a single word. Then he told me:

起初，尼摩船長只是吃，不說一句話，后來才對我說：

Professor, when I proposed that you go hunting in my Crespo forests, you thought I was contradicting myself.

阿龍納斯先生，我邀請您到我的克利斯波島的森林中打獵的時候，您以為我是自相矛盾。

When I informed you that it was an issue of underwater forests, you thought I'd gone insane. Professor, you must never make snap judgments about your fellow man.

當(dāng)我告訴您這是海底森林的時候，您以為我是發(fā)瘋。教授，您不能這樣輕易判斷

But, captain, believe me--

不過，船長，請您相信…

Kindly listen to me, and you'll see if you have grounds for accusing me of insanity or self-contradiction.

請您耐心聽下去，然后再看看您是不是應(yīng)當(dāng)責(zé)備我發(fā)瘋和自相矛盾了。

I'm all attention.

我聽您說，船長。

Professor, you know as well as I do that a man can live underwater so long as he carries with him his own supply of breathable air.

教授，您和我都知道，人只要帶了充分的可呼吸的空氣，他就可以生活在水底下。

For underwater work projects, the workman wears a waterproof suit with his headimprisoned in a metal capsule, while he receives air from above by means of force pumps and flow regulators.

工人在水底下工作時，穿上～件不透水的衣服，頭上套了一個金屬的盒子，再利用打氣機和節(jié)流器，就可以從水上面獲得空氣。

That's the standard equipment for a diving suit, I said.

那是一套潛水設(shè)備。我說。

Correct, but under such conditions the man has no freedom. He's attached to a pump that sends him air through an india-rubber hose;

對，可是，帶了這套設(shè)備，人是不自由的，那條輸送空氣的膠皮管子把他和打氣機連接起來。

it's an actual chain that fetters him to the shore, and if we were to be bound in this way to the Nautilus, we couldn't go far either.

簡直就是一條把他拴在陸地上的鎖鏈，如果我們是這樣拴連著諾第留斯號，那我們就不能往遠(yuǎn)處走了。"