海底兩萬里 第396期 第25章 地中海四十八小時(25)
I can see, captain, that nature is your obedient servant, any time or any place. You're safe on this lake, and nobody else can visit its waters.
船長，我看見大自然隨時隨地都被您所利用，給您方便。您在這湖中很安全，除了您，沒有誰能到這湖水中來。
But what's the purpose of this refuge? The Nautilus doesn't need a harbor.
可是這港口有什么用呢？諾第留斯號并不需要停泊的地方。
No, professor, but it needs electricity to run, batteries to generate its electricity, sodium to feed its batteries, coal to make its sodium, and coalfields from which to dig its coal.
是的，它不需要停泊的地方，教授。但它需要電力發(fā)動，需要原料發(fā)電，需要鈉產生電原料，需要煤制造鈉，需要煤坑采掘煤炭。而正是在這里，海水淹沒了無數(shù)森林，這些森林在地質時期就埋人沙上了。
Now then, right at this spot the sea covers entire forests that sank underwater in prehistoric times; today, turned to stone, transformed into carbon fuel, they offer me inexhaustible coal mines.
現(xiàn)在僵化成石了，變?yōu)槊禾苛?，對我來說，它們是采不盡的礦藏。
So, captain, your men practice the trade of miners here?
船長，那么，您的人員到這里來都做礦工的職業(yè)了。
Precisely. These mines extend under the waves like the coalfields at Newcastle. Here, dressed in ping suits, pick and mattock in hand, my men go out and dig this carbon fuel for which I don't need a single mine on land.
正是這樣。這些礦藏擺在海水下面，像紐卡斯爾的媒坑一樣。就在這地方，穿上潛水衣，手拿鋤和鏟，我的人員去采煤，我因此用不著向地上的曠藏要煤。
When I burn this combustible to produce sodium, the smoke escaping from the mountain's crater gives it the appearance of a still-active volcano.
當我燒這種燃料來制造鈉的時候，從這山的舊火口出去的煙，表面看來它還是一座仍在噴火的火山。
And will we see your companions at work?
我們可以看到您的同伴們做挖煤的工作嗎？
No, at least not this time, because I'm eager to continue our underwater tour of the world. Accordingly, I'll rest content with drawing on my reserve stock of sodium.
不，至少這一次看不到，因為我很急，要繼續(xù)我們的海底周游。所以，我只把我所儲藏的鈉拿來使用罷了。
We'll stay here long enough to load it on board, in other words, a single workday, then we'll resume our voyage. So, Professor Aronnax, if you'd like to explore this cavern and circle its lagoon, seize the day.
裝載鈉的時間，僅僅是一天，我們又要繼續(xù)開行趕路了。如果您想在這巖洞中走走，周游這咸水湖，阿龍納斯先生，那您就利用這一天的時間吧。
