就在当天，我把这次谈话的一部分告诉了康塞尔和尼德-兰，这使他们立即发生兴趣。当我让他们知道，两天时我们就要进入地中海的时候，康塞尔高兴得拍手，尼德-兰耸一耸肩，喊道：
THE SAME DAY, I reported to Conseil and Ned Land that part of the foregoing conversation directly concerning them. When I told them we would be lying in Mediterranean waters within two days, Conseil clapped his hands, but the Canadian shrugged his shoulders.
“1条海底地道！一条两海之间的通路！谁曾听说过呢？”
"An underwater tunnel!" he exclaimed. "A connection between two seas! Who ever heard of such malarkey!"
“尼德好朋友，”康塞尔回答，“您曾听说过诺第留斯号吗？没有，可是它是存在的。所以，就是轻轻的耸肩也用不着，不要以为您从没有听说过，您就来反对说没有了。”
"Ned my friend," Conseil replied, "had you ever heard of the Nautilus? No, yet here it is! So don't shrug your shoulders so blithely, and don't discount something with the feeble excuse that you've never heard of it."
尼德-兰摇摇头，立即答道：“我们瞧着吧！我巴不得相信有这条地道，相信这位船长，并且愿苍天让他把我们带到地中海。”
"We'll soon see!" Ned Land shot back, shaking his head. "After all, I'd like nothing better than to believe in your captain's little passageway, and may Heaven grant it really does take us to the Mediterranean."
当天晚上，在纬度21度30分，诺第留斯号浮在水面上，挨近阿拉伯海岸。我望见奇达，这是埃及、叙利亚、土耳淇和印度之间的重要市场。
The same evening, at latitude 21 degrees 30' north, the Nautilus was afloat on the surface of the sea and drawing nearer to the Arab coast. I spotted Jidda, an important financial center for Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and the East Indies. I could distinguish with reasonable clarity the overall effect of its buildings, the ships made fast along its wharves, and those bigger vessels whose draft of water required them to drop anchor at the port's offshore mooring. The sun, fairly low on the horizon, struck full force on the houses in this town, accenting their whiteness. Outside the city limits, some wood or reed huts indicated the quarter where the bedouins lived.
不久，奇达在晚间的陰影中看不见了，诺第留斯号潜入微带磷光的海水中。
Soon Jidda faded into the shadows of evening, and the Nautilus went back beneath the mildly phosphorescent waters.
第二天，2月10日，出现好几只船，向着我们开来。诺第留斯号又潜入水中航行，中午，在地图上记录船的方位时候，海面上什么也没有，它于是又浮上来，一直露出浮标线。
The next day, February 10, several ships appeared, running on our opposite tack. The Nautilus resumed its underwater navigating; but at the moment of our noon sights, the sea was deserted and the ship rose again to its waterline.
我坐在平台上，有尼德-兰和康塞尔陪着。东岸好像有一大块东西，在湿雾中隐约显现。
With Ned and Conseil, I went to sit on the platform. The coast to the east looked like a slightly blurred mass in a damp fog.
我们靠在小艇侧面，大家随便地说东道西，正谈的时候，尼德-兰伸手指着海上的一点，对我说：
Leaning against the sides of the skiff, we were chatting of one thing and another, when Ned Land stretched his hand toward a point in the water, saying to me:
“教授，您看见那边的东西吗？”
"See anything out there, professor?"
“没有，尼德，”我回答，“我的眼睛不好，您是知道的。”
"No, Ned," I replied, "but you know I don't have your eyes."
“好好地看一下，”尼德-兰又说，“那右舷前头，差不多在探照灯的同一直线上！您看不见那块好像动的东西吗？”
"Take a good look," Ned went on. "There, ahead to starboard, almost level with the beacon! Don't you see a mass that seems to be moving around?"
“是的，”我仔细地看一下说，“我望见水面上有一个灰黑色的长东西。”
"Right," I said after observing carefully, "I can make out something like a long, blackish object on the surface of the water."
“是另一只诺第留斯号吗？”康塞尔说。
"A second Nautilus?" Conseil said.
“不是，”加拿大人说，“或者我弄错了，或者那是一只海牛动物。”
"No," the Canadian replied, "unless I'm badly mistaken, that's some marine animal."
“红海中有鲸鱼吗？”康塞尔问。
"Are there whales in the Red Sea?" Conseil asked.
“有的，老实人，”我回答，“人们有时碰得见呢。”
"Yes, my boy," I replied, "they're sometimes found here."
“那不是鲸鱼，“尼德-兰回答，同时目不转晴地盯住那东西，“鲸鱼和我，我们是老相识，它们的形状我决不至弄错。”
"That's no whale," continued Ned Land, whose eyes never strayed from the object they had sighted. "We're old chums, whales and I, and I couldn't mistake their little ways."
”我们等着吧，”康塞尔说，“诺第留斯号向那边驶去了，一会我们就可以知道那是刊-么东西。”
"Let's wait and see," Conseil said. "The Nautilus is heading that direction, and we'll soon know what we're in for."
正是，这灰黑的物体不久离我们只有一海里远了。它很像搁浅在海中间的大礁。是什么呢？我还不能说出来。
In fact, that blackish object was soon only a mile away from us. It looked like a huge reef stranded in midocean. What was it? I still couldn't make up my mind.
“啊！它走动了！它潜入水中了，”尼德-兰喊道，“真奇怪！可能是什么动物呢？它没有跟鲸鱼或大头鲸一样的分开来的尾巴，它的鳍好像是切断的手足那样。”
"Oh, it's moving off! It's diving!" Ned Land exclaimed. "Damnation! What can that animal be? It doesn't have a forked tail like baleen whales or sperm whales, and its fins look like sawed-off limbs."
“那么是……”我说。
"But in that case--" I put in.
“好吗，”加拿大人立即又说，“它朝天翻过来了，它把奶头挺起在空中了！”
"Good lord," the Canadian went on, "it's rolled over on its back, and it's raising its breasts in the air!"
“那是人鱼！”康塞尔喊道，“是真正的人鱼，请先生原谅我这样说。”
"It's a siren!" Conseil exclaimed. "With all due respect to master, it's an actual mermaid!"
人鱼这个名字使我摸到了们路，我明白了这个动物是。 属于这一目的海中动物，就是神话中当它是鱼美人的人鱼水怪。
That word "siren" put me back on track, and I realized that the animal belonged to the order Sirenia: marine creatures that legends have turned into mermaids, half woman, half fish.
“不，我对康塞尔说，“这不是人鱼，是一只奇怪的动物，在红海中并不见得有多少。这是海马。”
"No," I told Conseil, "that's no mermaid, it's an unusual creature of which only a few specimens are left in the Red Sea. That's a dugong."
“人鱼目，鱼形类，单官哺侞亚纲，哺侞纲，脊椎动物门。”康塞尔回答。
"Order Sirenia, group Pisciforma, subclass Monodelphia, class Mammalia, branch Vertebrata," Conseil replied.
康奏尔这样说过后，那就没有什么可以说的了。
And when Conseil has spoken, there's nothing else to be said.
可是尼德-兰老是注视着。他的眼睛看见这东西，闪出要把它捉到手的贪婪光芒。他的手像是要去叉它。看他的样子，真是让人要说，他是等待时机，跃人海中，到水里面去攻打它。
Meanwhile Ned Land kept staring. His eyes were gleaming with desire at the sight of that animal. His hands were ready to hurl a harpoon. You would have thought he was waiting for the right moment to jump overboard and attack the creature in its own element.
“呵！先生，”他情绪激动，声音发抖地说，“我从没有打到过这种东西。”
"Oh, sir," he told me in a voice trembling with excitement, "I've never killed anything like that!"
鱼叉手的全部心意都表现在这一句话里面。
His whole being was concentrated in this last word.
这时候，尼摩船长在平台上出现。他望见了海马。他朋白了加拿大人的姿态，立即对鱼叉手说：
Just then Captain Nemo appeared on the platform. He spotted the dugong. He understood the Canadian's frame of mind and addressed him directly:
“兰师傅，您要是手拿鱼又，一定会手痒得难过，要试一下吗？”
"If you held a harpoon, Mr. Land, wouldn't your hands be itching to put it to work?"
“您说得正对，先生。”
"Positively, sir."
“将来您再躁叉鱼这一行的时候，把这只鲸科动物加在您曾经打过的鲸鱼账上，您不会不高兴吧？”
"And just for one day, would it displease you to return to your fisherman's trade and add this cetacean to the list of those you've already hunted down?"
“这样我决不会不高兴。”
"It wouldn't displease me one bit."
“那么您可以试一试。”
"All right, you can try your luck!"
“谢谢您，先生。”尼德-兰回答，眼睛亮起来了。
"Thank you, sir," Ned Land replied, his eyes ablaze.
“不过，”船长立即又说，“我请您不要放走这东西，这列。 您有利呢。”
"Only," the captain went on, "I urge you to aim carefully at this animal, in your own personal interest."
“打这海马有危险吗。”我问，我并不理会加拿大人做着耸肩的姿态。
"Is the dugong dangerous to attack?" I asked, despite the Canadian's shrug of the shoulders.
“是，有时候有危险，”船长回答，“这东西向攻打它的人转过身来，把他的小艇撞翻。但对兰师傅来说，这种危险用不着害怕。他的眼光很敏捷，他的胳膊很准确。我所以劝他留心，不要放走这海马，是因为人们把这东西看作一种美味好吃的猎物，我也知道，兰师傅决不至讨厌一大块一大块好吃的肥肉。”
"Yes, sometimes," the captain replied. "These animals have been known to turn on their assailants and capsize their longboats. But with Mr. Land that danger isn't to be feared. His eye is sharp, his arm is sure. If I recommend that he aim carefully at this dugong, it's because the animal is justly regarded as fine game, and I know Mr. Land doesn't despise a choice morsel."
“啊！”加拿大人喊道，“这东西原来还是好吃的珍品吗？”
"Aha!" the Canadian put in. "This beast offers the added luxury of being good to eat?"
“是的，兰师傅。它的肉是真正好吃的肉，极端被重视，在马来群岛，人们都把它保留起来作为全公餐桌上的食品。 所以人们对这种好东西要拼命猎取，对它的同类海牛也是”一样，因此就弄得这类动物日渐稀少了。”
"Yes, Mr. Land. Its flesh is actual red meat, highly prized, and set aside throughout Malaysia for the tables of aristocrats. Accordingly, this excellent animal has been hunted so bloodthirstily that, like its manatee relatives, it has become more and more scarce."
“那么，船长，”康塞尔很正经地说，“如果这条海马竟是它种族中的最后一条，为科学的利益起见，放过它，不是比较好些吗？”
"In that case, captain," Conseil said in all seriousness, "on the offchance that this creature might be the last of its line, wouldn't it be advisable to spare its life, in the interests of science?"
“或者好些，”加拿大人回答，“不过为膳食的利益起见，那还是打它好些。”
"Maybe," the Canadian answered, "it would be better to hunt it down, in the interests of mealtime."
“兰师傅，您打吧。”尼摩船长回答道。
"Then proceed, Mr. Land," Captain Nemo replied.
这个时候，船上的七个船员，老是不作声和无知觉似的，到平台上来。一个人拿一支鱼叉和一根跟钓鲸鱼用的相同的钩竿。小艇松开来，从它的窝中拉出，放到海中去。 六个桨手坐在横木板上，小艇艇长手把着舵。尼德，兰、康塞尔和我，我们三人坐在后面。
Just then, as mute and emotionless as ever, seven crewmen climbed onto the platform. One carried a harpoon and line similar to those used in whale fishing. Its deck paneling opened, the skiff was wrenched from its socket and launched to sea. Six rowers sat on the thwarts, and the coxswain took the tiller. Ned, Conseil, and I found seats in the stern.
“船长，您不来吗？“我问。
"Aren't you coming, captain?" I asked.
“不，先生，我祝你们打海马胜利。”
"No, sir, but I wish you happy hunting."
小艇离开大船，六支桨把它划走，很快向海马驶去，那时海马正在距诺第留斯号二海里的海而上游来游去。
The skiff pulled clear, and carried off by its six oars, it headed swiftly toward the dugong, which by then was floating two miles from the Nautilus.
到了距离这鲸科动物还有几盲米远的时候，小艇就慢慢地走，奖没有声息地放到平静的水中去。尼德。兰手拎鱼叉，站在小艇前端。用来打鲸鱼的鱼叉，通常是结在一条很长的绳索一端，受伤的动物把叉带走的时候，绳索就很快地放出去。但现在这根索只有二十米左右长，它的另一端结在一个小木桶上面，小木桶浮着，指示海马在水里面走的道路。
Arriving within a few cable lengths of the cetacean, our longboat slowed down, and the sculls dipped noiselessly into the tranquil waters. Harpoon in hand, Ned Land went to take his stand in the skiff's bow. Harpoons used for hunting whales are usually attached to a very long rope that pays out quickly when the wounded animal drags it with him. But this rope measured no more than about ten fathoms, and its end had simply been fastened to a small barrel that, while floating, would indicate the dugong's movements beneath the waters.
我站起来，很清楚地看见加拿大人的对手。这海马又名为儒良，很像海牛。它的长方身体后边是拉得很长的尾巴，它两侧的绪尖端就是指爪。它跟海牛不同的地方是它的上颚有两枚很长很长的牙齿，作为分在两旁的防御武器。
I stood up and could clearly observe the Canadian's adversary. This dugong--which also boasts the name halicore--closely resembled a manatee. Its oblong body ended in a very long caudal fin and its lateral fins in actual fingers. It differs from the manatee in that its upper jaw is armed with two long, pointed teeth that form diverging tusks on either side.
尼德，兰准备攻打的这条海马身躯巨大，身长至少超过七米。它在水面上躺着不动，好像睡着了，这种情况就比较容易猎取。
This dugong that Ned Land was preparing to attack was of colossal dimensions, easily exceeding seven meters in length. It didn't stir and seemed to be sleeping on the surface of the waves, a circumstance that should have made it easier to capture.
小艇小心地挨近海马，只有五六米远了。所有的桨都、挂在铁圈子上不动。我身子站起一半。尼德-兰全身有些往后仰，老练的手挥动鱼叉，把叉找出。
The skiff approached cautiously to within three fathoms of the animal. The oars hung suspended above their rowlocks. I was crouching. His body leaning slightly back, Ned Land brandished his harpoon with expert hands.
忽然听到一声呼啸，海马沉下不见了。龟叉用力过猛，可能是打在水中了。
Suddenly a hissing sound was audible, and the dugong disappeared. Although the harpoon had been forcefully hurled, it apparently had hit only water.
“鬼怪东西！”愤怒的加拿大人喊道，“我没有打中它！”
"Damnation!" exclaimed the furious Canadian. "I missed it!"
“打中了，”我说，“那东西受伤了，瞧，那不是它的血？ 不过你的叉并没有钉在它的身上。”
"No," I said, "the animal's wounded, there's its blood; but your weapon didn't stick in its body."
“我的鱼叉！我的鱼叉！”尼德-兰喊。
"My harpoon! Get my harpoon!" Ned Land exclaimed.
水手们又划起来，小艇艇长让小艇向浮桶划去。鱼叉收回来，小艇就追赶那海马。
The sailors went back to their sculling, and the coxswain steered the longboat toward the floating barrel. We fished up the harpoon, and the skiff started off in pursuit of the animal.
海马时时浮出海面上来呼吸。它受到的伤没有使它的…… 气力削弱，因为它跑得非常快。小艇由健壮的胳膊划着，迅速追上去。好几次只相距儿米了，加拿大人就要投叉了，但海马立即沉下，躲开了，简直不可能打中它。
The latter returned from time to time to breathe at the surface of the sea. Its wound hadn't weakened it because it went with tremendous speed. Driven by energetic arms, the longboat flew on its trail. Several times we got within a few fathoms of it, and the Canadian hovered in readiness to strike; but then the dugong would steal away with a sudden dive, and it proved impossible to overtake the beast.
人们可以想象到，这个时候，性急的尼德-兰被激怒到了什么程度。他对这条不幸的海马发出英语中最有力量的咒骂。在我个人，我只是因为海马把我们所有的计谋部弄失败，心中有些不高兴罢了。
I'll let you assess the degree of anger consuming our impatient Ned Land. He hurled at the hapless animal the most potent swearwords in the English language. For my part, I was simply distressed to see this dugong outwit our every scheme.
我们在一个钟头内，不停地追赶它，我正在想，捕捉它： 恐怕是很不容易了，但这个东西忽然起了不良的报复念头。 这是它要后悔的呢！它回过身来，攻击小艇。
We chased it unflaggingly for a full hour, and I'd begun to think it would prove too difficult to capture, when the animal got the untimely idea of taking revenge on us, a notion it would soon have cause to regret. It wheeled on the skiff, to assault us in its turn.
海马的这种行径逃不过加拿大人的眼光。
This maneuver did not escape the Canadian.
“小心！”他说。
"Watch out!" he said.
小艇艇长说了几句他的奇怪语言，当然是他通知水手们，大家要小心警戒。
The coxswain pronounced a few words in his bizarre language, and no doubt he alerted his men to keep on their guard.
海马到了离小艇二十英尺的水面上停住，它那不在嘴尖端，而在嘴上部敞开的大鼻孔，突然吸着空气。然后，鼓起气力，向我们扑来。
Arriving within twenty feet of the skiff, the dugong stopped, sharply sniffing the air with its huge nostrils, pierced not at the tip of its muzzle but on its topside. Then it gathered itself and sprang at us.
小艇不可能躲开它的冲撞，艇身翻倒了一半，海水跑进艇中有一两吨之多。这水必须排出去。由于艇长的机灵，艇身只是斜面的而不是正面的受到海马攻击，所以没被憧翻沉没。尼德。兰紧靠在小艇前头，把鱼叉向巨大的动物刺去，这东西牙齿咬住小艇的边缘，把小艇顶出水面，像狮子咬小鹿那样。我们都被撞翻，彼此身子压着，如果不是那狠命地跟海马战斗的加拿大人把叉打中了动物的心脏，我真不知道这次的冒险打猎将怎样结束呢。
The skiff couldn't avoid the collision. Half overturned, it shipped a ton or two of water that we had to bail out. But thanks to our skillful coxswain, we were fouled on the bias rather than broadside, so we didn't capsize. Clinging to the stempost, Ned Land thrust his harpoon again and again into the gigantic animal, which imbedded its teeth in our gunwale and lifted the longboat out of the water as a lion would lift a deer. We were thrown on top of each other, and I have no idea how the venture would have ended had not the Canadian, still thirsting for the beast's blood, finally pierced it to the heart.
我听到牙齿在小艇铁板上的喳喳声响，海马沉没不见了，把叉带走了。但不久小木桶浮上水面来，一会儿，海马的躯体现出，脊背翻过来了。小艇划向前去，把它拖在后面，向诺第留斯号划去。
I heard its teeth grind on sheet iron, and the dugong disappeared, taking our harpoon along with it. But the barrel soon popped up on the surface, and a few moments later the animal's body appeared and rolled over on its back. Our skiff rejoined it, took it in tow, and headed to the Nautilus.
把这条海马拉到大船的乎台上，必须使用力量很大的起重滑车。它重五千公斤。人们就在加拿大人面前把它宰割了，他一定要看人宰割时的所有动作。当天，管事人在午餐时，就把船上厨师做得很好的这种肉拿出几片来给我吃。我觉得这肉味道很好，甚至于赛过小牛肉，虽然不一定： 胜过大牛肉。
It took pulleys of great strength to hoist this dugong onto the platform. The beast weighed 5,000 kilograms. It was carved up in sight of the Canadian, who remained to watch every detail of the operation. At dinner the same day, my steward served me some slices of this flesh, skillfully dressed by the ship's cook. I found it excellent, even better than veal if not beef.
第二天，2月11日，诺第留斯号的食物储藏室又增加了一种美味的猎物。一群海燕落到诺第留斯号上面，被我们捕获了。那是埃及特产的尼罗河海燕，嘴是黑的，头灰黑，有斑点，眼睛周围有白点的圈，脊背、两翼和尾巴是灰黑色，肚腹和胸颈白色，脚爪红色。我们另外还捉到十来个尼罗河的鸭子，这是很美味的野乌，脖子和头上是白色，并且带有黑班点。
The next morning, February 11, the Nautilus's pantry was enriched by more dainty game. A covey of terns alighted on the Nautilus. They were a species of Sterna nilotica unique to Egypt: beak black, head gray and stippled, eyes surrounded by white dots, back, wings, and tail grayish, belly and throat white, feet red. Also caught were a couple dozen Nile duck, superior-tasting wildfowl whose neck and crown of the head are white speckled with black.
诺第留斯号的速度那时很缓慢。可以说，它是慢步溜达着前进。我注意到，红海的水愈接近苏伊士，愈少威味了。
By then the Nautilus had reduced speed. It moved ahead at a saunter, so to speak. I observed that the Red Sea's water was becoming less salty the closer we got to Suez.
下午五点左右，我们测定北方是拉斯一穆罕默德角，这角是石区阿拉伯的极端，在苏伊士湾和亚喀巴湾中间。
Near five o'clock in the afternoon, we sighted Cape Ras Mohammed to the north. This cape forms the tip of Arabia Petraea, which lies between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba.
诺第留斯号进入尤巴尔海峡，这海峡通到苏伊士湾。 我清楚地望见一座高山，山在两湾之间俯瞰拉斯一穆罕默德角。那是何烈山、西奈山，山顶上就是摩西当年曾与上帝面面相对的地方，人们心中想象这山头是不断有闪电笼罩着。
The Nautilus entered the Strait of Jubal, which leads to the Gulf of Suez. I could clearly make out a high mountain crowning Ras Mohammed between the two gulfs. It was Mt. Horeb, that biblical Mt. Sinai on whose summit Moses met God face to face, that summit the mind's eye always pictures as wreathed in lightning.
六点，诺第留斯号有时浮上来，有时沉下去，从多尔湾的海面上经过。多尔位于海湾里面，湾中海水呈红色，这点尼摩船长在前面已经加以说明了。一会儿，黑夜来临，在沉重的静默中间，有时有塘鸡和一种夜鸟的叫声，怒潮打在岩石上的声响，或一只汽船的响亮水门搅打湾中海水所发生的远远的声音，把寂寞冲破了。
At six o'clock, sometimes afloat and sometimes submerged, the Nautilus passed well out from El Tur, which sat at the far end of a bay whose waters seemed to be dyed red, as Captain Nemo had already mentioned. Then night fell in the midst of a heavy silence occasionally broken by the calls of pelicans and nocturnal birds, by the sound of surf chafing against rocks, or by the distant moan of a steamer churning the waves of the gulf with noisy blades.
八点到九点，诺第留斯号在水深儿米的地方行驶。 照我的计算，我们应当很接近苏伊士了。从客厅里的嵌板看。我望见了受我的电光清楚照出的水底岩石。我觉得海峡是愈来愈窄了。
From eight to nine o'clock, the Nautilus stayed a few meters beneath the waters. According to my calculations, we had to be quite close to Suez. Through the panels in the lounge, I spotted rocky bottoms brightly lit by our electric rays. It seemed to me that the strait was getting narrower and narrower.
九点一刻，船又浮出水面，我到平台上来。心中急急想穿过尼摩船长的海底地道，我不能安静等待，我要上来呼吸夜间的新鲜空气。
At 9:15 when our boat returned to the surface, I climbed onto the platform. I was quite impatient to clear Captain Nemo's tunnel, couldn't sit still, and wanted to breathe the fresh night air.
不久，在黑暗中，我望见一些黯淡火光，被蒙雾弄得模糊了，火在距我们一海里远的地方亮着。
Soon, in the shadows, I spotted a pale signal light glimmering a mile away, half discolored by mist.
‘一座浮在水上的灯塔。”有人在我身旁说。
"A floating lighthouse," said someone next to me.
我回过头来，我看见是船长。
I turned and discovered the captain.
那是苏伊士的浮在水上的灯火，”他又说，“我们不久就要走人地道口了。”
"That's the floating signal light of Suez," he went on. "It won't be long before we reach the entrance to the tunnel."
“进口不容易吗？”
"It can't be very easy to enter it."
“不容易，先生。因此，我照例是亲自到领航人的笼间中，守在那里，指挥航行。阿龙纳斯先生，您请下来，诺第留斯号现在要潜入水中了，到通过了阿拉伯海底地道后，它才浮上来。
"No, sir. Accordingly, I'm in the habit of staying in the pilothouse and directing maneuvers myself. And now if you'll kindly go below, Professor Aronnax, the Nautilus is about to sink beneath the waves, and it will only return to the surface after we've cleared the Arabian Tunnel."
我跟着尼摩船长下来。嵌板关闭了，储水池装满了水，船潜入水底十来米深左右。
I followed Captain Nemo. The hatch closed, the ballast tanks filled with water, and the submersible sank some ten meters down.
当我要回房中去的时候，船长留住我，他对我说：
Just as I was about to repair to my stateroom, the captain stopped me.
“教授，您高兴同我一起到领航人笼间里去吗？”
"Professor," he said to me, "would you like to go with me to the wheelhouse?"
“我不敢请求您，我正是求之不得呢！”我回答说。
"I was afraid to ask," I replied.
“那么，请来吧。您这样就可以看见，这次同时是地下又是海底航行的一切情况。”
"Come along, then. This way, you'll learn the full story about this combination underwater and underground navigating."
尼摩船长领我到中央楼梯，在楼梯栏杆的中腰，他打开一扇门，沿上层的长廊走去，到了领航人的笼间里，上面说过，这笼间在平台的前方尖端。
Captain Nemo led me to the central companionway. In midstair he opened a door, went along the upper gangways, and arrived at the wheelhouse, which, as you know, stands at one end of the platform.
那是一门每面有六英尺宽的小舱房，跟密西西比……和哈得逊河汽船上领航人所占的笼问差不多一样。舱房中间，有一架垂直放着的机轮转动，轮齿接在舵缆上，缆直通到比第留斯号的后面。叼个装上两面凸镜片的船窗，缺在舱间的复壁上，使守舵人四面八方都可以看见。
It was a cabin measuring six feet square and closely resembling those occupied by the helmsmen of steamboats on the Mississippi or Hudson rivers. In the center stood an upright wheel geared to rudder cables running to the Nautilus's stern. Set in the cabin's walls were four deadlights, windows of biconvex glass that enabled the man at the helm to see in every direction.
这笼间是黑暗的，但我的眼睛不久就习惯了这种黑暗，我看见里面的领肮人。他很精壮，两手扶住机轮的车辆。在外面，平台上另一端的探照灯在笼间后面照耀，光映海面，分外明亮。
The cabin was dark; but my eyes soon grew accustomed to its darkness and I saw the pilot, a muscular man whose hands rested on the pegs of the wheel. Outside, the sea was brightly lit by the beacon shining behind the cabin at the other end of the platform.
“现在，”尼摩船长说，“我们来找地道吧。”
"Now," Captain Nemo said, "let's look for our passageway."
有好些电线把领肮人的笼间跟机器房接连，从笼间里面，船长同时可以对诺第留斯号发出航行方向和速度快慢的指示。他按一下金属钮，机轮的速度就立即减低。
Electric wires linked the pilothouse with the engine room, and from this cabin the captain could simultaneously signal heading and speed to his Nautilus. He pressed a metal button and at once the propeller slowed down significantly.
我默默地注视我们此刻走过的十分陡峭险峻的高墙，这是沿海高厚沙地的坚牢基础。我们在一个钟头内沿着这座高墙走，相距只不过几米，尼摩船长两眼不离那个挂在笼间，有两个大小同心圆的罗盘，看他做一个手势，领航人就每时每刻改变诺第留斯号行驶的方向。
I stared in silence at the high, sheer wall we were skirting just then, the firm base of the sandy mountains on the coast. For an hour we went along it in this fashion, staying only a few meters away. Captain Nemo never took his eyes off the two concentric circles of the compass hanging in the cabin. At a mere gesture from him, the helmsman would instantly change the Nautilus's heading.
我在左舷的船窗边，望见了珊瑚累积成的十分美丽的基层建筑，无数植虫、海藻、介壳动物，舞动它们的巨大爪牙，在岩石凹凸不平的外面，长长地伸张出来。
Standing by the port deadlight, I spotted magnificent coral substructures, zoophytes, algae, and crustaceans with enormous quivering claws that stretched forth from crevices in the rock.
十点一刻，尼摩船长亲自把舵。一条宽阔的长廊，又黑又深，在我们面前出现。诺第留斯号直冲进去。在它两旁发出一种我没有听惯的沙沙声响。这是红海的水，由于地道的斜坡，冲到地中海上。诺第留斯号跟着这道急流下去，像箭一般快，虽然它的机器想要尽力慢一些，把推进器逆流转动，也没有起作用。
At 10:15 Captain Nemo himself took the helm. Dark and deep, a wide gallery opened ahead of us. The Nautilus was brazenly swallowed up. Strange rumblings were audible along our sides. It was the water of the Red Sea, hurled toward the Mediterranean by the tunnel's slope. Our engines tried to offer resistance by churning the waves with propeller in reverse, but the Nautilus went with the torrent, as swift as an arrow.
地道两边狭窄的高墙上，我只看见飞奔的速度在电光下所画出的辉煌线纹、笔直线条、火色痕迹。我的心跳动不止，我用手压住心头。
Along the narrow walls of this passageway, I saw only brilliant streaks, hard lines, fiery furrows, all scrawled by our speeding electric light. With my hand I tried to curb the pounding of my heart.
十点三十五分，尼摩船长放下舵上的机轮，向我回过头来，对我说：
At 10:35 Captain Nemo left the steering wheel and turned to me:
“到地中海了。”
"The Mediterranean," he told me.
不到二十分钟，诺第留斯号顺着水流，就通过了苏伊土地峡了。
In less than twenty minutes, swept along by the torrent, the Nautilus had just cleared the Isthmus of Suez.