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.
這個小房子，說得正確些，就是諾第留斯號的軍火庫和儲藏衣服的地方。牆上掛着十二套潛水衣，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-蘭看到這些潛水衣，覺得十分討厭，不願意穿。
"But my gallant Ned," I told him, "the forests of Crespo Island are simply underwater forests!"
“您可知道，老實的尼德-蘭，”我對他說，“那克利斯波島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！”魚叉手失望他說，因為他吃鮮肉的夢想幻滅了。“阿龍納斯先生，您自己也要套進這種衣服裡面去嗎？”
"It has to be, Mr. Ned."
“當然，尼德-蘭師傅。”
"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，您高興穿您就穿吧！”魚叉手聳一聳兩肩說，“我來頓瓶一樣，裡面具有很高的電壓。就是最輕微的衝擊，也要炸開，被打中的動物，不管怎樣強大有力，也得倒下來死去。我要告訴您，它不比四號子彈大，普通獵槍的彈盒可以裝上十個。”
"No one will force you, Mr. Land," Captain Nemo said.
“我再不爭論了，”我從桌旁站起來說，“我只有拿起我的槍來就是了。您去哪裡，我就跟您去哪裡。”
"And is Conseil going to risk it?" Ned asked.
船長領我到諾第留斯號的後部，走過尼德-蘭和康塞爾的艙房門前，我叫了我的兩個同伴，他們立即跟着我們出來。
"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.
一會兒，我們到了前面，靠近機器房的一個小房子裡，我們要在這個小房子中穿起我們的海底打獵衣服來。兩個船員，遵照船長的囑咐，走上來幫助我們穿這些不透水的、沉甸甸的衣服；衣服是用橡膠製成的，沒有縫，可以承擔強大的壓力，不受損傷。應當說這是一套又柔軟又堅固的甲冑。上衣和褲於是連在一起的、褲腳下是很厚的鞋，鞋底裝有很重的鉛鐵板。上衣全部由銅片編疊起來，像鐵甲一般保護着胸部，可以抵抗水的衝壓，讓肺部自由呼吸；衣袖跟手套連在一起，很柔軟，絲毫不妨礙兩手的運動。
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.
那些不完備的有缺點的潛水衣，例如十八世紀發明的被人稱讚的樹皮胸甲，無袖外罩，人海衣，藏身箱等等，跟我們眼前這套完美的潛水衣比較，實在是太相形見咄了。
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.
尼摩船長、他的一個同伴（一個替力過人，像赫拉克軌斯一般的大力士）、康塞爾和我，一共四個人，全都穿好了潛水衣。現在只要把我們的腦袋鑽進金屬圓球中，我們就算裝備完了。但在戴上金屬圓球之前，我要求尼摩船長給我看一看我們要帶的獵槍。
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.
諾第留斯號船上的一個船員拿一支很簡單的槍給我看。槍托是鋼片制的，中空，體積相當大，是儲藏壓縮空氣。的容器，上面有活塞，轉動機件，便可以使空氣流入槍筒。槍托裡面裝了一盒子彈，盒中有二十粒電氣彈，利用彈簧子彈可以自動跳人槍膛中。一粒子彈發出之後，另一粒立即填補，可以連續發射。
"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?"
“尼摩船長，”我說，“這支槍十分好，並且便于使用。我現在真想試試它。不過我們怎樣到海底下去呢？”
"Right now, professor, the Nautilus is aground in ten meters of water, and we've only to depart."
“教授，此刻諾第留斯號擱淺在海底下十米深處，我們、只待動身出發了。”
"But how will we set out?"
“我們怎樣出去呢？”
"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.
尼摩船長把自己的腦袋鑽進圓球帽子裡面去。康塞爾和我照着他的動作，各自戴上圓球帽。我們又聽到加拿大人諷刺地對我們說了一聲“好好地打獵去吧”。我們潛水衣-的上部是一個有螺絲釘的銅領子，銅帽就釘在領子上。圓球上有三個孔，用很厚的玻璃防護，只要人頭在圓球內部轉動，就可以看見四面八方的東西。當腦袋鑽進圓球中的時候，放在我們背上的盧格羅爾呼吸器，立即起了作用；就我個人來說，我呼吸很順利，沒有困難。
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.
我腰間掛着蘭可夫探照燈，手裡拿着獵槍，準備出發。但是，說實在的，穿上這身沉甸甸的衣服，被鉛做的鞋底釘在甲板上，要邁動一步，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.
但這種情形是預先料到的，我覺得，有人把我推進跟藏衣室相連的一個小房子中。我的同伴，同我一樣被椎着，跟着我過來。我聽到裝有阻塞機的門在我們出來後就關上，我們的周圍立刻是一片漆黑。
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.
過了幾分鐘，一聲尖鋭的呼嘯傳進我的耳朵。我感到好像有一股冷氣，從腳底湧到胸部。顯然是有人打開了船內的水門，讓外面的海水向我們衝來，不久，這所小房子便充滿了水-在諾第留斯號船側的另一扇門，這時候打開來了。一道半明半暗的光線照射我們。一會兒，“我們的兩腳便踏在海底地上。
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?
現在，我怎能將當時在海底下散步的印象寫出來呢？像這類神奇的事是無法用語言來形容的！就是畫筆也不能將海水中的特殊景象描繪出來，語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.
尼摩船長走在前面，他的同伴在後面距離好幾步跟隨着我們。康塞爾和我，彼此緊挨着，好像我們可以通過我們的金屬外殼交談似的。我不再感到我的衣服，我的鞋底，我的空氣箱的沉重了，也不覺得這厚厚的圓球的份量，我的腦袋在圓球中間搖來晃去，像杏仁在它的核中滾動一般。所有這些物體，在水中失去了一部分重量，即它們排去的水的重量，因此我進一步瞭解了阿基米德發現的這條物理學原理。我不再是一塊獃立不動的物體，差不多可以說能夠運動自如了。
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.
陽光可以照到洋面下三十英呎的地方，這股力量真使我驚奇。太陽光強有力地穿過水層，把水中的顏色驅散，我可以清楚地分辨一百米以內的物體。百米之外，水底現出天藍一般的漸次暈淡的不同色度，在遠處變成淺藍，沒人模糊的黑暗中。真的，在我周圍的這水實在不過是一種空氣，雖然密度較地上的空氣大，但透明的情形是跟地上空氣相仿。在我頭上，我又看見那平靜無波的海面。
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?
我們在很細，很平，沒有皺紋，像海灘上只留有潮水痕跡的沙上行走。這種眩人眼目的地毯，像真正的反射鏡，把太陽光強烈地反射出去。由此而生出那種強大的光線輻射，透人所有的水層中。如果我肯定說，在水中深三十英呎的地方，我可以像在陽光下一樣看得清楚，那人們能相信我嗎？
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.
我們踩着明亮的沙層走動，足足有一刻鐘，它是貝殼變成的粉未構成的。像長長的暗礁一樣出現的諾第留斯號船身，已經漸漸隱沒不見了；但它的探照燈，射出十分清楚的亮光，在水中黑暗的地方，可以指示我們回到船上去。人們1隻在陸地上看見過這種一道道的十分輝煌的白光，對於電光在海底下的作用，實在不容易瞭解。在陸地上，空氣中充滿塵土，使一道道光線像明亮的雲霧一樣：但在海上，跟在海底下一樣，電光是十分透亮的，一點也不模糊。
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.
我們不停地走動，廣闊的細沙平原好像是漫無邊際。我用手撥開水簾，走過後它又自動合上，我的腳跡在水的壓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.
走了一會兒，看見前面有些東西，雖然形象僅僅在遠方微微露出，但輪廓已清楚地在我眼前浮現。我看出這是海底岩石前沿好看的一列，石上滿鋪着最美麗的形形色色的植蟲動物；我首先就被這種特有的景色怔住。
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.
這時是早晨十點。太陽光在相當傾斜的角度下，投射在水波面上，光線由於曲折作用，像通過三梭鏡一樣被分解，海底的花、石、植物、介殼、珊瑚類動物，一接觸被分解的光線，在邊緣上顯現出太陽分光的七種不同顏色。這種所有濃淡顏色的錯綜交結，真正是一架紅、橙、黃、綠、青、藍、紫的彩色繽紛的萬花筒，總之，它就是十分講究的水彩畫家的一整套顏色！看來實在是神奇，實在是眼福！我怎樣才能把我心中所有的新奇感覺告訴康塞爾呢！怎樣才能跟他一齊發出讚歎呢！我怎樣才能跟尼摩船長和他的同伴一樣，利用一種約定的記號來傳達我的思想呢！因為沒有更好的辦法，所以我只好自己對自己說話，在套着自己腦袋的銅盒子裡面大聲叫喊；雖然我知道，說這些空話消耗的空氣恐怕比預定的要多些。
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!
對著這燦爛的美景，康塞爾跟我一樣驚奇地欣賞。顯然，這個守本分的人，要把眼前這些形形色色的植蟲動物和軟體動物分類，不停地分類。滿地都是腔腸動物和棘皮動物。變化不一的叉形蟲，孤獨生活的角形蟲，純潔的眼球叢，被人叫作雪白珊瑚的聳起作蘑菇形的菌生蟲，肌肉盤貼在地上的白頭翁……佈置成一片花地；再鑲上結了天藍絲縧領子的紅花石疣，散在沙間象星宿一般的海星，滿是小蟲偽海盤車，這一切真像水中仙女手綉的精美花邊。朵朵的、花彩因我們走路時所引起的最輕微的波動而擺動起來。把成千成萬散佈在地上的軟體動物的美麗品種，環紋海扇，海糙魚，當那貝——真正會跳躍的貝，窪形貝，朱紅冑，像天使翅膀一般的袖形貝，葉紋貝，以及其他許許多多的無窮無盡的海洋生物，踐踏在我的腳底下，我心中實在難受，實在愧惜。但是我們不得不走，我們繼續前進，在我們頭上是成群結隊的管狀水母，它們伸出它們的天藍色觸鬚，一連串地飄在水中。還有月形水母，它那帶侞白色或淡玫瑰紅的傘，套了天藍色框子，給我們遮住了陽光。在黑暗中，更有發亮的i半球形水母，為我們發出磷光，照亮了我們前進的道路！
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.
約在四分之一海里的空間內，我沒有停步，几乎不斷地看到這些珍品。尼摩船長向我招手，我跟着他走。不久，腳下的土壤變了性質。接連細沙平原的是一片膠粘的泥地，單獨由矽土或石灰貝殼構成，美國人管它叫“烏茲”。接昔我們跑過一段海藻地，它們是未經海水沖走的海產植物，繁殖力很強。這種纖維緊密的草坪，踩在腳下軟綿綿的，刁”以和人工織出的最柔軟的地毯媲美。但是，不只我們腳下是綠草如茵，連我們頭上也是一片翠綠。水面上輕飄飄地浮着一層海產植物，全部是取之不盡的海藻類，這類植物，我們已經知道的，至少有二千多種。我看見水中浮着很長的海帶（有些作球形，有些作管狀）、紅花藻、葉子很纖細的薛苔、很像仙人掌的薔薇藻。我注意到較近海面的一層是青綠色的海草，在更深一些的地方是紅色的海草，黑色或赭色。的水草就在最深處，形成海底花園和草地。
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!
這些海藻類實在是造化的奇蹟，宇宙植物界的一個奇蹟。地球上最小和最大的植物都產生在海藻類中。因為五平方毫米的地方，可以有四萬條這類肉眼不可見的微生植物，同時人們又采過長一直超過五百米的海帶。
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.
我們離開諾第留斯號有一小時半左右了。正是快到中午的時候，我看見太陽光垂直地照下來，再沒有曲折作用了。顏色變幻的花樣漸漸沒有了，翠玉和青玉的各種色度也從我們的頭頂上消失了。我們步伐很規律地走着，踩夜地上發出異常響亮的聲音。很輕微的聲晌也很快地傳出去。這是在陸地上時的耳朵所不熟悉的。本來，對於聲音，水比空氣是更好的傳音體，它傳播聲音比空氣快四倍。
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.
這時候，海底地面由於有明顯的斜坡，漸漸低下去。光線的色澤是一致的。我們到了百米的深度，受到十大氣醫的壓力。但我的潛水衣是為適應這些情況製成的，所以我沒有感到這種壓力的難受。我僅僅覺得手指不能靈活使用，但這種困難情況不久也就消失。我穿上自己不習慣的潛水衣，漫遊了兩小時，本來應該疲倦，可是現在絲毫不感到什麼。我由於水力的幫助，行動異常靈便。
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.
到了三百英呎的深度，我還能看見太陽光，不過很微弱。尾接着陽光的強烈光輝，是紅色的曙光，白日與黑夜之間的陰暗光線。但我們還看得清楚，可以引路，還不需要使用蘭可夫燈。
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.
這時候，尼摩船長停下來。他等着，要我到他面前去，他指點我看那在陰影中不遠的地方，漸漸露出來的一堆堆模糊不清的形體。
"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，我並沒有弄錯。