Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

海底二万里

   CHAPTER 16

   第一部 第十六章

   Strolling the Plains

   在海底平原上散步

   THIS CELL, properly speaking, was the Nautilus's arsenal and wardrobe. Hanging from its walls, a dozen diving outfits were waiting for anybody who wanted to take a stroll.

   这个小房子,说得正确些,就是诺第留斯号的军火库和储藏衣服的地方。墙上挂着十二套潜水衣,等待海底散步者穿戴。

   After seeing these, Ned Land exhibited an obvious distaste for the idea of putting one on.

   尼德-兰看到这些潜水衣,觉得十分讨厌,不愿意穿。

   "But my gallant Ned," I told him, "the forests of Crespo Island are simply underwater forests!"

   “您可知道,老实的尼德-兰,”我对他说,“那克利斯波岛的森林是海底下的森林呢!”

   "Oh great!" put in the disappointed harpooner, watching his dreams of fresh meat fade away. "And you, Professor Aronnax, are you going to stick yourself inside these clothes?"

   “好嘛!”鱼叉手失望他说,因为他吃鲜肉的梦想幻灭了。“阿龙纳斯先生,您自己也要套进这种衣服里面去吗?”

   "It has to be, Mr. Ned."

   “当然,尼德-兰师傅。”

   "Have it your way, sir," the harpooner replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But speaking for myself, I'll never get into those things unless they force me!"

   “先生,您高兴穿您就穿吧!”鱼叉手耸一耸两肩说,“我来顿瓶一样,里面具有很高的电压。就是最轻微的冲击,也要炸开,被打中的动物,不管怎样强大有力,也得倒下来死去。我要告诉您,它不比四号子弹大,普通猎枪的弹盒可以装上十个。”

   "No one will force you, Mr. Land," Captain Nemo said.

   “我再不争论了,”我从桌旁站起来说,“我只有拿起我的枪来就是了。您去哪里,我就跟您去哪里。”

   "And is Conseil going to risk it?" Ned asked.

   船长领我到诺第留斯号的后部,走过尼德-兰和康塞尔的舱房门前,我叫了我的两个同伴,他们立即跟着我们出来。

   "Where master goes, I go," Conseil replied.

   At the captain's summons, two crewmen came to help us put on these heavy, waterproof clothes, made from seamless india rubber and expressly designed to bear considerable pressures. They were like suits of armor that were both yielding and resistant, you might say. These clothes consisted of jacket and pants. The pants ended in bulky footwear adorned with heavy lead soles. The fabric of the jacket was reinforced with copper mail that shielded the chest, protected it from the water's pressure, and allowed the lungs to function freely; the sleeves ended in supple gloves that didn't impede hand movements.

   一会儿,我们到了前面,靠近机器房的一个小房子里,我们要在这个小房子中穿起我们的海底打猎衣服来。两个船员,遵照船长的嘱咐,走上来帮助我们穿这些不透水的、沉甸甸的衣服;衣服是用橡胶制成的,没有缝,可以承担强大的压力,不受损伤。应当说这是一套又柔软又坚固的甲胄。上衣和裤于是连在一起的、裤脚下是很厚的鞋,鞋底装有很重的铅铁板。上衣全部由铜片编叠起来,像铁甲一般保护着胸部,可以抵抗水的冲压,让肺部自由呼吸;衣袖跟手套连在一起,很柔软,丝毫不妨碍两手的运动。

   These perfected diving suits, it was easy to see, were a far cry from such misshapen costumes as the cork breastplates, leather jumpers, seagoing tunics, barrel helmets, etc., invented and acclaimed in the 18th century.

   那些不完备的有缺点的潜水衣,例如十八世纪发明的被人称赞的树皮胸甲,无袖外罩,人海衣,藏身箱等等,跟我们眼前这套完美的潜水衣比较,实在是太相形见咄了。

   Conseil and I were soon dressed in these diving suits, as were Captain Nemo and one of his companions--a herculean type who must have been prodigiously strong. All that remained was to encase one's head in its metal sphere. But before proceeding with this operation, I asked the captain for permission to examine the rifles set aside for us.

   尼摩船长、他的一个同伴(一个替力过人,像赫拉克轨斯一般的大力士)、康塞尔和我,一共四个人,全都穿好了潜水衣。现在只要把我们的脑袋钻进金属圆球中,我们就算装备完了。但在戴上金属圆球之前,我要求尼摩船长给我看一看我们要带的猎枪。

   One of the Nautilus's men presented me with a streamlined rifle whose butt was boilerplate steel, hollow inside, and of fairly large dimensions. This served as a tank for the compressed air, which a trigger-operated valve could release into the metal chamber. In a groove where the butt was heaviest, a cartridge clip held some twenty electric bullets that, by means of a spring, automatically took their places in the barrel of the rifle. As soon as one shot had been fired, another was ready to go off.

   诺第留斯号船上的一个船员拿一支很简单的枪给我看。枪托是钢片制的,中空,体积相当大,是储藏压缩空气。的容器,上面有活塞,转动机件,便可以使空气流入枪筒。枪托里面装了一盒子弹,盒中有二十粒电气弹,利用弹簧子弹可以自动跳人枪膛中。一粒子弹发出之后,另一粒立即填补,可以连续发射。

   "Captain Nemo," I said, "this is an ideal, easy-to-use weapon. I ask only to put it to the test. But how will we reach the bottom of the sea?"

   “尼摩船长,”我说,“这支枪十分好,并且便于使用。我现在真想试试它。不过我们怎样到海底下去呢?”

   "Right now, professor, the Nautilus is aground in ten meters of water, and we've only to depart."

   “教授,此刻诺第留斯号搁浅在海底下十米深处,我们、只待动身出发了。”

   "But how will we set out?"

   “我们怎样出去呢?”

   "You'll see."

   “您不久就知道。”

   Captain Nemo inserted his cranium into its spherical headgear. Conseil and I did the same, but not without hearing the Canadian toss us a sarcastic "happy hunting." On top, the suit ended in a collar of threaded copper onto which the metal helmet was screwed. Three holes, protected by heavy glass, allowed us to see in any direction with simply a turn of the head inside the sphere. Placed on our backs, the Rouquayrol device went into operation as soon as it was in position, and for my part, I could breathe with ease.

   尼摩船长把自己的脑袋钻进圆球帽子里面去。康塞尔和我照着他的动作,各自戴上圆球帽。我们又听到加拿大人讽刺地对我们说了一声“好好地打猎去吧”。我们潜水衣-的上部是一个有螺丝钉的铜领子,铜帽就钉在领子上。圆球上有三个孔,用很厚的玻璃防护,只要人头在圆球内部转动,就可以看见四面八方的东西。当脑袋钻进圆球中的时候,放在我们背上的卢格罗尔呼吸器,立即起了作用;就我个人来说,我呼吸很顺利,没有困难。

   The Ruhmkorff lamp hanging from my belt, my rifle in hand, I was ready to go forth. But in all honesty, while imprisoned in these heavy clothes and nailed to the deck by my lead soles, it was impossible for me to take a single step.

   我腰间挂着兰可夫探照灯,手里拿着猎枪,准备出发。但是,说实在的,穿上这身沉甸甸的衣服,被铅做的鞋底钉在甲板上,要迈动一步,也是不可能的。

   But this circumstance had been foreseen, because I felt myself propelled into a little room adjoining the wardrobe. Towed in the same way, my companions went with me. I heard a door with watertight seals close after us, and we were surrounded by profound darkness.

   但这种情形是预先料到的,我觉得,有人把我推进跟藏衣室相连的一个小房子中。我的同伴,同我一样被椎着,跟着我过来。我听到装有阻塞机的门在我们出来后就关上,我们的周围立刻是一片漆黑。

   After some minutes a sharp hissing reached my ears. I felt a distinct sensation of cold rising from my feet to my chest. Apparently a stopcock inside the boat was letting in water from outside, which overran us and soon filled up the room. Contrived in the Nautilus's side, a second door then opened. We were lit by a subdued light. An instant later our feet were treading the bottom of the sea.

   过了几分钟,一声尖锐的呼啸传进我的耳朵。我感到好像有一股冷气,从脚底涌到胸部。显然是有人打开了船内的水门,让外面的海水向我们冲来,不久,这所小房子便充满了水-在诺第留斯号船侧的另一扇门,这时候打开来了。一道半明半暗的光线照射我们。一会儿,“我们的两脚便踏在海底地上。

   And now, how can I convey the impressions left on me by this stroll under the waters. Words are powerless to describe such wonders! When even the painter's brush can't depict the effects unique to the liquid element, how can the writer's pen hope to reproduce them?

   现在,我怎能将当时在海底下散步的印象写出来呢?像这类神奇的事是无法用语言来形容的!就是画笔也不能将海水中的特殊景象描绘出来,语言文字就更不可能了。

   Captain Nemo walked in front, and his companion followed us a few steps to the rear. Conseil and I stayed next to each other, as if daydreaming that through our metal carapaces, a little polite conversation might still be possible! Already I no longer felt the bulkiness of my clothes, footwear, and air tank, nor the weight of the heavy sphere inside which my head was rattling like an almond in its shell. Once immersed in water, all these objects lost a part of their weight equal to the weight of the liquid they displaced, and thanks to this law of physics discovered by Archimedes, I did just fine. I was no longer an inert mass, and I had, comparatively speaking, great freedom of movement.

   尼摩船长走在前面,他的同伴在后面距离好几步跟随着我们。康塞尔和我,彼此紧挨着,好像我们可以通过我们的金属外壳交谈似的。我不再感到我的衣服,我的鞋底,我的空气箱的沉重了,也不觉得这厚厚的圆球的分量,我的脑袋在圆球中间摇来晃去,像杏仁在它的核中滚动一般。所有这些物体,在水中失去了一部分重量,即它们排去的水的重量,因此我进一步了解了阿基米德发现的这条物理学原理。我不再是一块呆立不动的物体,差不多可以说能够运动自如了。

   Lighting up the seafloor even thirty feet beneath the surface of the ocean, the sun astonished me with its power. The solar rays easily crossed this aqueous mass and dispersed its dark colors. I could easily distinguish objects 100 meters away. Farther on, the bottom was tinted with fine shades of ultramarine; then, off in the distance, it turned blue and faded in the midst of a hazy darkness. Truly, this water surrounding me was just a kind of air, denser than the atmosphere on land but almost as transparent. Above me I could see the calm surface of the ocean.

   阳光可以照到洋面下三十英尺的地方,这股力量真使我惊奇。太阳光强有力地穿过水层,把水中的颜色驱散,我可以清楚地分辨一百米以内的物体。百米之外,水底现出天蓝一般的渐次晕淡的不同色度,在远处变成浅蓝,没人模糊的黑暗中。真的,在我周围的这水实在不过是一种空气,虽然密度较地上的空气大,但透明的情形是跟地上空气相仿。在我头上,我又看见那平静无波的海面。

   We were walking on sand that was fine-grained and smooth, not wrinkled like beach sand, which preserves the impressions left by the waves. This dazzling carpet was a real mirror, throwing back the sun's rays with startling intensity. The outcome: an immense vista of reflections that penetrated every liquid molecule. Will anyone believe me if I assert that at this thirty-foot depth, I could see as if it was broad daylight?

   我们在很细,很平,没有皱纹,像海滩上只留有潮水痕迹的沙上行走。这种眩人眼目的地毯,像真正的反射镜,把太阳光强烈地反射出去。由此而生出那种强大的光线辐射,透人所有的水层中。如果我肯定说,在水中深三十英尺的地方,我可以像在阳光下一样看得清楚,那人们能相信我吗?

   For a quarter of an hour, I trod this blazing sand, which was strewn with tiny crumbs of seashell. Looming like a long reef, the Nautilus's hull disappeared little by little, but when night fell in the midst of the waters, the ship's beacon would surely facilitate our return on board, since its rays carried with perfect distinctness. This effect is difficult to understand for anyone who has never seen light beams so sharply defined on shore. There the dust that saturates the air gives such rays the appearance of a luminous fog; but above water as well as underwater, shafts of electric light are transmitted with incomparable clarity.

   我们踩着明亮的沙层走动,足足有一刻钟,它是贝壳变成的粉未构成的。像长长的暗礁一样出现的诺第留斯号船身,已经渐渐隐没不见了;但它的探照灯,射出十分清楚的亮光,在水中黑暗的地方,可以指示我们回到船上去。人们1只在陆地上看见过这种一道道的十分辉煌的白光,对于电光在海底下的作用,实在不容易了解。在陆地上,空气中充满尘土,使一道道光线像明亮的云雾一样:但在海上,跟在海底下一样,电光是十分透亮的,一点也不模糊。

   Meanwhile we went ever onward, and these vast plains of sand seemed endless. My hands parted liquid curtains that closed again behind me, and my footprints faded swiftly under the water's pressure.

   我们不停地走动,广阔的细沙平原好像是漫无边际。我用手拨开水帘,走过后它又自动合上,我的脚迹在水的压力下也立即就消失了。

   Soon, scarcely blurred by their distance from us, the forms of some objects took shape before my eyes. I recognized the lower slopes of some magnificent rocks carpeted by the finest zoophyte specimens, and right off, I was struck by an effect unique to this medium.

   走了一会儿,看见前面有些东西,虽然形象仅仅在远方微微露出,但轮廓已清楚地在我眼前浮现。我看出这是海底岩石前沿好看的一列,石上满铺着最美丽的形形色色的植虫动物;我首先就被这种特有的景色怔住。

   By then it was ten o'clock in the morning. The sun's rays hit the surface of the waves at a fairly oblique angle, decomposing by refraction as though passing through a prism; and when this light came in contact with flowers, rocks, buds, seashells, and polyps, the edges of these objects were shaded with all seven hues of the solar spectrum. This riot of rainbow tints was a wonder, a feast for the eyes: a genuine kaleidoscope of red, green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue; in short, the whole palette of a color-happy painter! If only I had been able to share with Conseil the intense sensations rising in my brain, competing with him in exclamations of wonderment! If only I had known, like Captain Nemo and his companion, how to exchange thoughts by means of prearranged signals! So, for lack of anything better, I talked to myself: I declaimed inside this copper box that topped my head, spending more air on empty words than was perhaps advisable.

   这时是早晨十点。太阳光在相当倾斜的角度下,投射在水波面上,光线由于曲折作用,像通过三梭镜一样被分解,海底的花、石、植物、介壳、珊瑚类动物,一接触被分解的光线,在边缘上显现出太阳分光的七种不同颜色。这种所有浓淡颜色的错综交结,真正是一架红、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫的彩色缤纷的万花筒,总之,它就是十分讲究的水彩画家的一整套颜色!看来实在是神奇,实在是眼福!我怎样才能把我心中所有的新奇感觉告诉康塞尔呢!怎样才能跟他一齐发出赞叹呢!我怎样才能跟尼摩船长和他的同伴一样,利用一种约定的记号来传达我的思想呢!因为没有更好的办法,所以我只好自己对自己说话,在套着自己脑袋的铜盒子里面大声叫喊;虽然我知道,说这些空话消耗的空气恐怕比预定的要多些。

   Conseil, like me, had stopped before this splendid sight. Obviously, in the presence of these zoophyte and mollusk specimens, the fine lad was classifying his head off. Polyps and echinoderms abounded on the seafloor: various isis coral, cornularian coral living in isolation, tufts of virginal genus Oculina formerly known by the name "white coral," prickly fungus coral in the shape of mushrooms, sea anemone holding on by their muscular disks, providing a literal flowerbed adorned by jellyfish from the genus Porpita wearing collars of azure tentacles, and starfish that spangled the sand, including veinlike feather stars from the genus Asterophyton that were like fine lace embroidered by the hands of water nymphs, their festoons swaying to the faint undulations caused by our walking. It filled me with real chagrin to crush underfoot the gleaming mollusk samples that littered the seafloor by the thousands: concentric comb shells, hammer shells, coquina (seashells that actually hop around), top-shell snails, red helmet shells, angel-wing conchs, sea hares, and so many other exhibits from this inexhaustible ocean. But we had to keep walking, and we went forward while overhead there scudded schools of Portuguese men-of-war that let their ultramarine tentacles drift in their wakes, medusas whose milky white or dainty pink parasols were festooned with azure tassels and shaded us from the sun's rays, plus jellyfish of the species Pelagia panopyra that, in the dark, would have strewn our path with phosphorescent glimmers!

   对着这灿烂的美景,康塞尔跟我一样惊奇地欣赏。显然,这个守本分的人,要把眼前这些形形色色的植虫动物和软体动物分类,不停地分类。满地都是腔肠动物和棘皮动物。变化不一的叉形虫,孤独生活的角形虫,纯洁的眼球丛,被人叫作雪白珊瑚的耸起作蘑菇形的菌生虫,肌肉盘贴在地上的白头翁……布置成一片花地;再镶上结了天蓝丝绦领子的红花石疣,散在沙间象星宿一般的海星,满是小虫伪海盘车,这一切真像水中仙女手绣的精美花边。朵朵的、花彩因我们走路时所引起的最轻微的波动而摆动起来。把成千成万散布在地上的软体动物的美丽品种,环纹海扇,海糙鱼,当那贝——真正会跳跃的贝,洼形贝,朱红胄,像天使翅膀一般的袖形贝,叶纹贝,以及其他许许多多的无穷无尽的海洋生物,践踏在我的脚底下,我心中实在难受,实在愧惜。但是我们不得不走,我们继续前进,在我们头上是成群结队的管状水母,它们伸出它们的天蓝色触须,一连串地飘在水中。还有月形水母,它那带侞白色或淡玫瑰红的伞,套了天蓝色框子,给我们遮住了阳光。在黑暗中,更有发亮的i半球形水母,为我们发出磷光,照亮了我们前进的道路!

   All these wonders I glimpsed in the space of a quarter of a mile, barely pausing, following Captain Nemo whose gestures kept beckoning me onward. Soon the nature of the seafloor changed. The plains of sand were followed by a bed of that viscous slime Americans call "ooze," which is composed exclusively of seashells rich in limestone or silica. Then we crossed a prairie of algae, open-sea plants that the waters hadn't yet torn loose, whose vegetation grew in wild profusion. Soft to the foot, these densely textured lawns would have rivaled the most luxuriant carpets woven by the hand of man. But while this greenery was sprawling under our steps, it didn't neglect us overhead. The surface of the water was crisscrossed by a floating arbor of marine plants belonging to that superabundant algae family that numbers more than 2,000 known species. I saw long ribbons of fucus drifting above me, some globular, others tubular: Laurencia, Cladostephus with the slenderest foliage, Rhodymenia palmata resembling the fan shapes of cactus. I observed that green-colored plants kept closer to the surface of the sea, while reds occupied a medium depth, which left blacks and browns in charge of designing gardens and flowerbeds in the ocean's lower strata.

   约在四分之一海里的空间内,我没有停步,几乎不断地看到这些珍品。尼摩船长向我招手,我跟着他走。不久,脚下的土壤变了性质。接连细沙平原的是一片胶粘的泥地,单独由硅土或石灰贝壳构成,美国人管它叫“乌兹”。接昔我们跑过一段海藻地,它们是未经海水冲走的海产植物,繁殖力很强。这种纤维紧密的草坪,踩在脚下软绵绵的,刁”以和人工织出的最柔软的地毯媲美。但是,不只我们脚下是绿草如茵,连我们头上也是一片翠绿。水面上轻飘飘地浮着一层海产植物,全部是取之不尽的海藻类,这类植物,我们已经知道的,至少有二千多种。我看见水中浮着很长的海带(有些作球形,有些作管状)、红花藻、叶子很纤细的薛苔、很像仙人掌的蔷薇藻。我注意到较近海面的一层是青绿色的海草,在更深一些的地方是红色的海草,黑色或赭色。的水草就在最深处,形成海底花园和草地。

   These algae are a genuine prodigy of creation, one of the wonders of world flora. This family produces both the biggest and smallest vegetables in the world. Because, just as 40,000 near-invisible buds have been counted in one five-square-millimeter space, so also have fucus plants been gathered that were over 500 meters long!

   这些海藻类实在是造化的奇迹,宇宙植物界的一个奇迹。地球上最小和最大的植物都产生在海藻类中。因为五平方毫米的地方,可以有四万条这类肉眼不可见的微生植物,同时人们又采过长一直超过五百米的海带。

   We had been gone from the Nautilus for about an hour and a half. It was almost noon. I spotted this fact in the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no longer refracted. The magic of these solar colors disappeared little by little, with emerald and sapphire shades vanishing from our surroundings altogether. We walked with steady steps that rang on the seafloor with astonishing intensity. The tiniest sounds were transmitted with a speed to which the ear is unaccustomed on shore. In fact, water is a better conductor of sound than air, and under the waves noises carry four times as fast.

   我们离开诺第留斯号有一小时半左右了。正是快到中午的时候,我看见太阳光垂直地照下来,再没有曲折作用了。颜色变幻的花样渐渐没有了,翠玉和青玉的各种色度也从我们的头顶上消失了。我们步伐很规律地走着,踩夜地上发出异常响亮的声音。很轻微的声晌也很快地传出去。这是在陆地上时的耳朵所不熟悉的。本来,对于声音,水比空气是更好的传音体,它传播声音比空气快四倍。

   Just then the seafloor began to slope sharply downward. The light took on a uniform hue. We reached a depth of 100 meters, by which point we were undergoing a pressure of ten atmospheres. But my diving clothes were built along such lines that I never suffered from this pressure. I felt only a certain tightness in the joints of my fingers, and even this discomfort soon disappeared. As for the exhaustion bound to accompany a two-hour stroll in such unfamiliar trappings--it was nil. Helped by the water, my movements were executed with startling ease.

   这时候,海底地面由于有明显的斜坡,渐渐低下去。光线的色泽是一致的。我们到了百米的深度,受到十大气医的压力。但我的潜水衣是为适应这些情况制成的,所以我没有感到这种压力的难受。我仅仅觉得手指不能灵活使用,但这种困难情况不久也就消失。我穿上自己不习惯的潜水衣,漫游了两小时,本来应该疲倦,可是现在丝毫不感到什么。我由于水力的帮助,行动异常灵便。

   Arriving at this 300-foot depth, I still detected the sun's rays, but just barely. Their intense brilliance had been followed by a reddish twilight, a midpoint between day and night. But we could see well enough to find our way, and it still wasn't necessary to activate the Ruhmkorff device.

   到了三百英尺的深度,我还能看见太阳光,不过很微弱。尾接着阳光的强烈光辉,是红色的曙光,白日与黑夜之间的陰暗光线。但我们还看得清楚,可以引路,还不需要使用兰可夫灯。

   Just then Captain Nemo stopped. He waited until I joined him, then he pointed a finger at some dark masses outlined in the shadows a short distance away.

   这时候,尼摩船长停下来。他等着,要我到他面前去,他指点我看那在陰影中不远的地方,渐渐露出来的一堆堆模糊不清的形体。

   "It's the forest of Crespo Island," I thought; and I was not mistaken.

   我想,那就是克利斯波森林了。果然,我并没有弄错。