THE NAUTILUS resumed its unruffled southbound heading. It went along the 50th meridian with considerable speed. Would it go to the pole? I didn't think so, because every previous attempt to reach this spot on the globe had failed. Besides, the season was already quite advanced, since March 13 on Antarctic shores corresponds with September 13 in the northernmost regions, which marks the beginning of the equinoctial period.
諾第留斯號又朝着它固定不移的方向，；往南駛去．它速度特別快，沿著西經50度行駛。它是要到南極圈去？我想不是，因為直到現在，所有打算達到地球這個頂點的企圖都失敗了。並且，季節也相當晚了，因為南冰洋地區的3月13日相當於北冰洋地區的9月13日，是開放春秋分的時期了。
On March 14 at latitude 55 degrees, I spotted floating ice, plain pale bits of rubble twenty to twenty-five feet long, which formed reefs over which the sea burst into foam. The Nautilus stayed on the surface of the ocean. Having fished in the Arctic seas, Ned Land was already familiar with the sight of icebergs. Conseil and I were marveling at them for the first time.
3月14日，我在南緯55度望見了漂流的冰塊．那僅僅是一些二十至二十五英呎的灰白碎片，形成許多暗礁，海波洶湧衝上去。諾第留斯號行駛在南冰洋面上。，尼德，蘭昏經在北冰洋海中打過魚，對於這種冰山的：景象是熟悉的。康塞爾和我都是第一次欣賞它。
In the sky toward the southern horizon, there stretched a dazzling white band. English whalers have given this the name "ice blink." No matter how heavy the clouds may be, they can't obscure this phenomenon. It announces the presence of a pack, or shoal, of ice.
在大氣中，南面的天邊，展開令人眼花目眩的一片雪白大帶。英國打鯨人稱它為“眩目冰帶．不論雲彩怎麼濃厚，都不能使它沉黑。它預告前面有成群的冰堆或冰層了。
Indeed, larger blocks of ice soon appeared, their brilliance varying at the whim of the mists. Some of these masses displayed green veins, as if scrawled with undulating lines of copper sulfate. Others looked like enormous amethysts, letting the light penetrate their insides. The latter reflected the sun's rays from the thousand facets of their crystals. The former, tinted with a bright limestone sheen, would have supplied enough building material to make a whole marble town.
果然，不久就有更大的冰塊出現，雪白的光輝隨着雲霧的任意變換而不同．有些冰塊現出綠色脈管，就象那硫酸銅在上面畫的波紋線條一樣。別的冰塊類似巨大紫色水晶，又讓米綫穿逐裡面去。後者映着陽光，在它們晶體的無數切面上反映出閃閃光芒。前者帶有石灰石強烈輻射的無限色度，可能足夠建築整整一座大理石的城市。
The farther down south we went, the more these floating islands grew in numbers and prominence. Polar birds nested on them by the thousands. These were petrels, cape pigeons, or puffins, and their calls were deafening. Mistaking the Nautilus for the corpse of a whale, some of them alighted on it and prodded its resonant sheet iron with pecks of their beaks.
我們愈往南，這些漂流的冰島就愈來愈多，而且愈來愈大，南極的鳥類千百成群地在島上營巢，這是海燕、棋鳥和海鴨，它們吱吱喳喳的叫聲震得我們耳聾．有些鳥把諾第留斯號當作鯨魚的屍體，飛到上面來，拿嘴啄那鋼板，發出響聲。
During this navigating in the midst of the ice, Captain Nemo often stayed on the platform. He observed these deserted waterways carefully. I saw his calm eyes sometimes perk up. In these polar seas forbidden to man, did he feel right at home, the lord of these unreachable regions? Perhaps. But he didn't say. He stood still, reviving only when his pilot's instincts took over. Then, steering his Nautilus with consummate dexterity, he skillfully dodged the masses of ice, some of which measured several miles in length, their heights varying from seventy to eighty meters. Often the horizon seemed completely closed off. Abreast of latitude 60 degrees, every passageway had disappeared. Searching with care, Captain Nemo soon found a narrow opening into which he brazenly slipped, well aware, however, that it would close behind him.
當船在冰塊中間航行的時候，尼摩船長時常在乎台上。他很留心觀察這一帶人跡不到的海面。 我看見他的鎮定眼光有時候激動起來。他心中是不是說，在這些人跡不能到達的南極海中，他是在自己家中了。他是這些不可超越的空間的主人嗎？或者是．但他不說。他留在那裡不動，只是當他意識到自己是船的駕駛人的時候，他心神才回覆過來。他於是巧妙無比地指揮着他的諾第留斯號，很靈便地躲開了那些大冰塊的衝擊，有些冰塊是長到幾海里，高七十至八十米不等．前面天邊有時看來是完全封閉不能通行。在南緯60度海面上，什麼通路都沒有。但尼摩船長小心找尋，不久就發現一條窄口，他駕駛着船，大膽從窄口進去，同時他又很知道，這窄口在他過後便要封閉的。
Guided by his skillful hands, the Nautilus passed by all these different masses of ice, which are classified by size and shape with a precision that enraptured Conseil: "icebergs," or mountains; "ice fields," or smooth, limitless tracts; "drift ice," or floating floes; "packs," or broken tracts, called "patches" when they're circular and "streams" when they form long strips.
諾第留斯號由這只妙手指揮，就這樣走過了所有這些大冰塊：按照冰塊的式樣大小，康塞爾可以很高興地正確把它們分類，那就是：像山的冰山，冰田或無邊際的平坦田場，浮冰或漂流的冰，層冰或碎裂的冰田，圓形環彎的稱為冰圈，拉長一塊一塊的稱為冰流。
The temperature was fairly low. Exposed to the outside air, the thermometer marked -2 degrees to -3 degrees centigrade. But we were warmly dressed in furs, for which seals and aquatic bears had paid the price. Evenly heated by all its electric equipment, the Nautilus's interior defied the most intense cold. Moreover, to find a bearable temperature, the ship had only to sink just a few meters beneath the waves.
溫度相當的低，溫度表放在外面，指着零下二度至三度．但我們穿著皮的衣服。很暖和．這些皮是海豹和海熊供應我們的．諾第留斯號內部經常有電氣機發熱，不怕嚴寒；並且，要得到使人可以受得住的溫度，到達不太寒不太熱的所在，那它只需潛下水底幾米深就成了。
Two months earlier we would have enjoyed perpetual daylight in this latitude; but night already fell for three or four hours, and later it would cast six months of shadow over these circumpolar regions.
早兩個月，在這緯度內，可能永遠是白天，但現在已經有三至四小時的黑夜了，再遲一些，黑：夜就要：長到六個月。把它的陰影遮蓋這些環極圈地方。
On March 15 we passed beyond the latitude of the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands. The captain told me that many tribes of seals used to inhabit these shores; but English and American whalers, in a frenzy of destruction, slaughtered all the adults, including pregnant females, and where life and activity once existed, those fishermen left behind only silence and death.
3月15日，南設德蘭群島和南奧克內群島的緯度走過了。
Going along the 55th meridian, the Nautilus cut the Antarctic Circle on March 16 near eight o'clock in the morning. Ice completely surrounded us and closed off the horizon. Nevertheless, Captain Nemo went from passageway to passageway, always proceeding south.
8月16日早晨八點，諾第留斯號沿著西經55度行駛。切過南極圈駛去。這裡處處都是冰塊圍繞着我們，四邊封起，無路可通。可是，尼摩船長總能找到一條又一條通路，老是往上駛。、
"But where's he going?" I asked.
“他究竟要到哪裡去呢？”我問-
"Straight ahead," Conseil replied. "Ultimately, when he can't go any farther, he'll stop."
到前面去，”康塞爾回答，“總之，到了他不能再往前走的時候，他也就只好停止了。”
"I wouldn't bet on it!" I replied.
“我可不敢肯定這樣說！”我回答
And in all honesty, I confess that this venturesome excursion was far from displeasing to me. I can't express the intensity of my amazement at the beauties of these new regions. The ice struck superb poses. Here, its general effect suggested an oriental town with countless minarets and mosques. There, a city in ruins, flung to the ground by convulsions in the earth. These views were varied continuously by the sun's oblique rays, or were completely swallowed up by gray mists in the middle of blizzards. Then explosions, cave-ins, and great iceberg somersaults would occur all around us, altering the scenery like the changing landscape in a diorama.
但白說，我承認這種冒險的遊歷使我覺得痛快。這些新鮮地方的奇美讓我迷醉驚異到怎樣的程度、那我無法可以表示。冰群的姿態變得更雄偉壯麗了。這邊，是一大群冰塊形成一座東方城市，中有無數的清真寺院和尖塔．那裡，是一座倒塌的城，因為地震動了，被推倒在地下。陽光斜照；它們現出變換不停的形色，這些形色又迷失在雪花飛舞的大風暴中的灰色雲霧裡面。其次、處處都是爆炸、崩裂，冰山大翻筋斗，把這裡的整個佈景都改變了，像一幅透光風景油畫一樣。
If the Nautilus was submerged during these losses of balance, we heard the resulting noises spread under the waters with frightful intensity, and the collapse of these masses created daunting eddies down to the ocean's lower strata. The Nautilus then rolled and pitched like a ship left to the fury of the elements.
當這些冰群的平衡破壞了的時候，諾第留斯號便潛入水中；聲音傳到下面，強烈驚人，冰群下沉，造成深而闊的可怕的水渦；力量直到冰洋很深的水層。諾第留斯號於是亂滾亂搖，把持不住，像被瘋狂的水流所捲走的一樣。
Often, no longer seeing any way out, I thought we were imprisoned for good, but Captain Nemo, guided by his instincts, discovered new passageways from the tiniest indications. He was never wrong when he observed slender threads of bluish water streaking through these ice fields. Accordingly, I was sure that he had already risked his Nautilus in the midst of the Antarctic seas.
有時看不見通路了，我想我們是定作了俘虜了；可是本能領導着他，根據一些輕微的跡象，足摩船長就可以發現新的通路。他注視那在冰田上顯出來的一條一條淡藍色細水紋，他決不至搞錯。所以，我心中並不懷疑他是已經駕駛諾第留斯號，在這南極海水中探過險的、
However, during the day of March 16, these tracts of ice completely barred our path. It wasn't the Ice Bank as yet, just huge ice fields cemented together by the cold. This obstacle couldn't stop Captain Nemo, and he launched his ship against the ice fields with hideous violence. The Nautilus went into these brittle masses like a wedge, splitting them with dreadful cracklings. It was an old-fashioned battering ram propelled with infinite power. Hurled aloft, ice rubble fell back around us like hail. Through brute force alone, the submersible carved out a channel for itself. Carried away by its momentum, the ship sometimes mounted on top of these tracts of ice and crushed them with its weight, or at other times, when cooped up beneath the ice fields, it split them with simple pitching movements, creating wide punctures.
但是，在8月15日那天，層層的冰群完全把我們的路擋住了。這還不是真正的冰山，只是寒冷凍結起來的闊大冰地。這種障礙物不能阻止尼摩船長，諾第留斯號用猛烈怕人的力量向冰地衝去。像楔子一般穿進這粉未的塊團中，響得伯人的破裂聲把冰塊劃開了。那是古代的攻城機，被無窮大的力量推動一樣。冰的碎片投射到高空，像雹子那樣在我們周圍落下。單單由於它本身所有的推動力，我們的船就挖出一條水路。有時，由於它力量的兇猛，它爬到冰田上來，它的重量壓碎了冰地，或偶然套在冰地下，它就用簡單的搖擺動作，把冰分開，造成闊大的裂口。
Violent squalls assaulted us during the daytime. Thanks to certain heavy mists, we couldn't see from one end of the platform to the other. The wind shifted abruptly to every point on the compass. The snow was piling up in such packed layers, it had to be chipped loose with blows from picks. Even in a temperature of merely -5 degrees centigrade, every outside part of the Nautilus was covered with ice. A ship's rigging would have been unusable, because all its tackle would have jammed in the grooves of the pulleys. Only a craft without sails, driven by an electric motor that needed no coal, could face such high latitudes.
在這些日子裡，猛烈的冰屑時常來襲擊我們．由於有濃厚的雲霧，乎台的這一端到那一端都不可能看清楚。暴風從羅盤針指的各個方向突然颳起。白雪堆成十分堅硬的冰層，簡直要用尖利鐵鍁來弄開它。僅僅在零下五度的溫變，諾第留斯號外部全被冰層封住了。一隻平常的船可能是沒有法子行駛，囚為所有的絞輔繩索都冰在滑車溝中了。只有這艘沒有帆而裝有可以不用煤的電動機的船才能冒險跑到這樣高的緯度中來。
Under these conditions the barometer generally stayed quite low. It fell as far as 73.5 centimeters. Our compass indications no longer offered any guarantees. The deranged needles would mark contradictory directions as we approached the southern magnetic pole, which doesn't coincide with the South Pole proper. In fact, according to the astronomer Hansteen, this magnetic pole is located fairly close to latitude 70 degrees and longitude 130 degrees, or abiding by the observations of Louis-Isidore Duperrey, in longitude 135 degrees and latitude 70 degrees 30'. Hence we had to transport compasses to different parts of the ship, take many readings, and strike an average. Often we could chart our course only by guesswork, a less than satisfactory method in the midst of these winding passageways whose landmarks change continuously.
在這種情形下，風雨表大體上是很低的，有時且降低到匕十三度五分。羅盤的指示也沒有準確的保證。它那亂搖亂晃的針，當船上近不能跟地球的南方相混同的南磁極圈的時候，指出矛盾相反的方向。本來，根據汗斯敦①的說法，這磁極圈差不多是位於南緯70度、東經130度-，根據杜北未②的觀察，是在東經135度、南緯70度30分。所以，這樣就必要對於挪到船上各部分的羅盤做很多的觀察，拿一個平均數作標準。不過拿這標準來估量走過水路的方位，在這些標誌點不斷變化的彎拆的水路中間，總是很難今人滿意的方法。
At last on March 18, after twenty futile assaults, the Nautilus was decisively held in check. No longer was it an ice stream, patch, or field--it was an endless, immovable barrier formed by ice mountains fused to each other.
後來在3月18日，經過幾十次無結果的衝擊，諾第留斯號看來是完全沒辦法了。在周圍的不是冰流、冰圈、冰田，而是接合在一起、無窮無盡、屹立不動的一片冰山。
"The Ice Bank!" the Canadian told me.
“冰山！”加拿大人對我說。
For Ned Land, as well as for every navigator before us, I knew that this was the great insurmountable obstacle. When the sun appeared for an instant near noon, Captain Nemo took a reasonably accurate sight that gave our position as longitude 51 degrees 30' and latitude 67 degrees 39' south. This was a position already well along in these Antarctic regions.
我明白，對尼德-蘭和對所有我們以前的航海家來說，冰山是不可超越的障礙。太陽在中午左右，有一會兒現出來，尼摩船長做了一次相當正確的觀察，指明船是在西經51度30分，南緯67度39分。這已經是：南冰洋地區相當深入的一點了。
As for the liquid surface of the sea, there was no longer any semblance of it before our eyes. Before the Nautilus's spur there lay vast broken plains, a tangle of confused chunks with all the helter-skelter unpredictability typical of a river's surface a short while before its ice breakup; but in this case the proportions were gigantic. Here and there stood sharp peaks, lean spires that rose as high as 200 feet; farther off, a succession of steeply cut cliffs sporting a grayish tint, huge mirrors that reflected the sparse rays of a sun half drowned in mist. Beyond, a stark silence reigned in this desolate natural setting, a silence barely broken by the flapping wings of petrels or puffins. By this point everything was frozen, even sound.
大海呀，流動的水面呀，這時在我們眼前看來完全不像了。對著諾第留斯號的沖角，展開一片崎嶇不平的廣大平原，夾雜了混亂不清的大冰群，再加上那種亂七八糟、凌舌：無序的景象，就像在解凍前不久的時候，河面所顯出來的一樣，不過面積是十分巨大罷了。到處都有峭削的尖峰，像直升到二百英呎高的細針，遠一點，削戍尖峰的一連串懸崖，帶著灰白的色澤，像一面一面的大鏡，反映出一些半浸在雲霧中的陽光。其次，在這淒絶荒涼的自然界中，是那野得可怕的寂靜，就是那海燕和海鴨的振翅聲也沒有能把它打破。一切都是冰凍了，連聲音也冰凍了。
So the Nautilus had to halt in its venturesome course among these tracts of ice.
所以，諾第留斯號就在冰場中間停止了它的冒險行動。
"Sir," Ned Land told me that day, "if your captain goes any farther . . ."
“先生，”那一天尼德-蘭對我說，“如果您的船長能再走遠一點！”
"Yes?"
“那麼？”
"He'll be a superman."
“那麼，他便是傑出的人。”
"How so, Ned?"
“尼德，為什麼呢？”
"Because nobody can clear the Ice Bank. Your captain's a powerful man, but damnation, he isn't more powerful than nature. If she draws a boundary line, there you stop, like it or not!"
“因為沒有人能走過冰山。您的船長有力量，可是，好啊！他不能比大自然更有力量。大自然划下界限的地方。不管願意不願意，他總得停住。”
"Correct, Ned Land, but I still want to know what's behind this Ice Bank! Behold my greatest source of irritation--a wall!"
“對的，尼德，不過我很想知道冰山後面是什麼呢！面前一道圍牆，最使我難受！”
"Master is right," Conseil said. "Walls were invented simply to frustrate scientists. All walls should be banned."
“先生說得對，”康塞爾說，“圍牆發明出來，只是為激怒學者們的。無論什麼地方都不應該有圍牆。”
"Fine!" the Canadian put in. "But we already know what's behind this Ice Bank."
“對！”加拿大人說，“在這座冰山後面，人們早已知道有些什麼東西了。”
"What?" I asked.
““是什麼呢？”我問。
"Ice, ice, and more ice."
“是冰，永遠懸冰！
"You may be sure of that, Ned," I answered, "but I'm not. That's why I want to see for myself."
“尼德，這點您說得很肯定，”我回答，“但是，我可不敢肯定。所以我要去看看。”
"Well, professor," the Canadian replied, "you can just drop that idea! You've made it to the Ice Bank, which is already far enough, but you won't get any farther, neither your Captain Nemo or his Nautilus. And whether he wants to or not, we'll head north again, in other words, to the land of sensible people."
那麼，教授，加拿大人回答，“您要放棄這個思想。您到了冰山，那已經夠了，您不能再前進，您的尼摩般長和他的諾第留斯號也不能再前進，不管他願意不願意，我們是要回過來往北走了，就是說，回到老實人居住的國土。
I had to agree that Ned Land was right, and until ships are built to navigate over tracts of ice, they'll have to stop at the Ice Bank.
我必須承認尼德，蘭說的話對，當船還不是造來在冰場中行駛的時候，當然在冰山面前就得停住了。
Indeed, despite its efforts, despite the powerful methods it used to split this ice, the Nautilus was reduced to immobility. Ordinarily, when someone can't go any farther, he still has the option of returning in his tracks. But here it was just as impossible to turn back as to go forward, because every passageway had closed behind us, and if our submersible remained even slightly stationary, it would be frozen in without delay. Which is exactly what happened near two o'clock in the afternoon, and fresh ice kept forming over the ship's sides with astonishing speed. I had to admit that Captain Nemo's leadership had been most injudicious.
的確，不管它怎樣努力，不管它用來衝破冰塊的力量有多強大，諾第留斯號終歸弄得紋絲不動。平常，要是不能前進，那就可以退回去。但現在，後退跟前進～樣不可能，因為水路在我們走過後就封閉了，只要我們的船略為停一下不動，它就立刻被抓擋住，寸步都不能移動．下午兩點左右發生這樣的一種情形，新的冰層驚人迅速地在船兩邊凍給起來。我現在要承認，尼摩船長是太粗率、太不謹慎了。
Just then I was on the platform. Observing the situation for some while, the captain said to me:
我正在乎台上，船長已經在那裡觀察形勢有一些時候了，他對我說：
"Well, professor! What think you?"
“那麼，教授，您想怎樣？”
"I think we're trapped, captain."
“我想；船長，我們是被困住了。”
"Trapped! What do you mean?"
“被困住了！您這話怎麼說？”
"I mean we can't go forward, backward, or sideways. I think that's the standard definition of 'trapped,' at least in the civilized world."
“我是說，我們不能前進，不能後退，不能向任何一方行動。我想，．這就是叫做‘被困住了’，至少對於居住在陸地上的人來說是這樣。”
"So, Professor Aronnax, you think the Nautilus won't be able to float clear?"
“阿龍納斯先生，您就是這樣想，諾第留斯號不可能脫身嗎？”
"Only with the greatest difficulty, captain, since the season is already too advanced for you to depend on an ice breakup."
“很不容易，船長，因為季候已經相當晚，解凍，我們是。不能指望的了。
"Oh, professor," Captain Nemo replied in an ironic tone, "you never change! You see only impediments and obstacles! I promise you, not only will the Nautilus float clear, it will go farther still!"
“啊！教授，”尼摩船長帶譏諷的語氣回答，您老是這一套！您只看見困難和障礙！我現在向您肯定說，不僅諾第留斯號可以脫身，而且它還要前進。
"Farther south?" I asked, gaping at the captain.
“再向南方前進嗎？”我眼釘着船長問。
"Yes, sir, it will go to the pole."
“對，先生，它要到南極去。”
"To the pole!" I exclaimed, unable to keep back a movement of disbelief.
“到南極去！”我喊道，同時禁不住表示我的不信和懷疑。
"Yes," the captain replied coolly, "the Antarctic pole, that unknown spot crossed by every meridian on the globe. As you know, I do whatever I like with my Nautilus."
“是的！”船長冷冷地回答“到南極去、到地球上所有的子午綫相交的、以前沒有人到過的那一點去您知道我可以使諾第留斯號做我想要做的事。”
Yes, I did know that! I knew this man was daring to the point of being foolhardy. But to overcome all the obstacles around the South Pole--even more unattainable than the North Pole, which still hadn't been reached by the boldest navigators-- wasn't this an absolutely insane undertaking, one that could occur only in the brain of a madman?
It then dawned on me to ask Captain Nemo if he had already discovered this pole, which no human being had ever trod underfoot.
那時我忽然想問一問尼摩船長，我問他是不是已經發現過了那從沒有人類足跡踩過的南極。
"No, sir," he answered me, "but we'll discover it together. Where others have failed, I'll succeed. Never before has my Nautilus cruised so far into these southernmost seas, but I repeat: it will go farther still."
“沒有，先生”他回答我，“我們現在一齊發現去．別人失敗的地方、我決不至失敗。我從沒有把諾第留斯號開到這麼遠的南極海上來，但我再跟您說，它還要往前進。”
"I'd like to believe you, captain," I went on in a tone of some sarcasm. "Oh I do believe you! Let's forge ahead! There are no obstacles for us! Let's shatter this Ice Bank! Let's blow it up, and if it still resists, let's put wings on the Nautilus and fly over it!"
“我願意相信您，船長，”我帶著譏諷語氣又說，”我相信您！我們前進！對我們來說是沒有什麼障礙的！衝開這座冰山！我們把它炸破，如果它反抗，我們就給諾第留斯號安上翅膀，從上面飛過去！”
"Over it, professor?" Captain Nemo replied serenely. "No, not over it, but under it."
“教授，從上面過去嗎？”尼摩船長安靜地回答；“不是從上面過去，是從下面過去。”
"Under it!" I exclaimed.
“從下面過去！”我喊道。
A sudden insight into Captain Nemo's plans had just flashed through my mind. I understood. The marvelous talents of his Nautilus would be put to work once again in this superhuman undertaking!
船長的計劃突然給了我啟示，使我心中雪亮，我明白了。諾第留斯號的神奇本質又在這一次的超人事業中為他服務，成全他了。
"I can see we're starting to understand each other, professor," Captain Nemo told me with a half smile. "You already glimpse the potential--myself, I'd say the success--of this attempt. Maneuvers that aren't feasible for an ordinary ship are easy for the Nautilus. If a continent emerges at the pole, we'll stop at that continent. But on the other hand, if open sea washes the pole, we'll go to that very place!"
“我看到、我們彼此開始瞭解了，教授，”船長微笑地對我說，“您現在已經看到這個企圖的可能——我個人，我要說這個企圖的成功。在一隻平常的船是辦不到的，在諾第留斯號就容易辦到9如果在南極浮出一個大陸，它是要在它面前停住的。但是相反，如果南極是自由的海，它就要到南極點上去！
"Right," I said, carried away by the captain's logic. "Even though the surface of the sea has solidified into ice, its lower strata are still open, thanks to that divine justice that puts the maximum density of salt water one degree above its freezing point. And if I'm not mistaken, the submerged part of this Ice Bank is in a four-to-one ratio to its emerging part."
“是的，”我說，受船長論證力量的提示，“如果海面被冰凍結凝固了，它的下層是自由通行的，因為下面有天從人願的自然理由，那就是海水的極大密度是比冰凍時高出一度。如果我沒有錯的話，那就是冰山的沉人部分對它的浮出部分之比是四比一？！”
"Very nearly, professor. For each foot of iceberg above the sea, there are three more below. Now then, since these ice mountains don't exceed a height of 100 meters, they sink only to a depth of 300 meters. And what are 300 meters to the Nautilus?"
“差不多是這樣，教授。冰山在海面上有一英呎，在下面就有三英呎。並且，因為這些冰山不超過一百米高，它們當然不至于深入到三百米．三百米對諾第留斯號來說算什麼呢？”
"A mere nothing, sir."
“不算什麼，先生。”
"We could even go to greater depths and find that temperature layer common to all ocean water, and there we'd brave with impunity the -30 degrees or -40 degrees cold on the surface."
“它並且可以潛入更深的水層廠到那海水中溫度一律不變的所在，在那裡，我們可以安全支持海面的零下三十度或四十度的寒冷。”
"True, sir, very true," I replied with growing excitement.
“對，先生，很對。”我很激動地回答。
"Our sole difficulty," Captain Nemo went on, "lies in our staying submerged for several days without renewing our air supply."
“唯一的用難是潛入水底好幾天，”尼摩船長立即又說。“不能調換我們船上儲藏的空氣。”
"That's all?" I answered. "The Nautilus has huge air tanks; we'll fill them up and they'll supply all the oxygen we need."
“就是這個嗎？”我回答，“諾第留斯號有廣大的儲藏庫，我們把儲藏庫全裝滿，我們有我們需要的氧氣。”
"Good thinking, Professor Aronnax," the captain replied with a smile. "But since I don't want to be accused of foolhardiness, I'm giving you all my objections in advance."
“想得不錯，阿龍納斯先生。”船長微笑着回答“我不願意您責備我過于大膽，我現在先提出我所有的反對意見來。請您考慮一下。”
"You have more?"
“您還有反對意見嗎？”
"Just one. If a sea exists at the South Pole, it's possible this sea may be completely frozen over, so we couldn't come up to the surface!"
“只有一個。很可能，如果南極是海，這海或者完全冰凍了，那麼，我們就不可能浮出水面上來了。”
"My dear sir, have you forgotten that the Nautilus is armed with a fearsome spur? Couldn't it be launched diagonally against those tracts of ice, which would break open from the impact?"
“對，先生，不過您忘記了諾第留斯號裝有厲害的沖角，我們不是可以沿對角綫的方向向冰田直衝上去、冰田遭到衝擊就要迸裂了嗎？”
"Ah, professor, you're full of ideas today!"
“暖！教授，您今天真有不少的主意呢！”
"Besides, captain," I added with still greater enthusiasm, "why wouldn't we find open sea at the South Pole just as at the North Pole? The cold-temperature poles and the geographical poles don't coincide in either the northern or southern hemispheres, and until proof to the contrary, we can assume these two spots on the earth feature either a continent or an ice-free ocean."
“並且，船長，”我愈來愈興奮地接著說，“在南極；人們為什麼不能跟在北極一樣，碰見自由通行的海呢？冰冷的兩極和陸地的兩極，無論在南半球和北半球內，都不能混同起來，在還沒有反面的證據之前，我們可以假定在這兩個地、的極端或者有陸地，或者有跟冰層分開的海洋。”
"I think as you do, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied. "I'll only point out that after raising so many objections against my plan, you're now crushing me under arguments in its favor."
“我也這樣想，阿龍納斯先生，”尼摩船長回答，“不過：我單單要您注意這點，就是您提出了許多反對我計劃的意見後，您現在又把許多贊成的理由來頂住我了
Captain Nemo was right. I was outdoing him in daring! It was I who was sweeping him to the pole. I was leading the way, I was out in front . . . but no, you silly fool! Captain Nemo already knew the pros and cons of this question, and it amused him to see you flying off into impossible fantasies!
尼摩船長說的是真的。我甚至要大膽他說服他了！是我把他拉到南極去了！我走在他前面了，我比他走得更遠了……完全不是：可憐的傻瓜。尼摩船長對這個問題的反對和贊成的意見比你更知道得多呢，”他不過讓你在這些不可能的夢想中高興發瘋，看來好玩罷了。
Nevertheless, he didn't waste an instant. At his signal, the chief officer appeared. The two men held a quick exchange in their incomprehensible language, and either the chief officer had been alerted previously or he found the plan feasible, because he showed no surprise.
可是，他一點時間也不白丟。他發出信號，船副上來了。兩人用那不可懂的語言，迅速地談了一下，或者船副預先就得到了通知，或者他看到這計劃可以實行，他一點也不使人看出有驚異的表示。
But as unemotional as he was, he couldn't have been more impeccably emotionless than Conseil when I told the fine lad our intention of pushing on to the South Pole. He greeted my announcement with the usual "As master wishes," and I had to be content with that. As for Ned Land, no human shoulders ever executed a higher shrug than the pair belonging to our Canadian.
即使如此，他的冷談也比不上康塞爾。當我告訴這個老實人，我們一直要走到南極的企圖的時候，他所表示出的那種神情真可以說是冷淡極了。他聽了我的話，就只拿一句“隨您先生的便”來回答我，我也只好滿足了。至于尼德-蘭，如果問誰的兩肩聳得最高，那就是加拿大人的兩肩了。他對我說：
"Honestly, sir," he told me. "You and your Captain Nemo, I pity you both!"
“您瞧，先生，您和您的尼摩船長真使我覺得十分可憐！”
"But we will go to the pole, Mr. Land."
“尼德師傅，我們是要到南極呢。”
"Maybe, but you won't come back!"
“可以去的，但你們不能回來了！”
And Ned Land reentered his cabin, "to keep from doing something desperate," he said as he left me.
他回他的艙房去。“為的是不要弄出人命。”他離開我的時候這樣說。
Meanwhile preparations for this daring attempt were getting under way. The Nautilus's powerful pumps forced air down into the tanks and stored it under high pressure. Near four o'clock Captain Nemo informed me that the platform hatches were about to be closed. I took a last look at the dense Ice Bank we were going to conquer. The weather was fair, the skies reasonably clear, the cold quite brisk, namely -12 degrees centigrade; but after the wind had lulled, this temperature didn't seem too unbearable.
但是，這個大膽企圖的準備工作開始執行了。諾第留斯號的強大怞氣機把空氣吸人儲藏庫，用高壓力裝到庫裡面去。四點左右，尼摩船長告訴我，平台上的嵌板要關起來了。我兩眼最後看一下我們就要穿過去的深厚冰山白天色晴朗，大氣鮮潔，很冷，溫度零下十二度，但風停下來了，這種溫度並不使人覺得很難受。
Equipped with picks, some ten men climbed onto the Nautilus's sides and cracked loose the ice around the ship's lower plating, which was soon set free. This operation was swiftly executed because the fresh ice was still thin. We all reentered the interior. The main ballast tanks were filled with the water that hadn't yet congealed at our line of flotation. The Nautilus submerged without delay.
十來個船員走到諾第留斯號兩旁，他們拿着尖鎬，鑿開船身周圍的冰，船身不久就鬆開。這種工作很迅速地做好，因為新結的冰還是相當的薄。我們全體回到船中。通常使用的儲水池裝滿了浮標線周圍的自由海水。儲第留斯號不久就潛下去。
I took a seat in the lounge with Conseil. Through the open window we stared at the lower strata of this southernmost ocean. The thermometer rose again. The needle on the pressure gauge swerved over its dial.
我跟康塞爾到客廳坐下。通過打開的玻璃，我們可以看到南冰洋中的下層。溫度表上升。壓力表的針在錶盤上移動。
About 300 meters down, just as Captain Nemo had predicted, we cruised beneath the undulating surface of the Ice Bank. But the Nautilus sank deeper still. It reached a depth of 800 meters. At the surface this water gave a temperature of -12 degrees centigrade, but now it gave no more than -10 degrees. Two degrees had already been gained. Thanks to its heating equipment, the Nautilus's temperature, needless to say, stayed at a much higher degree. Every maneuver was accomplished with extraordinary precision.
到了三百米左右，像尼摩船長所說過的一樣，我們就浮在冰山下層的波紋水面上了。但諾第留斯號再往下沉，它直到深八百米的水層。水的溫度，剛纔在上面是十二度，現在不超過十一度，那就是說我們已經爭取了兩度。不用說，諾第留斯號的溫度因為有它的熱氣機管，保持着很高的溫度。船的這些動作都特別準確地完成。
"With all due respect to master," Conseil told me, "we'll pass it by."
“請先生原諒我說一句，”康塞爾對我說，“我們一定可以過去。”
"I fully expect to!" I replied in a tone of deep conviction.
“我也是這樣想！”我帶著深信不疑的語氣回答。
Now in open water, the Nautilus took a direct course to the pole without veering from the 52nd meridian. From 67 degrees 30' to 90 degrees, twenty-two and a half degrees of latitude were left to cross, in other words, slightly more than 500 leagues. The Nautilus adopted an average speed of twenty-six miles per hour, the speed of an express train. If it kept up this pace, forty hours would do it for reaching the pole.
在這自由通行的海底下，諾第留斯號不離開西經52度，沿著向南極的路線一直駛去。從67度30分到90度，還要走過22度半的緯度，就是說，還要走五百多里。諾第留斯號這時的速度是每小時二十六海里的中常速度，即特別快車的速度。如果它保持這個速度行駛，那麼四十小時就足夠它駛到南極了。
For part of the night, the novelty of our circumstances kept Conseil and me at the lounge window. The sea was lit by our beacon's electric rays. But the depths were deserted. Fish didn't linger in these imprisoned waters. Here they found merely a passageway for going from the Antarctic Ocean to open sea at the pole. Our progress was swift. You could feel it in the vibrations of the long steel hull.
夜間一部分時間，由於所在環境的新奇，使康塞爾和我留在客廳的玻璃邊，大海受探照燈電光的照耀，晶瑩雪亮，但水中荒涼，看不見什麼蹤影。魚類不居留在這種監牢般的海水中；它們要從南冰洋到南極那個自由通行的海，這裡只有一條通路。我們的船行駛很迅速；我們從長形鋼鐵船殻的振動可以感覺出來。
Near two o'clock in the morning, I went to snatch a few hours of sleep. Conseil did likewise. I didn't encounter Captain Nemo while going down the gangways. I assumed that he was keeping to the pilothouse.
早晨兩點左右，我要回房中休息幾小時。康塞爾也和我一樣，要回房休息，穿行過道的時候，我沒有碰見尼摩船長，我想他一定在那領航人的籠間中了。
The next day, March 19, at five o'clock in the morning, I was back at my post in the lounge. The electric log indicated that the Nautilus had reduced speed. By then it was rising to the surface, but cautiously, while slowly emptying its ballast tanks.
第二天，3月19日，早晨五點的時候，我又在客廳中。電力側程器給我指出，諾第留斯號的速度慢了一些，這時，它是很小心的，慢慢排出儲水池中的水，往水而上升。
My heart was pounding. Would we emerge into the open and find the polar air again?
我的心在跳動。我們是要浮起來，找到南極的自由空氣嗎？
No. A jolt told me that the Nautilus had bumped the underbelly of the Ice Bank, still quite thick to judge from the hollowness of the accompanying noise. Indeed, we had "struck bottom," to use nautical terminology, but in the opposite direction and at a depth of 3,000 feet. That gave us 4,000 feet of ice overhead, of which 1,000 feet emerged above water. So the Ice Bank was higher here than we had found it on the outskirts. A circumstance less than encouraging.
不。一次衝擊，從發出了不爽朗的聲音來判斷，使我知道諾第留斯號碰上了冰山的下層冰面，這冰面還是很厚，的確，用航海的語言來說，我們是“撞上了”，不過現在是方向倒轉過來，在三千英呎的深處“撞上了”。這就是，在我們頭上有四千英呎的冰層，有～千英呎是浮出在水面。這時冰層所有的高度，是超過我們在它邊岸所記錄的高度。
Several times that day, the Nautilus repeated the same experiment and always it bumped against this surface that formed a ceiling above it. At certain moments the ship encountered ice at a depth of 900 meters, denoting a thickness of 1,200 meters, of which 300 meters rose above the level of the ocean. This height had tripled since the moment the Nautilus had dived beneath the waves.
情形有些使人不安呢。在這一天內，諾第留斯號做了好幾次試驗，它總是碰着蓋在它上面的天花板一樣的冰牆。有時候，它在九百米的地方碰到了，那就是冰山有一千二百米厚，有三百米是浮在冰洋的而上。跟諾第留斯號潛入水底的時候相比，冰山的高度現在是增加了一倍。
I meticulously noted these different depths, obtaining the underwater profile of this upside-down mountain chain that stretched beneath the sea.
我小心地記下這些不同的深度，這樣，我就獲得了羅列在海水下面的這條冰山脈的海底面影。
By evening there was still no improvement in our situation. The ice stayed between 400 and 500 meters deep. It was obviously shrinking, but what a barrier still lay between us and the surface of the ocean!
晚上，我們所處的情況沒有發現什麼變化。在四百和五百米深度的中間老是有冰。冰顯然是減少了，但在我們和洋面之間，冰層還厚得很呢！
By then it was eight o'clock. The air inside the Nautilus should have been renewed four hours earlier, following daily practice on board. But I didn't suffer very much, although Captain Nemo hadn't yet made demands on the supplementary oxygen in his air tanks.
時間是晚八點。按照每天的習慣，諾第留斯號內部空氣早在四小時以前就應該調渙了。不過，雖然尼摩船長沒有要儲藏庫放出一些補充的氧氣來，但我並不覺得怎樣難過。
That night my sleep was fitful. Hope and fear besieged me by turns. I got up several times. The Nautilus continued groping. Near three o'clock in the morning, I observed that we encountered the Ice Bank's underbelly at a depth of only fifty meters. So only 150 feet separated us from the surface of the water. Little by little the Ice Bank was turning into an ice field again. The mountains were changing back into plains.
這一夜我的睡眠很不好。希望和恐懼輪流地在我心中轉來轉去。我起來好幾次．諾第留斯號探索性的上升仍然繼續進行。早晨三點左右，我看見冰山的下層冰面只在五十米的深度才碰到了、這時把我們和水面隔開的只是一百五千英呎的冰層。冰山漸漸變成冰田了。山又成平原了。
My eyes didn't leave the pressure gauge. We kept rising on a diagonal, going along this shiny surface that sparkled beneath our electric rays. Above and below, the Ice Bank was subsiding in long gradients. Mile after mile it was growing thinner.
我的兩眼不離開壓力表；總是盯着一我們沿對角綫，向着電光下閃閃發亮的光輝冰面，老是上升．冰山像腕蜒伸長的欄杆，上下兩方減低了；它一海里一海里地變薄了。
Finally, at six o'clock in the morning on that memorable day of March 19, the lounge door opened. Captain Nemo appeared.
最後可紀念的8月19日那天，早晨六點，客廳門打開．尼摩船長進來，他對我說：
"Open sea!" he told me.
“到自由通行的海了！”