CONSEQUENTLY, above, below, and around the Nautilus, there were impenetrable frozen walls. We were the Ice Bank's prisoners! The Canadian banged a table with his fearsome fist. Conseil kept still. I stared at the captain. His face had resumed its usual emotionlessness. He crossed his arms. He pondered. The Nautilus did not stir.
這樣，諾第留斯號的四周，上面下面，都是不可通過的冰牆。我們是冰山的俘虜了。加拿大人把他的粗大拳頭拍打着桌子。康塞爾沉默不言。我眼盯着船長。他的面容又恢復了平常的冷淡、嚴肅，他兩手交叉着，他心中思考。諾第留斯號不動了。
The captain then broke into speech:
船長於是發言了，他聲音鎮定地說：
"Gentlemen," he said in a calm voice, "there are two ways of dying under the conditions in which we're placed."
“先生們，在我們目前所處的情況下，有兩種死的方式。”
This inexplicable individual acted like a mathematics professor working out a problem for his pupils.
這個神秘人物好像一位數學教員，給他的學生作算術問題的解答。他又說：
"The first way," he went on, "is death by crushing. The second is death by asphyxiation. I don't mention the possibility of death by starvation because the Nautilus's provisions will certainly last longer than we will. Therefore, let's concentrate on our chances of being crushed or asphyxiated."
“第一種死的方式是被壓死。第二種是被悶死。我不說有餓死的可能，因為諾第留斯號儲藏的糧食一定比我們還能耐久一些。因此我們來考慮一下壓死或悶死的可能性“船長，”
"As for asphyxiation, captain," I replied, "that isn't a cause for alarm, because the air tanks are full."
我回答說。”至于悶死那是不用怕的，因為我的儲藏庫有滿滿的空氣。”
"True," Captain Nemo went on, "but they'll supply air for only two days. Now then, we've been buried beneath the waters for thirty-six hours, and the Nautilus's heavy atmosphere already needs renewing. In another forty-eight hours, our reserve air will be used up."
“對，”船長說，“可是這些空氣只能使用兩天，現在我潛入水中已經有三十六小時了，諾第留斯號的重濁空氣經需要調換。到四十八小時，我們儲藏的空氣就用完
"Well then, captain, let's free ourselves within forty-eight hours!"
“那麼，船長，我們想法在四十八小時前脫身就是了。”
"We'll try to at least, by cutting through one of these walls surrounding us."
“至少，我們要想法試一下，把圍住我們的冰牆鑿開。”
"Which one?" I asked.
“從哪一面鑿呢？“我問。
"Borings will tell us that. I'm going to ground the Nautilus on the lower shelf, then my men will put on their diving suits and attack the thinnest of these ice walls."
“那探測器可以使我知道。我把諾第留斯號擱淺在下部冰層，我的船員穿上潛水衣，從冰牆最薄的地方鑿開冰山。”
"Can the panels in the lounge be left open?"
“可以把客廳的嵌板打開來嗎？”
"Without ill effect. We're no longer in motion."
“沒有什麼不可以。船已經不行駛了。”
Captain Nemo went out. Hissing sounds soon told me that water was being admitted into the ballast tanks. The Nautilus slowly settled and rested on the icy bottom at a depth of 350 meters, the depth at which the lower shelf of ice lay submerged.
尼摩船長走了。不久發出哨聲，我知道海水吸入儲水池中。諾第留斯號慢慢下沉，停在三百五十米深的冰底下，這是冰山下部冰層潛入水底的深度。
"My friends," I said, "we're in a serious predicament, but I'm counting on your courage and energy."
“朋友們，”我說，“情形很是嚴重，但我相信你們能拿出你們的勇氣和力量來。”
"Sir," the Canadian replied, "this is no time to bore you with my complaints. I'm ready to do anything I can for the common good."
“先生，”加拿大人回答我，“現在不是拿責罵來惹您討厭的時候。我準備為大家共同的安全犧牲一切。”
"Excellent, Ned," I said, extending my hand to the Canadian.
“好，尼德。”我伸手給加拿大人說。
"I might add," he went on, "that I'm as handy with a pick as a harpoon. If I can be helpful to the captain, he can use me any way he wants."
“我又要說，”他補充說，“我使鐵鍁和使魚叉一樣靈活，如果我可能對船長有用，請他隨便吩咐我吧。”
"He won't turn down your assistance. Come along, Ned."
“他一定不拒絶您的幫助。請跟我來，尼德。”
I led the Canadian to the room where the Nautilus's men were putting on their diving suits. I informed the captain of Ned's proposition, which was promptly accepted. The Canadian got into his underwater costume and was ready as soon as his fellow workers. Each of them carried on his back a Rouquayrol device that the air tanks had supplied with a generous allowance of fresh oxygen. A considerable but necessary drain on the Nautilus's reserves. As for the Ruhmkorff lamps, they were unnecessary in the midst of these brilliant waters saturated with our electric rays.
我帶加拿大人到諾第留斯號的船員穿潛水衣的房子中。我把尼德-蘭的提議告訴船長，船長接受了。加拿大人穿上他的海中衣服，不久就跟他的工作同伴們一樣準備好了。每人背上一個盧格羅爾的空氣箱，由儲藏庫供應了大量的純空氣。對諾第留斯號的空氣儲藏庫來說，這是大量的，然而是必要的支出。至于蘭可夫燈，在這滿是電光的明亮海水中間是沒有用的。
After Ned was dressed, I reentered the lounge, whose windows had been uncovered; stationed next to Conseil, I examined the strata surrounding and supporting the Nautilus.
當尼德裝備好了，我回到客廳，廳中的嵌板都開了，我站在康塞爾旁邊，細看那頂住諾第留斯號的周圍冰層。
Some moments later, we saw a dozen crewmen set foot on the shelf of ice, among them Ned Land, easily recognized by his tall figure. Captain Nemo was with them.
幾分鐘後，我們看見十多個船員下到冰地上，其中有尼德-蘭，由於他的身材高大，很容易認出。尼摩船長跟他門在一起。
Before digging into the ice, the captain had to obtain borings, to insure working in the best direction. Long bores were driven into the side walls; but after fifteen meters, the instruments were still impeded by the thickness of those walls. It was futile to attack the ceiling since that surface was the Ice Bank itself, more than 400 meters high. Captain Nemo then bored into the lower surface. There we were separated from the sea by a ten-meter barrier. That's how thick the iceberg was. From this point on, it was an issue of cutting out a piece equal in surface area to the Nautilus's waterline. This meant detaching about 6,500 cubic meters, to dig a hole through which the ship could descend below this tract of ice.
在進行穿鑿冰牆之前，他讓人先做種種探測，保證工作是向順利方面進行。很長的探測繩放人上下兩面的冰牆。上面到了十五米，仍然被厚冰牆擋住，所以從上層冰板來廠鑿是不成的，因為那就是四百米高的冰山本身。尼摩船長於是使人探測下部冰層的厚度。下部有十米厚的冰板把我們跟海水隔開。就是這片冰場有十米厚。自後就是要把冰場鑿開一片，大小等於諾第留斯號從浮標線上來計算的面積。要鑿開這麼一個大孔，我們可以從這孔下到這冰地的下面去，那大約需挖掘六千五百立方米的冰。
Work began immediately and was carried on with tireless tenacity. Instead of digging all around the Nautilus, which would have entailed even greater difficulties, Captain Nemo had an immense trench outlined on the ice, eight meters from our port quarter. Then his men simultaneously staked it off at several points around its circumference. Soon their picks were vigorously attacking this compact matter, and huge chunks were loosened from its mass. These chunks weighed less than the water, and by an unusual effect of specific gravity, each chunk took wing, as it were, to the roof of the tunnel, which thickened above by as much as it diminished below. But this hardly mattered so long as the lower surface kept growing thinner.
工作立即開始，以十分堅持的頑強力氣來進行。不是在諾第留斯號周圍挖掘，這樣可能帶來更大的困難，尼摩船長是另外在距船左舷八米遠的地方畫了一個巨大的圓圈他的人員就在這圓圈的周圍數處同時挖掘，不久，鐵鍁很有勁的打進了堅硬的冰，一塊一塊的冰從冰場鑿開來。由於體重的新奇作用，這些冰塊沒有水重，它們於是飛跑到冰們頂上去了，這樣一來，下面是減薄，上面就增厚了。但沒關係，下層的冰總是削薄了。
After two hours of energetic work, Ned Land reentered, exhausted. He and his companions were replaced by new workmen, including Conseil and me. The Nautilus's chief officer supervised us.
經過兩小時的努力工作，尼德-蘭疲倦不堪地回來。他的同伴們和他，由別的人員替代，康塞爾和我，我們這次也加入。諾第留斯號的船副來指導我們。
The water struck me as unusually cold, but I warmed up promptly while wielding my pick. My movements were quite free, although they were executed under a pressure of thirty atmospheres.
我覺得海水特別冷，但我揮動鐵鍁，不久就暖和了。我的動作雖然在三十度氣壓下面進行，但是很輕鬆自在。
After two hours of work, reentering to snatch some food and rest, I found a noticeable difference between the clean elastic fluid supplied me by the Rouquayrol device and the Nautilus's atmosphere, which was already charged with carbon dioxide. The air hadn't been renewed in forty-eight hours, and its life-giving qualities were considerably weakened. Meanwhile, after twelve hours had gone by, we had removed from the outlined surface area a slice of ice only one meter thick, hence about 600 cubic meters. Assuming the same work would be accomplished every twelve hours, it would still take five nights and four days to see the undertaking through to completion.
當我工作了兩小時，回來吃點東西，休息一會兒的時候，我覺得盧格羅爾氣箱供應我的純潔空氣，跟已經很多碳酸氣的諾第留斯號船中的大氣，很為不同。空氣自四十八小時來沒有調換，它的刺激興奮力量已經很薄弱。可是，過了十二小時，我們在畫出的冰面上，只挖去了厚一米的冰，就是約六百立方米的冰。假定每十二小時可以做同樣工作，把這個工作好好的完成，還要五夜和四天的工夫。
"Five nights and four days!" I told my companions. "And we have oxygen in the air tanks for only two days."
“五夜和四天的工夫！”我對我的同伴們說，“但在儲藏庫中我們只有夠用兩天的空””
"Without taking into account," Ned answered, "that once we're out of this damned prison, we'll still be cooped up beneath the Ice Bank, without any possible contact with the open air!"
“並且，”尼德。蘭回答，“又沒有算上我們脫離了這座魔鬼監牢後，我們可能還要被禁在冰山下，仍不能立即跟上面的大氣相交通！”
An apt remark. For who could predict the minimum time we would need to free ourselves? Before the Nautilus could return to the surface of the waves, couldn't we all die of asphyxiation? Were this ship and everyone on board doomed to perish in this tomb of ice? It was a dreadful state of affairs. But we faced it head-on, each one of us determined to do his duty to the end.
這是正確的想法。那時誰能預料我們得救所需要的最小限度的時間是多少呢？在諾第留斯號可能回到水面之前，缺乏氧氣不是就把我們窒息死了嗎？難道這船是連同它載上的所有的人都注定死在這冰的墳墓中嗎？看來情形十分可怕。但人人都正視它，人人都決心盡各人的責任，堅持到底。
During the night, in line with my forecasts, a new one-meter slice was removed from this immense socket. But in the morning, wearing my diving suit, I was crossing through the liquid mass in a temperature of -6 degrees to -7 degrees centigrade, when I noted that little by little the side walls were closing in on each other. The liquid strata farthest from the trench, not warmed by the movements of workmen and tools, were showing a tendency to solidify. In the face of this imminent new danger, what would happen to our chances for salvation, and how could we prevent this liquid medium from solidifying, then cracking the Nautilus's hull like glass?
照我的預見，在夜間，又有一片一米厚的冰從這巨大的圓圈中挖去。但是，到了早晨，當我穿上了潛水衣，在零下六、七度溫度下，走過海水時，我看到旁邊的冰牆漸漸地連接起來了。在水坑中遠一點的水，因為人的勞力和工具的作用不能使它溫熱，現出要凍結的情勢。面前發生了這個新的危險，我們得救的機會將是怎樣呢？這種海水中間的凍結作用，可能把諾第留斯號的船殻像玻璃一樣壓碎，怎樣加以防止呢？
I didn't tell my two companions about this new danger. There was no point in dampening the energy they were putting into our arduous rescue work. But when I returned on board, I mentioned this serious complication to Captain Nemo.
我並不讓我的兩個同伴知道這個危險，以免他們做這種辛苦救護工作的勇氣受到打擊。不過，當我回到船上的時候，我向尼摩船長提出，要他注意這種嚴重的複雜情形。
"I know," he told me in that calm tone the most dreadful outlook couldn't change. "It's one more danger, but I don't know any way of warding it off. Our sole chance for salvation is to work faster than the water solidifies. We've got to get there first, that's all."
“我知道這事，”他對我說，他總是這樣，最可怕的意外也不能更改他的鎮定，“這是多加了一個危險，我看不見有什麼方法可以躲過。我們得救的唯一機會，就是我們的工作比凍結作用進行得更快。問題在於誰先搶在前面。”
Get there first! By then I should have been used to this type of talk!
搶在前面！我早就應該習慣于這種說法了！
For several hours that day, I wielded my pick doggedly. The work kept me going. Besides, working meant leaving the Nautilus, which meant breathing the clean oxygen drawn from the air tanks and supplied by our equipment, which meant leaving the thin, foul air behind.
這一天，在好幾個鐘頭內，我堅持頑強地揮動鐵鍁。這工作支持和鼓勵我。並且，工作就等於離開諾第留斯號，也就是直接呼吸那現在是從儲藏庫取來的、由空氣箱供應的純潔空氣，就是離開那貧乏和惡濁的船上空氣。
Near evening one more meter had been dug from the trench. When I returned on board, I was wellnigh asphyxiated by the carbon dioxide saturating the air. Oh, if only we had the chemical methods that would enable us to drive out this noxious gas! There was no lack of oxygen. All this water contained a considerable amount, and after it was decomposed by our powerful batteries, this life-giving elastic fluid could have been restored to us. I had thought it all out, but to no avail because the carbon dioxide produced by our breathing permeated every part of the ship. To absorb it, we would need to fill containers with potassium hydroxide and shake them continually. But this substance was missing on board and nothing else could replace it.
到了晚上，坑又挖去了一米。當我回到船上時，我吸了空氣中飽和的碳酸氣，差不多窒息了。啊！我們為什麼沒有方法來消除這種有害的氣體呢！我們並不缺乏氧。這海水中含有大量的氧，我們的強力電池可以把它分解出來，它可能給我們把那興奮刺激人的氣體回覆了原來狀態。我想過這事，但有利：麼用處，因為，由我們呼吸產生的碳酸氣已經侵入船上各部分了。吸收碳酸氣，要把氯化鉀放在排氣管中，不停地搖動玻璃管。可是船上缺乏氯化鉀，沒有別的物質可以替代。
That evening Captain Nemo was forced to open the spigots of his air tanks and shoot a few spouts of fresh oxygen through the Nautilus's interior. Without this precaution we wouldn't have awakened the following morning.
這一晚上，尼摩船長必須打開儲藏庫的龍頭，放出數陣純潔空氣到諾第留斯號內部。沒有這種措施，也許我們早上就不能醒來。
The next day, March 26, I returned to my miner's trade, working to remove the fifth meter. The Ice Bank's side walls and underbelly had visibly thickened. Obviously they would come together before the Nautilus could break free. For an instant I was gripped by despair. My pick nearly slipped from my hands. What was the point of this digging if I was to die smothered and crushed by this water turning to stone, a torture undreamed of by even the wildest savages! I felt like I was lying in the jaws of a fearsome monster, jaws irresistibly closing.
第二夭，8月26日，我又做礦工的工作，要把第五米的冰挖出來。冰山的兩側和底層顯然加厚了。很顯然，這些冰塊在諾第留斯號可能脫身之前，都要凝結起來。我一時感到絶望。我的鐵鍁差不多要從我手中掉下來了。挖有什麼用處，既然我要被窒息死，被這變為石頭的水所壓扁，就是野蠻人的殘酷也沒有發明出這樣的一種酷刑。好像我是夾在一個怪物的牙床裡面，無法抵抗，逐漸收緊在利齒中了。
Supervising our work, working himself, Captain Nemo passed near me just then. I touched him with my hand and pointed to the walls of our prison. The starboard wall had moved forward to a point less than four meters from the Nautilus's hull.
這時候，尼摩船長指揮工作，他自己也工作，從我身邊走過。我手挨他，把我們冰監牢的牆壁指給他看。船右舷的冰牆挨近諾第留斯號的船身不及四米了。
The captain understood and gave me a signal to follow him. We returned on board. My diving suit removed, I went with him to the lounge.
船長明白我的意思，做個手勢，要我跟着他走。我們回到船上。我的潛水衣脫下後，我隨他到客廳中。
"Professor Aronnax," he told me, "this calls for heroic measures, or we'll be sealed up in this solidified water as if it were cement."
“阿龍納斯先生，”他對我說，“我們要使用些特殊奇妙的方法，不然的話，我們就要被封在這凝固的冰中，像被封在洋灰中那樣。”
"Yes!" I said. "But what can we do?"
“對！”我說，“但怎麼辦呢？”
"Oh," he exclaimed, "if only my Nautilus were strong enough to stand that much pressure without being crushed!"
“啊！”他喊道，“我的諾第留斯號是不是有足夠力量，可以支持這種壓力，不至被壓扁呢？”
"Well?" I asked, not catching the captain's meaning.
“那麼將怎樣呢？”我問。我不明白船長的意思。
"Don't you understand," he went on, "that the congealing of this water could come to our rescue? Don't you see that by solidifying, it could burst these tracts of ice imprisoning us, just as its freezing can burst the hardest stones? Aren't you aware that this force could be the instrument of our salvation rather than our destruction?"
“您不明白這水的凍結作用可以幫助我們！您沒有看見因為水的凝固，它可以炸開那困住我們的冰場，就像它在冰凍的時候，它可以炸開最堅硬的石頭那樣！您沒有覺得它並不是毀滅人的力量，而是拯救人的力量！”
"Yes, captain, maybe so. But whatever resistance to crushing the Nautilus may have, it still couldn't stand such dreadful pressures, and it would be squashed as flat as a piece of sheet iron."
“對，船長，或者是這樣。但是，不管諾第留斯號有怎樣的抵抗力，它不可能支持那種大得怕人的壓力，”它要被壓扁，像一片鋼葉了。”
"I know it, sir. So we can't rely on nature to rescue us, only our own efforts. We must counteract this solidification. We must hold it in check. Not only are the side walls closing in, but there aren't ten feet of water ahead or astern of the Nautilus. All around us, this freeze is gaining fast."
“先生，我知道這點。那麼，我們不能指望大自然的幫助，要完全依靠我們自己了。那就得反抗這種凝固作用，就得消除它。不單是兩側的冰壁愈來愈緊了，而且諾第留斯號的前頭或後面也沒有剩下十英呎水了。凝固作用是從各方面向我們進攻了。”
"How long," I asked, "will the oxygen in the air tanks enable us to breathe on board?"
“儲藏庫中的空氣，可以我們在船上呼吸多少時候？”
The captain looked me straight in the eye.
我問船長跟我面面相覷地說
"After tomorrow," he said, "the air tanks will be empty!"
“後天，儲藏庫就空了！”
I broke out in a cold sweat. But why should I have been startled by this reply? On March 22 the Nautilus had dived under the open waters at the pole. It was now the 26th. We had lived off the ship's stores for five days! And all remaining breathable air had to be saved for the workmen. Even today as I write these lines, my sensations are so intense that an involuntary terror sweeps over me, and my lungs still seem short of air!
我出了一身冷汗。不過，對他的回答我還用得着詫異嗎？3月22日，諾第留斯號潛入南極流暢的水底下。今天是260，五天以來，我們生活的空氣就完全依靠船上的儲藏了！而這留下可以呼吸的空氣又要保留給工作人員。就是我現在寫這些事件的時候，我的印象還是十分深刻，我全身發生一種自然而然的恐怖，好像我的肺葉中是沒有空氣了！
Meanwhile, motionless and silent, Captain Nemo stood lost in thought. An idea visibly crossed his mind. But he seemed to brush it aside. He told himself no. At last these words escaped his lips:
可是，尼摩船長在那裡思考，一言不發，站着不動。顯然是他心中有了一個主意。但他好像又不接受。他自己給了否定的答覆。後來，他嘴裡說出這話來，他低聲說：
"Boiling water!" he muttered.
“開水”
"Boiling water?" I exclaimed.
“開水？”我問。
"Yes, sir. We're shut up in a relatively confined area. If the Nautilus's pumps continually injected streams of boiling water into this space, wouldn't that raise its temperature and delay its freezing?"
“是的，先生。我們是被關在一個相當窄的空間裡面。開水噴射，不斷從諾第留斯號的怞水機放出來，不是可以提高這空間的溫度，延緩水的凍結嗎？”
"It's worth trying!" I said resolutely.
“這要試一試。”我堅定他說。
"So let's try it, professor."
“我們要試一試，教授。”
By then the thermometer gave -7 degrees centigrade outside. Captain Nemo led me to the galley where a huge distilling mechanism was at work, supplying drinking water via evaporation. The mechanism was loaded with water, and the full electric heat of our batteries was thrown into coils awash in liquid. In a few minutes the water reached 100 degrees centigrade. It was sent to the pumps while new water replaced it in the process. The heat generated by our batteries was so intense that after simply going through the mechanism, water drawn cold from the sea arrived boiling hot at the body of the pump.
那時在外面的溫度表指着零下七度。尼摩船長領我到廚房中，那裡有許多複雜的蒸餾器，由蒸發作用供應我們可以喝的開水。機器裝滿了水，電池所有的電熱都投到浸在水中的螺旋管中去。幾分鐘後，這水就達到沸點。把開水送入怞氣機中，同時就有冷水進來，補充流出去的開水。電池發出的熱力達到很高的程度，從海中吸進的涼水，單單經過機器，一到怞氣機中就滾開了。
The steaming water was injected into the icy water outside, and after three hours had passed, the thermometer gave the exterior temperature as -6 degrees centigrade. That was one degree gained. Two hours later the thermometer gave only -4 degrees.
開水的放射開始，三小時後，在外面的溫度表指着零下六度；溫度提高一度。兩小時後，溫度表只指在零下四度了。
After I monitored the operation's progress, double-checking it with many inspections, I told the captain, "It's working."
我看了這種工作的進展，同時從許多地方加以檢查，我對船長說：“我們一定可以成功。”
"I think so," he answered me. "We've escaped being crushed. Now we have only asphyxiation to fear."
“我想可以成功，”船長回答我說，“我們不至被壓扁了。我們所怕的只有被窒息了。”
During the night the water temperature rose to -1 degrees centigrade. The injections couldn't get it to go a single degree higher. But since salt water freezes only at -2 degrees, I was finally assured that there was no danger of it solidifying.
在夜間，水的溫度又提高了一度。開水的放射力量不能使溫度再提高了。可是海水的冰凍作用要再下兩度才能發生，因此我們得到保證，不至有凝固的危險了。
By the next day, March 27, six meters of ice had been torn from the socket. Only four meters were left to be removed. That still meant forty-eight hours of work. The air couldn't be renewed in the Nautilus's interior. Accordingly, that day it kept getting worse.
第二天，3月27日，六米厚的冰從這冰窩中挖去了。還剩下四米厚的冰需要挖去。還要四十八小時的工作。在諾第留斯號內部，空氣不可能調換。因此這一天的情形是更壞了。
An unbearable heaviness weighed me down. Near three o'clock in the afternoon, this agonizing sensation affected me to an intense degree. Yawns dislocated my jaws. My lungs were gasping in their quest for that enkindling elastic fluid required for breathing, now growing scarcer and scarcer. My mind was in a daze. I lay outstretched, strength gone, nearly unconscious. My gallant Conseil felt the same symptoms, suffered the same sufferings, yet never left my side. He held my hand, he kept encouraging me, and I even heard him mutter:
一種不可忍受的重濁空氣使我難過。下午三點左右，這種痛苦感覺到了猛烈的程度。呵欠喘氣把我的上下鄂都弄歪了。我的肺葉迫切尋求有活力的氧，“白是呼吸所必不可少的東西，現在愈來愈稀薄了。我的精神完全在昏沉沉的狀態中。我沒有氣力地躺下來，差不多失去了知覺。我的忠實的康塞爾有了同樣的病徵，受着同樣的苦府，他在我身邊，再不離開我。他拉著我的手，他鼓勵我，我還聽到他低聲說：
"Oh, if only I didn't have to breathe, to leave more air for master!"
“啊！如果我可以不呼吸，讓先生可以多有些空氣！”
It brought tears to my eyes to hear him say these words.
我聽到他說這話，不覺眼中滿是淚水。
Since conditions inside were universally unbearable, how eagerly, how happily, we put on our diving suits to take our turns working! Picks rang out on that bed of ice. Arms grew weary, hands were rubbed raw, but who cared about exhaustion, what difference were wounds? Life-sustaining air reached our lungs! We could breathe! We could breathe!
對我們全體來說，我們在船上都覺得難受，所以輪到自己挖冰的時候，人人都很迅速地、很高興地穿上潛水衣，立即出去工作！鐵鍁在冰層上通通作響。胳膊累了，手弄破了，但這些疲倦算什麼，這些傷口有什麼要緊！總算有新鮮空氣到肺中了！人們總可以呼吸了！人們總可以呼吸了！
And yet nobody prolonged his underwater work beyond the time allotted him. His shift over, each man surrendered to a gasping companion the air tank that would revive him. Captain Nemo set the example and was foremost in submitting to this strict discipline. When his time was up, he yielded his equipment to another and reentered the foul air on board, always calm, unflinching, and uncomplaining.
可是，沒有誰超出指定的時間，延長自己在水下的工作。備人工作完了，各人就將有氧氣放出來的氣箱交給自己的同伴。尼摩船長自己先做個榜樣，他第一個遵守這種嚴格的紀律。時間到了，他把他的氣箱給另一個人，回到船上有害的大氣中，他老是那麼鎮定，一點不示弱，不發一句怨言。
That day the usual work was accomplished with even greater energy. Over the whole surface area, only two meters were left to be removed. Only two meters separated us from the open sea. But the ship's air tanks were nearly empty. The little air that remained had to be saved for the workmen. Not an atom for the Nautilus!
這一天，一定的工作經常是更有力地完成了。在整個面積上，只剩下兩米的冰要挖去。把我們跟自由海水分開的，只有兩米的冰了。可是儲藏庫差不多空了。剩下的一些空氣只能保留給工作人員使用。一點也不能繪諾第留斯號！
When I returned on board, I felt half suffocated. What a night! I'm unable to depict it. Such sufferings are indescribable. The next day I was short-winded. Headaches and staggering fits of dizziness made me reel like a drunk. My companions were experiencing the same symptoms. Some crewmen were at their last gasp.
當我回到船上的時候，我是半窒息了。多麼難過的夜！我簡直不能加以描寫。這樣的一類痛苦是木可能寫出來的。第二天，我的呼吸阻塞不通。頭腦疼痛又加上昏沉發暈，使我成為一個醉人。我的同伴們也感到同樣的難受。有些船員已經呼吸急促，正在發喘了。
That day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo concluded that picks and mattocks were too slow to deal with the ice layer still separating us from open water--and he decided to crush this layer. The man had kept his energy and composure. He had subdued physical pain with moral strength. He could still think, plan, and act.
這一天，我們的監牢剩下第六層的最後一米冰，尼摩船長覺得鐵鍁挖得大慢，決定用高壓力來衝開那個把我們和底下水面分開的冰層。這個人仍然保持他原有的冷靜和精力。他拿他的精神力量抑制他的肉體痛苦。他思想，他計劃，他執行。
At his orders the craft was eased off, in other words, it was raised from its icy bed by a change in its specific gravity. When it was afloat, the crew towed it, leading it right above the immense trench outlined to match the ship's waterline. Next the ballast tanks filled with water, the boat sank, and was fitted into its socket.
按照他的指示，船減輕了份量，就是說，由於重力的變化，它從冰凍的一層浮起來。當它浮起來的時候，人們就想法把它拖到照它的浮標線所畫出的寬大的坑上。然後，讓它的儲水池裝滿了水，它降下，裝在坑裡。
Just then the whole crew returned on board, and the double outside door was closed. By this point the Nautilus was resting on a bed of ice only one meter thick and drilled by bores in a thousand places.
這時候，所有的船員都回到船上來，跟外間交通的兩重門都緊閉起。諾第留斯號這時是躺在冰層上，這冰層只有一米厚，並且有千百處被探測器鑽通。
The stopcocks of the ballast tanks were then opened wide, and 100 cubic meters of water rushed in, increasing the Nautilus's weight by 100,000 kilograms.
儲水池的龍頭於是完全打開來，一百立方米的水都流進去，把諾第留斯號的重量增加了十萬公廳。
We waited, we listened, we forgot our sufferings, we hoped once more. We had staked our salvation on this one last gamble.
我們等着，我們聽著，忘記了我們的痛苦，仍然抱著希望。我們好像賭博，得救與否，完全看這最後一着了。
Despite the buzzing in my head, I soon could hear vibrations under the Nautilus's hull. We tilted. The ice cracked with an odd ripping sound, like paper tearing, and the Nautilus began settling downward.
不管我腦子中嗡嗡作響，昏舌、不清，但不久我聽到諾第留斯號船身下顫抖了。下陷的作用發生了。冰層破裂，發出新奇的聲響，像撕紙的聲音一樣，諾第留斯號漸漸沉下去。
"We're going through!" Conseil muttered in my ear.
“我們穿過去了！”康塞爾在我耳邊低聲說。
I couldn't answer him. I clutched his hand. I squeezed it in an involuntary convulsion.
我不能回答他。我抓着他的手。我完全不由自主地怞搐，緊緊握住他的手。
All at once, carried away by its frightful excess load, the Nautilus sank into the waters like a cannonball, in other words, dropping as if in a vacuum!
突然間，諾第留斯號被它的過分重量所帶走，像一顆炮彈沉入水中，就是說，它掉下去，像它在真空中儘可能快地掉下去那樣！
Our full electric power was then put on the pumps, which instantly began to expel water from the ballast tanks. After a few minutes we had checked our fall. The pressure gauge soon indicated an ascending movement. Brought to full speed, the propeller made the sheet-iron hull tremble down to its rivets, and we sped northward.
於是把所有的電力都送到怞水機上，怞水機立即把儲水池中的水排出。幾分鐘後，我們的下降停止。並且不久，壓力表就指出船是在上升。推進器全速開行，船身鋼板發生震動，一直在螺絲釘上都感到，它帶我們向北方駛去。
But how long would it take to navigate under the Ice Bank to the open sea? Another day? I would be dead first!
但是，現在從冰山下到自由海的航行，要延長多少時候呢，還要一天嗎？如果是這樣的話，那我仍不免要死在前頭了！
Half lying on a couch in the library, I was suffocating. My face was purple, my lips blue, my faculties in abeyance. I could no longer see or hear. I had lost all sense of time. My muscles had no power to contract.
我半身躺在圖書室的長沙發椅上，我不能出氣了。我的臉孔發紫，我的雙唇變藍，我身體器官失靈。我看不見，我聽不到。時間的概念在我心中消減了。我的肌肉不能伸縮了。
I'm unable to estimate the hours that passed in this way. But I was aware that my death throes had begun. I realized that I was about to die . . .
這樣度過的時間，我不可能估量。但我意識到我臨死的痛苦開始了。我明白我是快要死了……
Suddenly I regained consciousness. A few whiffs of air had entered my lungs. Had we risen to the surface of the waves? Had we cleared the Ice Bank?
忽然我甦醒過來。幾口空氣吹入我的肺中。我們是回升到了水面嗎？我們是越過冰山了嗎？
No! Ned and Conseil, my two gallant friends, were sacrificing themselves to save me. A few atoms of air were still left in the depths of one Rouquayrol device. Instead of breathing it themselves, they had saved it for me, and while they were suffocating, they poured life into me drop by drop! I tried to push the device away. They held my hands, and for a few moments I could breathe luxuriously.
不是！那是尼德-蘭和康塞爾，我的兩個忠實朋友，他們犧牲自己來救我。還有些空氣留在一個氣箱裡面；他們不呼吸它，他們給我保存起來，當他們窒總的時候，他們把一點一滴的生命送給我！我要把氣箱推開；他們扯住我的手，於是我很快意地呼吸了一會兒空氣。
My eyes flew toward the clock. It was eleven in the morning. It had to be March 28. The Nautilus was traveling at the frightful speed of forty miles per hour. It was writhing in the waters.
我的眼光向大鐘看去，正是早上十一點。這天應當是8月28日。諾第留斯號以每小時四十海里的驚人速度行駛。它簡直是在水中作痛苦的掙紮了。
Where was Captain Nemo? Had he perished? Had his companions died with him?
尼摩船長在哪裡？他喪失了生命嗎？他的同伴們跟他同時犧牲了嗎？
Just then the pressure gauge indicated we were no more than twenty feet from the surface. Separating us from the open air was a mere tract of ice. Could we break through it?
這時候，壓力表指出，我們距水面只有二十英呎。單單有一座冰場把我們跟大氣分開。我們不可以衝開它嗎？
Perhaps! In any event the Nautilus was going to try. In fact, I could feel it assuming an oblique position, lowering its stern and raising its spur. The admission of additional water was enough to shift its balance. Then, driven by its powerful propeller, it attacked this ice field from below like a fearsome battering ram. It split the barrier little by little, backing up, then putting on full speed against the punctured tract of ice; and finally, carried away by its supreme momentum, it lunged through and onto this frozen surface, crushing the ice beneath its weight.
總之，諾第留斯號去做這種工作了。是的，我感到它採取傾斜的方位，把後部下降，將前面的沖角挺起來。水裝進去，就足以使它不平衡。然後，由於它的強力推進器的推動，它從冰場下面，像一架強大的攻城機衝上去。“它先把冰場漸漸撞開，然後退下來，再用全速力向裂開的冰場衝去，最後，它被極大的衝擊力帶走，它跳上了受它的體重所憧碎的冰面。
The hatches were opened--or torn off, if you prefer--and waves of clean air were admitted into every part of the Nautilus.
嵌板是打開了，可以說是拔開了，純潔空氣像潮水一般湧人諾第留斯號船上所有各部分來了。