I RUSHED UP onto the platform. Yes, open sea! Barely a few sparse floes, some moving icebergs; a sea stretching into the distance; hosts of birds in the air and myriads of fish under the waters, which varied from intense blue to olive green depending on the depth. The thermometer marked 3 degrees centigrade. It was as if a comparative springtime had been locked up behind that Ice Bank, whose distant masses were outlined on the northern horizon.
我飛跑到平台上去。 是的！自由通行的海。近邊只有一些散亂的冰塊和浮為的冰層，遠方一片大海，空中是群鳥世界；水底下有千億萬的魚類，水的顏色隨深淺的不同，現出從深濃的靛藍至橄覽的青綠。溫度表指着攝氏三度。對被關在這冰山後的天氣來說，這好像是相對的春天，遠遠的冰群在北方天際露出面影。
"Are we at the pole?" I asked the captain, my heart pounding.
“我們是在南極嗎？“我問船長，同時心跳動不止。
"I've no idea," he answered me. "At noon we'll fix our position."
“我不知道。”他回答我。“中午我沒來測量方位。”
"But will the sun show through this mist?" I said, staring at the grayish sky.
“可是，太陽能穿過這些雲霧嗎？”我眼看著灰色的天空說。
"No matter how faintly it shines, it will be enough for me," the captain replied.
“只要露出一點就夠了。”船長回答。
To the south, ten miles from the Nautilus, a solitary islet rose to a height of 200 meters. We proceeded toward it, but cautiously, because this sea could have been strewn with reefs.
距諾第留斯號南方二海里，有一座孤立的小島浮出，高兩百米。我們向小島走去，但很小心，因為這海中可能各處都有暗礁。
In an hour we had reached the islet. Two hours later we had completed a full circle around it. It measured four to five miles in circumference. A narrow channel separated it from a considerable shore, perhaps a continent whose limits we couldn't see.
一小時質，我們到達小島。又過兩小時，我們就繞了小島一-周。它周圍四海里至五海里長。一條狹窄水道把它跟一片廣大陸地分開，或者這是一個大洲，我們還不能望見它的界限。
The existence of this shore seemed to bear out Commander Maury's hypotheses. In essence, this ingenious American has noted that between the South Pole and the 60th parallel, the sea is covered with floating ice of dimensions much greater than any found in the north Atlantic. From this fact he drew the conclusion that the Antarctic Circle must contain considerable shores, since icebergs can't form on the high seas but only along coastlines. According to his calculations, this frozen mass enclosing the southernmost pole forms a vast ice cap whose width must reach 4,000 kilometers.
這片陸地的存在好像證明莫利的假設是對的。的確，這位高明的美國學者指出，在南極和緯度60度中間，海上是浮動的冰群，這些冰群非常巨大，在大西洋北部從不能碰到。根據這個事實，他得出這個結論，南極圈中藏有大片的陸地，因為冰山不能在大海中間形成，只在近陸地的邊岸才能存在。按照他購計算，遮覆南極的冰群形成一個球形的圓蓋，這蓋的寬大可能是四千公里。
Meanwhile, to avoid running aground, the Nautilus halted three cable lengths from a strand crowned by superb piles of rocks. The skiff was launched to sea. Two crewmen carrying instruments, the captain, Conseil, and I were on board. It was ten o'clock in the morning. I hadn't seen Ned Land. No doubt, in the presence of the South Pole, the Canadian hated having to eat his words.
可是，諾第留斯號怕擱淺，停在相距六米左右的灘前，有一片雄壯的岩石層高聳在灘上。小艇放到海中去。船長、他的兩個船員帶著各種器械，康塞爾和我，我們一齊上小艇去。時間是早晨十點、我沒有看見尼德-蘭。加拿大人一定不願意承認南極是在他面前。
A few strokes of the oar brought the skiff to the sand, where it ran aground. Just as Conseil was about to jump ashore, I held him back.
槳劃了幾下，小艇就到了沙灘上，擱淺下來。康塞爾正要下地的時候，我把他拉住了。
"Sir," I told Captain Nemo, "to you belongs the honor of first setting foot on this shore."
“先生，”我對尼摩船長說，“第一次腳踩這陸地的光榮應該屬於您。”
"Yes, sir," the captain replied, "and if I have no hesitation in treading this polar soil, it's because no human being until now has left a footprint here."
“對，先生，，船長回答，“我所以一點不猶豫地腳踩這極圈的土地，是因為直到現在，還沒有一個人留下他的腳跡在這陸地上。”卜
So saying, he leaped lightly onto the sand. His heart must have been throbbing with intense excitement. He scaled an overhanging rock that ended in a small promontory and there, mute and motionless, with crossed arms and blazing eyes, he seemed to be laying claim to these southernmost regions. After spending five minutes in this trance, he turned to us.
說過這話，他輕快地跳在沙灘上。緊張激動的情緒使他的心跳得厲害。他攀上一塊岩石、傾斜的岩石盡處是一個小呷，在呷上，他交叉着兩隻手，熱情的眼光，不動，靜戳。他好像取得這些南極地方的所有權了。在這種極樂情緒中過了五分鐘後，他向我們轉過身千來；‘對我喊：
"Whenever you're ready, sir," he called to me.
“先生，您高興就清上來。”
I got out, Conseil at my heels, leaving the two men in the skiff.
我跳下小艇，後面跟着康塞爾，那兩個人留在艇中。
Over an extensive area, the soil consisted of that igneous gravel called "tuff," reddish in color as if made from crushed bricks. The ground was covered with slag, lava flows, and pumice stones. Its volcanic origin was unmistakable. In certain localities thin smoke holes gave off a sulfurous odor, showing that the inner fires still kept their wide-ranging power. Nevertheless, when I scaled a high escarpment, I could see no volcanoes within a radius of several miles. In these Antarctic districts, as is well known, Sir James Clark Ross had found the craters of Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror in fully active condition on the 167th meridian at latitude 77 degrees 32'.
土質在很長的空間上現出鍺紅色的凝灰岩，就像一層層的磚石構成的一樣。火山的燒石，噴出的火石，浮石的石屑遍佈地上。人們不可能不認識這陸地的構成是火山的來源。在某些地方還有輕微的噴煙，發出硫磺氣味，證明內部的火仍然保持着它伸張發展的力量。可是，我攀上一座高聳的懸崖，半徑幾海里的圓周內望不見火山。大家知道，在南極地帶內，，詹姆斯-羅斯①在東經160度，緯度77度32分上，找到了還在活動的愛列貝斯和鐵羅爾火山噴口。：
The vegetation on this desolate continent struck me as quite limited. A few lichens of the species Usnea melanoxanthra sprawled over the black rocks. The whole meager flora of this region consisted of certain microscopic buds, rudimentary diatoms made up of a type of cell positioned between two quartz-rich shells, plus long purple and crimson fucus plants, buoyed by small air bladders and washed up on the coast by the surf.
這個荒涼大陸的植物看來是極端有限。一些單條黑色的苔蘚品種叢生，鋪在黑色岩石上。某種微生草木，原始矽藻，在兩片介殼中間聚起來的石英質的細胞植物，真紅和猩紅的黑角菜，緊貼在退潮送到岸上來的魚類上面，以上就是組成這個地方的整個植物界。
The beach was strewn with mollusks: small mussels, limpets, smooth heart-shaped cockles, and especially some sea butterflies with oblong, membrane-filled bodies whose heads are formed from two rounded lobes. I also saw myriads of those northernmost sea butterflies three centimeters long, which a baleen whale can swallow by the thousands in one gulp. The open waters at the shoreline were alive with these delightful pteropods, true butterflies of the sea.
沿岸有一些軟體動物，小硯、蛇類，心臟形的光滑貝，特別有那些長方形、膜質、頭由兩個圓突的耳葉形成的觸鬚貝．我又看到有無數北方的觸鬚貝，長三釐米；鯨魚每一口就吞食它們一大群。這些美麗的翼步類動物，‘真正是海中的蝴蝶）使這海岸邊緣的流動海水生動活潑起來。
Among other zoophytes present in these shallows, there were a few coral tree forms that, according to Sir James Clark Ross, live in these Antarctic seas at depths as great as 1,000 meters; then small alcyon coral belonging to the species Procellaria pelagica, also a large number of starfish unique to these climes, plus some feather stars spangling the sand.
植蟲類裡面出現在海底深處的，有些珊瑚樹，根據詹姆斯、，羅斯盼觀察，這些珊瑚樹在南極海中，一直到一千米深處都可以生活。、其次，有屬於海胞類的小翡翠珊瑚一以及這一帶地區待有的許多海燕一和散佈在地上的許多海星。
But it was in the air that life was superabundant. There various species of birds flew and fluttered by the thousands, deafening us with their calls. Crowding the rocks, other fowl watched without fear as we passed and pressed familiarly against our feet. These were auks, as agile and supple in water, where they are sometimes mistaken for fast bonito, as they are clumsy and heavy on land. They uttered outlandish calls and participated in numerous public assemblies that featured much noise but little action.
但生活豐富洋溢的地方是在空中小在空中，有無數種類不同的烏類飛翔上下，鳴聲嘈雜，震聾了我們的耳朵6另有其他的鳥類擁擠在岩石上，它們一點不怕，看著我們走過）並且很親熱地聚在我們腳邊．那是在水中也一樣輕快和便捷的企鵝，有時人們把它們和迅速的輥鳥混同；但錕鳥在地上是不靈便和很笨的，、它們發出古怪的叫聲、成群無數；，齊集一起，它們動作姿勢很少，但叫喊卻十分厲害！
Among other fowl I noted some sheathbills from the wading-bird family, the size of pigeons, white in color, the beak short and conical, the eyes framed by red circles. Conseil laid in a supply of them, because when they're properly cooked, these winged creatures make a pleasant dish. In the air there passed sooty albatross with four-meter wingspans, birds aptly dubbed "vultures of the ocean," also gigantic petrels including several with arching wings, enthusiastic eaters of seal that are known as quebrantahuesos, and cape pigeons, a sort of small duck, the tops of their bodies black and white--in short, a whole series of petrels, some whitish with wings trimmed in brown, others blue and exclusive to these Antarctic seas, the former "so oily," I told Conseil, "that inhabitants of the Faroe Islands simply fit the bird with a wick, then light it up."
在鳥類中間，我看見有涉水鳥科的南極水鳥。它們跟鴿子一般大小。白色，有錐形的短嘴，、眼睛圈在紅圈中、康塞爾捉這種鳥作食物，因為這類飛禽烹調得適當，是味道很美的食物。空中又有煤黑色的信天翁飛過，翼幅四米寬，它們也叫海鴛，’名稱是很適當的，有巨大的海燕類，、其中有弓形海燕，翼作拱形，最喜歡吃海豹．有海棋鳥，是一種小鴨；身上帶白色和黑色．最後，、有一組海燕類：，有的是灰白色，兩翼邊緣是栗子色，有的是藍色，是南冰洋的特產。我對康塞爾說：“灰白色的一種油脂很多．在費羅哀群島①，人們在它們的腹部放上燈芯，就可以點燃起來。”
"With that minor addition," Conseil replied, "these fowl would make perfect lamps! After this, we should insist that nature equip them with wicks in advance!"
“差一點兒，”康塞爾回答，“它們就完全是一盞燈了這樣看來，我們只有再要求大自然預先在它們身上準備一個燈芯好了！”
Half a mile farther on, the ground was completely riddled with penguin nests, egg-laying burrows from which numerous birds emerged. Later Captain Nemo had hundreds of them hunted because their black flesh is highly edible. They brayed like donkeys. The size of a goose with slate-colored bodies, white undersides, and lemon-colored neck bands, these animals let themselves be stoned to death without making any effort to get away.
走過半海裡後，地上現出許多短翼潛水鳥的鳥巢，這些巢是一種築好來產卵的洞窟，從洞窟中飛出很多的潛水鳥。尼摩船長在後來，打了好幾百隻這種鳥，因為它們的黑色的肉很可以吃。它們發出像驢叫的聲音。這些鳥像我；一般的身材，身上是石板色，下面白色，頸上帶檸檬色的花緣，就那“樣讓人拿石子打死，並不想法逃走。
Meanwhile the mists didn't clear, and by eleven o'clock the sun still hadn't made an appearance. Its absence disturbed me. Without it, no sights were possible. Then how could we tell whether we had reached the pole?
可是，雲霧並不散開，到十一點，太陽還不出來。太陽不出，使我心中焦急，沒有太陽，不可能做各種觀察。那麼，怎樣決定我們是到了南極呢？
When I rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning silently against a piece of rock and staring at the sky. He seemed impatient, baffled. But what could we do? This daring and powerful man couldn't control the sun as he did the sea.
當我回到尼摩船長那邊的時候，我看他胳膊肘靠在一塊岩石上，默不作聲，眼盯着天空。看來他有些不耐煩，心中在生氣。但有什麼辦法？這個膽大又強有力的人不能照他命令海洋那樣指揮太陽。
Noon arrived without the orb of day appearing for a single instant. You couldn't even find its hiding place behind the curtain of mist. And soon this mist began to condense into snow.
中午到了，日光仍是一瞬也沒有現出。人們甚至不可能認出它在這霧幕後面所在的位置。不久，霧又溶為雪花了。
"Until tomorrow," the captain said simply; and we went back to the Nautilus, amid flurries in the air.
“明天再來。”船長乾脆對我說，同時我們看一下在那大氣淋流中間的諾第留斯號。
During our absence the nets had been spread, and I observed with fascination the fish just hauled on board. The Antarctic seas serve as a refuge for an extremely large number of migratory fish that flee from storms in the subpolar zones, in truth only to slide down the gullets of porpoises and seals. I noted some one-decimeter southern bullhead, a species of whitish cartilaginous fish overrun with bluish gray stripes and armed with stings, then some Antarctic rabbitfish three feet long, the body very slender, the skin a smooth silver white, the head rounded, the topside furnished with three fins, the snout ending in a trunk that curved back toward the mouth. I sampled its flesh but found it tasteless, despite Conseil's views, which were largely approving.
當我們不在船上的時候，魚網放下海中去了，我很感興趣地觀察人們剛拉上船來的魚類。南極海水是大多數候魚的藏身處，它們躲避緯度較低水層的風暴，轉移到這邊來。可是它們往往又掉到海豚和海豹的嘴裡去了。我看見有些南極的刺鰭魚，長十釐米，是一種灰白色的軟骨魚，身上有斜橫的淡白條帶，並且生有尖刺，其次，見有南冰洋的軟骨奇魚，長三英呎，身子拉得很長，銀白色和光滑的表皮，圓突的頭，脊背上有三支鰭，嘴臉最前端是一支向嘴邊彎過去的喇叭管。我嘗過這種魚的肉，我覺得平淡無味，但康塞爾的意見不同，他很喜歡吃。
The blizzard lasted until the next day. It was impossible to stay on the platform. From the lounge, where I was writing up the incidents of this excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the calls of petrel and albatross cavorting in the midst of the turmoil. The Nautilus didn't stay idle, and cruising along the coast, it advanced some ten miles farther south amid the half light left by the sun as it skimmed the edge of the horizon.
暴風雪一直延長到第二天，站在平台上，簡直不可能。我在客廳中寫我這次到南極大陸來旅行的事件，從廳中聽到在大風雪中間飛翔上下的海燕和信天翁的號叫。諾第留斯號並不是停止不動，它沿著海岸駛去，在太陽掠過天際的時候所留下的曙光中間，再向南前進十海里左右。
The next day, March 20, it stopped snowing. The cold was a little more brisk. The thermometer marked -2 degrees centigrade. The mist had cleared, and on that day I hoped our noon sights could be accomplished.
第二天，3月20日，風雪停了。天氣比較寒冷一些，溫度表是零下二度。濃霧散開，我希望今天我們的方位觀察可以做出來。
Since Captain Nemo hadn't yet appeared, only Conseil and I were taken ashore by the skiff. The soil's nature was still the same: volcanic. Traces of lava, slag, and basaltic rock were everywhere, but I couldn't find the crater that had vomited them up. There as yonder, myriads of birds enlivened this part of the polar continent. But they had to share their dominion with huge herds of marine mammals that looked at us with gentle eyes. These were seals of various species, some stretched out on the ground, others lying on drifting ice floes, several leaving or reentering the sea. Having never dealt with man, they didn't run off at our approach, and I counted enough of them thereabouts to provision a couple hundred ships.
尼摩船長還沒有出來，小艇先載了康塞爾和我，把我們送到陸地上去。地上的土質跟前面一樣，是火山形成的。到處都是火山噴發物，火山岩，玄武岩的遺蹟，但我沒有看見噴出這些岩石來的火口。這裡跟前面一樣，有無數的鳥類給南極大陸這一部分添了生動活潑的氣象。但同時跟亡們一齊領有這塊土地的，還有一大群海中哺侞類動物，這些動物拿它們的溫和眼光盯着我們。那是各種不同的海豹。有的躺在地上，有的睡在傾斜的冰塊上，有些又從海中上來，或回到海中去。它們看見我們近前，並不逃走，因為它們從沒有跟人打過交道，我看這裡的海豹很多，可以裝載好幾百艘船。
"Ye gods," Conseil said, "it's fortunate that Ned Land didn't come with us!"
"Why so, Conseil?"
"Because that madcap hunter would kill every animal here."
"Every animal may be overstating it, but in truth I doubt we could keep our Canadian friend from harpooning some of these magnificent cetaceans. Which would be an affront to Captain Nemo, since he hates to slay harmless beasts needlessly."
"He's right."
"Certainly, Conseil. But tell me, haven't you finished classifying these superb specimens of marine fauna?"
"Master is well aware," Conseil replied, "that I'm not seasoned in practical application. When master has told me these animals' names . . ."
"They're seals and walruses."
"Two genera," our scholarly Conseil hastened to say, "that belong to the family Pinnipedia, order Carnivora, group Unguiculata, subclass Monodelphia, class Mammalia, branch Vertebrata."
"Very nice, Conseil," I replied, "but these two genera of seals and walruses are each divided into species, and if I'm not mistaken, we now have a chance to actually look at them. Let's."
It was eight o'clock in the morning. We had four hours to ourselves before the sun could be productively observed. I guided our steps toward a huge bay that made a crescent-shaped incision in the granite cliffs along the beach.
時間是早晨八點。太陽可以供我們觀察利用的時間只剩下四小時了。我向一處寬大的港灣一步步走去，灣作斬月形，在花崗石的懸崖中間。
There, all about us, I swear that the shores and ice floes were crowded with marine mammals as far as the eye could see, and I involuntarily looked around for old Proteus, that mythological shepherd who guarded King Neptune's immense flocks. To be specific, these were seals. They formed distinct male-and-female groups, the father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones, the stronger youngsters emancipated a few paces away. When these mammals wanted to relocate, they moved in little jumps made by contracting their bodies, clumsily helped by their imperfectly developed flippers, which, as with their manatee relatives, form actual forearms. In the water, their ideal element, I must say these animals swim wonderfully thanks to their flexible backbones, narrow pelvises, close-cropped hair, and webbed feet. Resting on shore, they assumed extremely graceful positions. Consequently, their gentle features, their sensitive expressions equal to those of the loveliest women, their soft, limpid eyes, their charming poses, led the ancients to glorify them by metamorphosing the males into sea gods and the females into mermaids.
在那裡，我簡直可以說，我們周圍，陸地上和冰層上，一望無際都是被海中哺侞動物擠滿了，我眼光不期然而然地找那老頭蒲羅德，他是神話中給海神涅豆尼看守家畜群的老收人。海豹特別多。它們形成個別分開的隊伍，雄的和雌的一起，父海豹關心它的家族，母海豹給它的小海豹喂奶，有些已經壯大的年輕海豹隨意走開；在遠一些的地方。當這些哺侞動物要走動的時候，它們由於軀體的伸縮，一跳一跳地走，同時它們相當笨，拿它們的不發達的鰭來幫助走動，但這鰭在它們的同類海牛身上，就成為真正的前臂了。我得說，它們在海水裡面生活環境優越，這些脊骨活動，骨盤狹窄，毛又短又密，掌形腳的動物，是游泳的好手。當它門休息和在地上的時候，它們的姿態十分美觀，使人喜歡。
I drew Conseil's attention to the considerable growth of the cerebral lobes found in these intelligent cetaceans. No mammal except man has more abundant cerebral matter. Accordingly, seals are quite capable of being educated; they make good pets, and together with certain other naturalists, I think these animals can be properly trained to perform yeoman service as hunting dogs for fishermen.
我給康塞爾指出，這種聰明的鯨科動物，大腦葉特別發達。除了人類：任何哺侞類都沒有這樣豐富的腦髓神經。因此，海豹可能接受某種程度的教育；它們容易馴養，成為家畜。我跟某些生物學家的意見相同，適當地把海豹訓練起來，它們可以當作打魚的獵狗，給人類服務，做許多有益的事。
Most of these seals were sleeping on the rocks or the sand. Among those properly termed seals--which have no external ears, unlike sea lions whose ears protrude--I observed several varieties of the species stenorhynchus, three meters long, with white hair, bulldog heads, and armed with ten teeth in each jaw: four incisors in both the upper and lower, plus two big canines shaped like the fleur-de-lis. Among them slithered some sea elephants, a type of seal with a short, flexible trunk; these are the giants of the species, with a circumference of twenty feet and a length of ten meters. They didn't move as we approached.
大部分海豹睡在岩石，或者睡在沙地上。在這些真正的海豹中間，它們是沒有外耳的——這一點它們跟有突出的外耳的海獺不同——我看見有好些海獺的變種，長三英呎，毛白色，獵狗一般的頭，上下顎共有十枚牙齒，各有四枚門牙，兩枚百合花形的大虎牙。在它們中間，又有海象踏來蹋去，這是帶有活動的短鼻筒的海豹，是這種動物中最巨大的類型，周身二十英呎，長十英呎。它們看我們走近前去，動也不動。
"Are these animals dangerous?" Conseil asked me.
“它們不是危險傷人的動物嗎？”康塞爾問我。
"Only if they're attacked," I replied. "But when these giant seals defend their little ones, their fury is dreadful, and it isn't rare for them to smash a fisherman's longboat to bits."
“不，”我回答，“除非是人家要攻擊它們。當一條海豹保衛它的子女的時候，它是憤怒得怕人，它把漁人的小船弄成碎片，並不是希罕的事。”
"They're within their rights," Conseil answered.
“那是它的正當權利。”康塞爾立即說。
"I don't say nay."
“我沒有說不是呀。”
Two miles farther on, we were stopped by a promontory that screened the bay from southerly winds. It dropped straight down to the sea, and surf foamed against it. From beyond this ridge there came fearsome bellows, such as a herd of cattle might produce.
再走兩海里遠，我們就被保護港灣不受南風吹打的尖峽擋住了。尖峽靠海矗立，回潮打來，泡沫飛濺，呷外有隆隆的吼叫聲發出，就像一群牛羊反芻類可能發出的聲響那麼利害。
"Gracious," Conseil put in, "a choir of bulls?"
“怎麼，”康塞爾說，“是水牛的音樂會嗎？”
"No," I said, "a choir of walruses."
"Are they fighting with each other?"
“不，”我說，“是海馬的音樂會。”
“它們打架嗎？”
"Either fighting or playing."
“它們或者是打架，或者是玩耍。”
"With all due respect to master, this we must see."
“請先生原諒，我們應當去看一下。”
"Then see it we must, Conseil."
“我們應當去看一下，康塞爾。”
And there we were, climbing these blackish rocks amid sudden landslides and over stones slippery with ice. More than once I took a tumble at the expense of my backside. Conseil, more cautious or more stable, barely faltered and would help me up, saying:
我們於是在意想不到的亂石間，被冰塊弄得很滑溜的碎石上走過那些灰黑的岩石地。不止一次，我滑倒了，弄得腰部痠痛。康塞爾，或者是因為他比較小心，或者是因為他比較結實，沒有摔過：他把我扶起來，說：
"If master's legs would kindly adopt a wider stance, master will keep his balance."
“如果先生願意把兩腿挪開一些，先生就更能保持身體的平衡了。”
Arriving at the topmost ridge of this promontory, I could see vast white plains covered with walruses. These animals were playing among themselves. They were howling not in anger but in glee.
到了尖呷的高脊背上，我望見一片白色的廣大平原，上面全是海馬。這些海馬正在成群玩耍，剛纔聽到的是它們的快樂的聲音，不是它們憤怒的壕叫。
Walruses resemble seals in the shape of their bodies and the arrangement of their limbs. But their lower jaws lack canines and incisors, and as for their upper canines, they consist of two tusks eighty centimeters long with a circumference of thirty-three centimeters at the socket. Made of solid ivory, without striations, harder than elephant tusks, and less prone to yellowing, these teeth are in great demand. Accordingly, walruses are the victims of a mindless hunting that soon will destroy them all, since their hunters indiscriminately slaughter pregnant females and youngsters, and over 4,000 individuals are destroyed annually.
海馬從軀體的外形上看，從四肢的安排上看，跟海豹很相象。可是它們的下鄂沒有虎牙和門牙，至于上鄂的虎牙，那是兩枚長八十釐米，下槽周圓三十三釐米的角牙，這些牙由緻密無疵的牙質上成，比象牙更硬，又比較不易變黃。是人們爭求的珍品。因此這些海馬受到意外過度的獵取。不久就要被消減到最後階段了，因為打海馬的獵人盲目屠殺，不管是有孕的母海馬還是幼年海馬，每年屠殺的數目超過四千條。
Passing near these unusual animals, I could examine them at my leisure since they didn't stir. Their hides were rough and heavy, a tan color leaning toward a reddish brown; their coats were short and less than abundant. Some were four meters long. More tranquil and less fearful than their northern relatives, they posted no sentinels on guard duty at the approaches to their campsite.
從這些新奇的動物旁邊走過，我可以從容地考察它們，因為它們留在那裡不動。它們的表皮很厚，多皺紋，色調是類似褚紅的茶褐色，皮毛很短，並且很少。有些海馬長至四米。它們比北冰洋的海馬安靜，膽大，它們並不委派特別選出來的哨兵來看守它們露營的周圍。
After examining this community of walruses, I decided to return in my tracks. It was eleven o'clock, and if Captain Nemo found conditions favorable for taking his sights, I wanted to be present at the operation. But I held no hopes that the sun would make an appearance that day. It was hidden from our eyes by clouds squeezed together on the horizon. Apparently the jealous orb didn't want to reveal this inaccessible spot on the globe to any human being.
考察了這所海馬齊集的城市後，我就想回去了。時間是十一點了。如果尼摩船長覺得條件順利，可以觀察，那我要到他面前，看著他做。可是，我不敢希望這一天太陽會鑽出來。重重積壓在天邊的濃雲使它躲開了我們的眼睛。好像這十分珍重的太陽，不願意在這地球上人跡不能到的地點，現出來給人們看。
Yet I decided to return to the Nautilus. We went along a steep, narrow path that ran over the cliff's summit. By 11:30 we had arrived at our landing place. The beached skiff had brought the captain ashore. I spotted him standing on a chunk of basalt. His instruments were beside him. His eyes were focused on the northern horizon, along which the sun was sweeping in its extended arc.
可是，我想應當回諾第留斯號去了。我們沿著懸崖頂一條狹窄斜坡下去。十一點半，我們到了上陸的地點。擱淺在那裡的小艇正把船長送上地來。我看見他站在一塊玄武石岩上，他的器械放在他近邊。他眼光盯着北方天際。，太陽在那邊畫出長長的曲綫。
I found a place near him and waited without speaking. Noon arrived, and just as on the day before, the sun didn't put in an appearance.
我站在他旁邊，我等候着，不說話。正午到了，跟昨天一樣，太陽不出來。
It was sheer bad luck. Our noon sights were still lacking. If we couldn't obtain them tomorrow, we would finally have to give up any hope of fixing our position.
這真是沒辦法的事。觀察又不能做。如果明天觀察不能完成，那測定我們所在方位的事情，恐怕只好完全放棄了。
In essence, it was precisely March 20. Tomorrow, the 21st, was the day of the equinox; the sun would disappear below the horizon for six months not counting refraction, and after its disappearance the long polar night would begin. Following the September equinox, the sun had emerged above the northerly horizon, rising in long spirals until December 21. At that time, the summer solstice of these southernmost districts, the sun had started back down, and tomorrow it would cast its last rays.
今天恰好是3月20日。明天21日是春分，析光作用映出的陽光不算，太陽以後就要沒人水平綫下，有六個月不能出來，太陽不見，極圈的長夜時期就開始了，從九月中的秋分日起，它在北方天際出現，沿著長長的螺旋線上升，直到12月21日。這個時候是北冰洋地區的夏至日，它又開始下降，明天就是它射出光線的最後一天了。
I shared my thoughts and fears with Captain Nemo.
我把自己的意見和顧慮告訴尼摩船長，他對我說。
"You're right, Professor Aronnax," he told me. "If I can't take the sun's altitude tomorrow, I won't be able to try again for another six months. But precisely because sailors' luck has led me into these seas on March 21, it will be easy to get our bearings if the noonday sun does appear before our eyes."
“您說得對，阿龍納斯先生，如果明天我不能測量太陽的高度，我就不用能在六個月之內再做測量了。不過也正因為我這次航行的機會，3月21日把我帶到這南極海中來如果太陽給我們現出來，我的方位是很容易測定的。”
"Why easy, captain?"
“船長，為什麼呢？”
"Because when the orb of day sweeps in such long spirals, it's difficult to measure its exact altitude above the horizon, and our instruments are open to committing serious errors."
“因為，太陽沿著那麼拉長的螺旋綫走，想在水平線上確切測量它的高度，很是困難，儀器也容易犯嚴重的錯誤。”
"Then what can you do?"
“那麼，您怎樣來進行呢？”
"I use only my chronometer," Captain Nemo answered me. "At noon tomorrow, March 21, if, after accounting for refraction, the sun's disk is cut exactly in half by the northern horizon, that will mean I'm at the South Pole."
“我只是使用我的航海時計，”尼摩船長回答我，“如果明天3月21日，折光作用估計在內，太陽圈輪正好切在北方的水平線上，那我就是在南極點上了。”
"Right," I said. "Nevertheless, it isn't mathematically exact proof, because the equinox needn't fall precisely at noon."
“是的，”我說，“不過這個測定從數學上看，並不是完全精確的，因為春分時間不一定是在正午。”
"No doubt, sir, but the error will be under 100 meters, and that's close enough for us. Until tomorrow then."
“當然，先生，但差數也不能過一百米，並且我們也不要更進一步的準確，那麼，明天再來吧。”
Captain Nemo went back on board. Conseil and I stayed behind until five o'clock, surveying the beach, observing and studying. The only unusual object I picked up was an auk's egg of remarkable size, for which a collector would have paid more than 1,000 francs. Its cream-colored tint, plus the streaks and markings that decorated it like so many hieroglyphics, made it a rare trinket. I placed it in Conseil's hands, and holding it like precious porcelain from China, that cautious, sure-footed lad got it back to the Nautilus in one piece.
尼摩船長轉回船上去了。康塞爾和我，我們留到五點，在海灘上跑來跑去，作觀察，作研究。我沒有得到什麼新奇的東西，就是拾得一個海梟的蛋，蛋特別大，一個珍奇收藏家可能出一千多法郎來收買。它的淺黃顏色，像用象形文字描繪在上面的線條和花紋，使它成為一件希有的珍玩。我把它交給康塞爾，這個小心的孩子腳步很穩，把它拿在手中，像珍貴的中國瓷器一樣，完整地帶到諾第留斯號。
There I put this rare egg inside one of the glass cases in the museum. I ate supper, feasting with appetite on an excellent piece of seal liver whose flavor reminded me of pork. Then I went to bed; but not without praying, like a good Hindu, for the favors of the radiant orb.
到了船上，我把蛋放在陳列室的一個玻璃櫥中。我晚餐吃得很好，吃了一塊海豹肝，味道很美，很像豬肝。然後我回房睡覺，睡的時候，像印度人那樣，祈求太陽的恩惠，要它明天出來。
The next day, March 21, bright and early at five o'clock in the morning, I climbed onto the platform. I found Captain Nemo there.
第二天，3月21日早晨五點，我走上平台，我看見尼摩船長已經在台上，他對我說：
"The weather is clearing a bit," he told me. "I have high hopes. After breakfast we'll make our way ashore and choose an observation post."
“天氣清朗一些，太陽出來很有希望。早餐後，我們到地上去，選擇一個地點，做我們的觀察。”
This issue settled, I went to find Ned Land. I wanted to take him with me. The obstinate Canadian refused, and I could clearly see that his tight-lipped mood and his bad temper were growing by the day. Under the circumstances I ultimately wasn't sorry that he refused. In truth, there were too many seals ashore, and it would never do to expose this impulsive fisherman to such temptations.
這點確定後，我去找尼德-蘭。我想拉他跟我一邁去。固執的加拿大人拒絶了，我很看得出來，他的沉默跟他的壞脾氣一樣，一天一天增加了。本來，他在這種情況下表示固執不願意去，我也並不惋惜。真的，地上海豹大多了，我們下應該拿它們來誘惑這個粗心不思考的打魚人。
Breakfast over, I made my way ashore. The Nautilus had gone a few more miles during the night. It lay well out, a good league from the coast, which was crowned by a sharp peak 400 to 500 meters high. In addition to me, the skiff carried Captain Nemo, two crewmen, and the instruments--in other words, a chronometer, a spyglass, and a barometer.
早餐完了，我就到地上去。諾第留斯號在夜間又向上前進了好幾海里。船正在大海中，距岸整整有一里，岸上有高四百至五百米的尖峰矗立。小艇載了我和尼摩船長，兩個船員，以及儀器，即航海時計、望遠鏡和晴雨表。
During our crossing I saw numerous baleen whales belonging to the three species unique to these southernmost seas: the bowhead whale (or "right whale," according to the English), which has no dorsal fin; the humpback whale from the genus Balaenoptera (in other words, "winged whales"), beasts with wrinkled bellies and huge whitish fins that, genus name regardless, do not yet form wings; and the finback whale, yellowish brown, the swiftest of all cetaceans. This powerful animal is audible from far away when it sends up towering spouts of air and steam that resemble swirls of smoke. Herds of these different mammals were playing about in the tranquil waters, and I could easily see that this Antarctic polar basin now served as a refuge for those cetaceans too relentlessly pursued by hunters.
當我們的船走過的時候，我看見許多鯨魚，它們是屬於南極特有的三種鯨：平直鯨，沒有脊鰭：駝背鯨，吐腹多皺摺，寬大灰白色的緒，儘管它有這樣的名字，隆起的背並不形成為翼；鰭背鯨，黃褐色，最活潑的鯨科動物。這些強大動物發出的聲音遠遠就使人聽到了，它們正把混有氣體的水柱射人高空，好像噴出陣陣的濃煙。這些不同的哺侞類動物在安靜的海水中往來玩耍，我看到，南極海水現在是成為過度受獵人追逐的鯨科動物的避難所了。
I also noted long, whitish strings of salps, a type of mollusk found in clusters, and some jellyfish of large size that swayed in the eddies of the billows.
By nine o'clock we had pulled up to shore. The sky was growing brighter. Clouds were fleeing to the south. Mists were rising from the cold surface of the water. Captain Nemo headed toward the peak, which he no doubt planned to make his observatory. It was an arduous climb over sharp lava and pumice stones in the midst of air often reeking with sulfurous fumes from the smoke holes. For a man out of practice at treading land, the captain scaled the steepest slopes with a supple agility I couldn't equal, and which would have been envied by hunters of Pyrenees mountain goats.
九點，我們靠岸了。天空潔朗起來，濃雲向南飛走，霧也放棄了冰冷的水面。尼摩船長走向一座尖峰，他一定想在這座峰上做他的觀察。我們是在充滿噴火口所發出的流磺氣體的大氣中，沿著尖利的火石和浮石的石層，作艱苦的攀登。船長是一個已經不慣踩踏陸地的人，走上這些最陡峭的斜坡，輕便靈活，不單我不能比，就是追趕羚羊的獵人心中也要欣羡。
It took us two hours to reach the summit of this half-crystal, half-basalt peak. From there our eyes scanned a vast sea, which scrawled its boundary line firmly against the background of the northern sky. At our feet: dazzling tracts of white. Over our heads: a pale azure, clear of mists. North of us: the sun's disk, like a ball of fire already cut into by the edge of the horizon. From the heart of the waters: jets of liquid rising like hundreds of magnificent bouquets. Far off, like a sleeping cetacean: the Nautilus. Behind us to the south and east: an immense shore, a chaotic heap of rocks and ice whose limits we couldn't see.
我們費了兩個鐘頭，才到達這座雲斑岩、玄武岩摻雜的尖峰上面。從上面看，我們的眼光望見一片廣闊的海，海在北面天空中清楚現出它的最後界線來。我們腳下，是眩眼的光輝的白冰場。我們頭上，是從雲霧中現出來的淡白的蔚藍色。在北方，太陽的輪盤像一隻火球一樣，已經被水平綫的鋒刃削開一角了。海水中間，有美麗好看的噴水花束成千成百地放出來。遠遠的所在，是那諾第留斯號，像酣睡着的鯨科動物一樣。在我們後面，東方和南方，有一片廣闊的陸地，是望不見邊際的岩石和冰群的凌亂層台。
Arriving at the summit of this peak, Captain Nemo carefully determined its elevation by means of his barometer, since he had to take this factor into account in his noon sights.
尼摩船長走到峰頂上，拿晴雨表小心測量尖峰的高度，因為在他的觀察中，峰高也要估計在內。
At 11:45 the sun, by then seen only by refraction, looked like a golden disk, dispersing its last rays over this deserted continent and down to these seas not yet plowed by the ships of man.
正午差一刻，單從折光作用看，太陽像金盤一樣現出，它對這從沒有人跡來過的海面，把它的最後光芒散在荒涼無人的大陸上。
Captain Nemo had brought a spyglass with a reticular eyepiece, which corrected the sun's refraction by means of a mirror, and he used it to observe the orb sinking little by little along a very extended diagonal that reached below the horizon. I held the chronometer. My heart was pounding mightily. If the lower half of the sun's disk disappeared just as the chronometer said noon, we were right at the pole.
尼摩船長戴上網形綫望遠鏡，這鏡利用一個鏡面，可以改正折光作用，他觀察那沿著一條拖拉得很長的對角綫，漸漸沉入水平綫下的太陽。我手拿着航海時計。我的心跳得厲害。如果太陽輪盤的一半隱沒的時候，正好是航海時計指着正午，那我們就是在南極點上了。
"Noon!" I called.
“正午！”我喊。
"The South Pole!" Captain Nemo replied in a solemn voice, handing me the spyglass, which showed the orb of day cut into two exactly equal parts by the horizon.
“南極！”尼摩船長用很嚴肅的聲音回答，同時把望遠鏡給我，鏡中顯出的太陽正好在水平線上切成完全相等的兩半。
I stared at the last rays wreathing this peak, while shadows were gradually climbing its gradients.
我注視那照在尖峰頂上的最後陽光和那從尖峰層巒漸次上來的黑影。
Just then, resting his hand on my shoulder, Captain Nemo said to me:
這時候，尼摩船長手扶住我的肩頭，對我說：
"In 1600, sir, the Dutchman Gheritk was swept by storms and currents, reaching latitude 64 degrees south and discovering the South Shetland Islands. On January 17, 1773, the famous Captain Cook went along the 38th meridian, arriving at latitude 67 degrees 30'; and on January 30, 1774, along the 109th meridian, he reached latitude 71 degrees 15'. In 1819 the Russian Bellinghausen lay on the 69th parallel, and in 1821 on the 66th at longitude 111 degrees west. In 1820 the Englishman Bransfield stopped at 65 degrees. That same year the American Morrel, whose reports are dubious, went along the 42nd meridian, finding open sea at latitude 70 degrees 14'. In 1825 the Englishman Powell was unable to get beyond 62 degrees. That same year a humble seal fisherman, the Englishman Weddell, went as far as latitude 72 degrees 14' on the 35th meridian, and as far as 74 degrees 15' on the 36th. In 1829 the Englishman Forster, commander of the Chanticleer, laid claim to the Antarctic continent in latitude 63 degrees 26' and longitude 66 degrees 26'. On February 1, 1831, the Englishman Biscoe discovered Enderby Land at latitude 68 degrees 50', Adelaide Land at latitude 67 degrees on February 5, 1832, and Graham Land at latitude 64 degrees 45' on February 21. In 1838 the Frenchman Dumont d'Urville stopped at the Ice Bank in latitude 62 degrees 57', sighting the Louis-Philippe Peninsula; on January 21 two years later, at a new southerly position of 66 degrees 30', he named the Adélie Coast and eight days later, the Clarie Coast at 64 degrees 40'. In 1838 the American Wilkes advanced as far as the 69th parallel on the 100th meridian. In 1839 the Englishman Balleny discovered the Sabrina Coast at the edge of the polar circle. Lastly, on January 12, 1842, with his ships, the Erebus and the Terror, the Englishman Sir James Clark Ross found Victoria Land in latitude 70 degrees 56' and longitude 171 degrees 7' east; on the 23rd of that same month, he reached the 74th parallel, a position denoting the Farthest South attained until then; on the 27th he lay at 76 degrees 8'; on the 28th at 77 degrees 32'; on February 2 at 78 degrees 4'; and late in 1842 he returned to 71 degrees but couldn't get beyond it. Well now! In 1868, on this 21st day of March, I myself, Captain Nemo, have reached the South Pole at 90 degrees, and I hereby claim this entire part of the globe, equal to one-sixth of the known continents."
“先生，1600年，荷蘭人葉裡克被海浪和風暴所吹送，到了南緯64度，發現南設得蘭群島。1773年1月17日，著名的庫克沿著東經38度，到達南緯67度30分；1774年二月30日，他在西經109度上，到了南緯71度15分。1819年，俄國人伯林哥生到了南緯69度上；1821年，他在西經111度上，到了南緯66度。1820年，英國人布蘭斯非爾在南緯65度上停下來。同年，美國人莫列爾，他的記述不可靠，從西經42度上溯，在緯度70度14分上發現自由流動的海。1825年，英國人包威爾到達南緯62度，不能超過。同年，一個不過是打海豹的漁人，英國人威德爾，在西經35度上，一直上到南緯72度14分，在西經36度上，一直上到南緯74度15分。1829年，英國人福斯脫指揮香特克利號，佔領了南緯63度26分，西經63度26分的南冰洋大陸。1831年2月1日，英國人比斯哥在南緯68度50分發現恩德比地方；1832年2月5日，他在南緯67度發現阿地拉衣地方；2月21日，在南緯64度45分發現格拉罕地方。1833年，法國人杜蒙-居維爾在南緯62度57分的冰山前面停住，交代了路易-菲力浦地方的位置：兩年後，1月21日，到南方的另一尖點，南緯66度30分，他稱為阿德利地方；八天後，到南緯64度40分，他名為克拉利海岸。1838年，英國人威爾克斯在東經100度上前進到南緯69度。1839年，英國人巴連尼在南極圈的邊界上發現了沙布利鄧地方。最後，1842年，英國人詹姆斯-羅斯走上愛列貝斯山和鐵羅爾山，1月12日，在南緯76度56分，東經171度7分發現維多利亞地方；同月23R，他測定南緯74度的方位，這是當時可以達到的最高點了，27日他到達南緯76度8分，28日，到南緯77度32分，2月2日，到南緯78度4分，1842年，他回到他不能越過的南緯71度上來。那麼，現在，我，尼摩船長，1866年3月21日，我在南緯90度上到達了南極點，我佔領了面積等於人所知道的大陸六分之一的這一部分地球上的土地。”
"In the name of which sovereign, captain?"
“船長，您用誰的名字呢？”
"In my own name, sir!"
“先生，我用我的名字！”
So saying, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag bearing a gold "N" on its quartered bunting. Then, turning toward the orb of day, whose last rays were licking at the sea's horizon:
說這話的時候，尼摩船長展開一面黑旗，旗中間有一個金黃的N字。然後，回過身來，他面對著最後光芒正射在大海水平線上的太陽，喊道。
"Farewell, O sun!" he called. "Disappear, O radiant orb! Retire beneath this open sea, and let six months of night spread their shadows over my new domains!"
“再見，太陽！沉下去吧，光輝的金球！你安息在這個自由的海底下吧，讓六個月的長夜把它的陰影遮覆在我的新領土上吧！”