Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

海底二万里

   CHAPTER 14

   第二部 第十四章

   The South Pole

   南极

   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.

   我飞跑到平台上去。 是的!自由通行的海。近边只有一些散乱的冰块和浮为的冰层,远方一片大海,空中是群鸟世界;水底下有千亿万的鱼类,水的颜色随深浅的不同,现出从深浓的靛蓝至橄览的青绿。温度表指着摄氏三度。对被关在这冰山后的天气来说,这好像是相对的春天,远远的冰群在北方天际露出面影。

   "Are we at the pole?" I asked the captain, my heart pounding.

   “我们是在南极吗?“我问船长,同时心跳动不止。

   "I've no idea," he answered me. "At noon we'll fix our position."

   “我不知道。”他回答我。“中午我没来测量方位。”

   "But will the sun show through this mist?" I said, staring at the grayish sky.

   “可是,太阳能穿过这些云雾吗?”我眼看着灰色的天空说。

   "No matter how faintly it shines, it will be enough for me," the captain replied.

   “只要露出一点就够了。”船长回答。

   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.

   距诺第留斯号南方二海里,有一座孤立的小岛浮出,高两百米。我们向小岛走去,但很小心,因为这海中可能各处都有暗礁。

   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.

   一小时质,我们到达小岛。又过两小时,我们就绕了小岛一-周。它周围四海里至五海里长。一条狭窄水道把它跟一片广大陆地分开,或者这是一个大洲,我们还不能望见它的界限。

   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.

   这片陆地的存在好像证明莫利的假设是对的。的确,这位高明的美国学者指出,在南极和纬度60度中间,海上是浮动的冰群,这些冰群非常巨大,在大西洋北部从不能碰到。根据这个事实,他得出这个结论,南极圈中藏有大片的陆地,因为冰山不能在大海中间形成,只在近陆地的边岸才能存在。按照他购计算,遮覆南极的冰群形成一个球形的圆盖,这盖的宽大可能是四千公里。

   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,诺第留斯号怕搁浅,停在相距六米左右的滩前,有一片雄壮的岩石层高耸在滩上。小艇放到海中去。船长、他的两个船员带着各种器械,康塞尔和我,我们一齐上小艇去。时间是早晨十点、我没有看见尼德-兰。加拿大人一定不愿意承认南极是在他面前。

   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.

   桨划了几下,小艇就到了沙滩上,搁浅下来。康塞尔正要下地的时候,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,”我对尼摩船长说,“第一次脚踩这陆地的光荣应该属于您。”

   "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."

   “对,先生,,船长回答,“我所以一点不犹豫地脚踩这极圈的土地,是因为直到现在,还没有一个人留下他的脚迹在这陆地上。”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.

   说过这话,他轻快地跳在沙滩上。紧张激动的情绪使他的心跳得厉害。他攀上一块岩石、倾斜的岩石尽处是一个小呷,在呷上,他交叉着两只手,热情的眼光,不动,静戳。他好像取得这些南极地方的所有权了。在这种极乐情绪中过了五分钟后,他向我们转过身千来;‘对我喊:

   "Whenever you're ready, sir," he called to me.

   “先生,您高兴就清上来。”

   I got out, Conseil at my heels, leaving the two men in the skiff.

   我跳下小艇,后面跟着康塞尔,那两个人留在艇中。

   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'.

   土质在很长的空间上现出锗红色的凝灰岩,就像一层层的砖石构成的一样。火山的烧石,喷出的火石,浮石的石屑遍布地上。人们不可能不认识这陆地的构成是火山的来源。在某些地方还有轻微的喷烟,发出硫磺气味,证明内部的火仍然保持着它伸张发展的力量。可是,我攀上一座高耸的悬崖,半径几海里的圆周内望不见火山。大家知道,在南极地带内,,詹姆斯-罗斯①在东经160度,纬度77度32分上,找到了还在活动的爱列贝斯和铁罗尔火山喷口。:

   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.

   这个荒凉大陆的植物看来是极端有限。一些单条黑色的苔藓品种丛生,铺在黑色岩石上。某种微生草木,原始硅藻,在两片介壳中间聚起来的石英质的细胞植物,真红和猩红的黑角菜,紧贴在退潮送到岸上来的鱼类上面,以上就是组成这个地方的整个植物界。

   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.

   沿岸有一些软体动物,小砚、蛇类,心脏形的光滑贝,特别有那些长方形、膜质、头由两个圆突的耳叶形成的触须贝.我又看到有无数北方的触须贝,长三厘米;鲸鱼每一口就吞食它们一大群。这些美丽的翼步类动物,‘真正是海中的蝴蝶)使这海岸边缘的流动海水生动活泼起来。

   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.

   植虫类里面出现在海底深处的,有些珊瑚树,根据詹姆斯、,罗斯盼观察,这些珊瑚树在南极海中,一直到一千米深处都可以生活。、其次,有属于海胞类的小翡翠珊瑚一以及这一带地区待有的许多海燕一和散布在地上的许多海星。

   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.

   但生活丰富洋溢的地方是在空中小在空中,有无数种类不同的乌类飞翔上下,鸣声嘈杂,震聋了我们的耳朵6另有其他的鸟类拥挤在岩石上,它们一点不怕,看着我们走过)并且很亲热地聚在我们脚边.那是在水中也一样轻快和便捷的企鹅,有时人们把它们和迅速的辊鸟混同;但锟鸟在地上是不灵便和很笨的,、它们发出古怪的叫声、成群无数;,齐集一起,它们动作姿势很少,但叫喊却十分厉害!

   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."

   在鸟类中间,我看见有涉水鸟科的南极水鸟。它们跟鸽子一般大小。白色,有锥形的短嘴,、眼睛圈在红圈中、康塞尔捉这种鸟作食物,因为这类飞禽烹调得适当,是味道很美的食物。空中又有煤黑色的信天翁飞过,翼幅四米宽,它们也叫海鸳,’名称是很适当的,有巨大的海燕类,、其中有弓形海燕,翼作拱形,最喜欢吃海豹.有海棋鸟,是一种小鸭;身上带白色和黑色.最后,、有一组海燕类:,有的是灰白色,两翼边缘是栗子色,有的是蓝色,是南冰洋的特产。我对康塞尔说:“灰白色的一种油脂很多.在费罗哀群岛①,人们在它们的腹部放上灯芯,就可以点燃起来。”

   "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!"

   “差一点儿,”康塞尔回答,“它们就完全是一盏灯了这样看来,我们只有再要求大自然预先在它们身上准备一个灯芯好了!”

   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.

   走过半海里后,地上现出许多短翼潜水鸟的鸟巢,这些巢是一种筑好来产卵的洞窟,从洞窟中飞出很多的潜水鸟。尼摩船长在后来,打了好几百只这种鸟,因为它们的黑色的肉很可以吃。它们发出像驴叫的声音。这些鸟像我;一般的身材,身上是石板色,下面白色,颈上带柠檬色的花缘,就那“样让人拿石子打死,并不想法逃走。

   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,云雾并不散开,到十一点,太阳还不出来。太阳不出,使我心中焦急,没有太阳,不可能做各种观察。那么,怎样决定我们是到了南极呢?

   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.

   当我回到尼摩船长那边的时候,我看他胳膊肘靠在一块岩石上,默不作声,眼盯着天空。看来他有些不耐烦,心中在生气。但有什么办法?这个胆大又强有力的人不能照他命令海洋那样指挥太阳。

   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,日光仍是一瞬也没有现出。人们甚至不可能认出它在这雾幕后面所在的位置。不久,雾又溶为雪花了。

   "Until tomorrow," the captain said simply; and we went back to the Nautilus, amid flurries in the air.

   “明天再来。”船长干脆对我说,同时我们看一下在那大气淋流中间的诺第留斯号。

   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.

   当我们不在船上的时候,鱼网放下海中去了,我很感兴趣地观察人们刚拉上船来的鱼类。南极海水是大多数候鱼的藏身处,它们躲避纬度较低水层的风暴,转移到这边来。可是它们往往又掉到海豚和海豹的嘴里去了。我看见有些南极的刺鳍鱼,长十厘米,是一种灰白色的软骨鱼,身上有斜横的淡白条带,并且生有尖刺,其次,见有南冰洋的软骨奇鱼,长三英尺,身子拉得很长,银白色和光滑的表皮,圆突的头,脊背上有三支鳍,嘴脸最前端是一支向嘴边弯过去的喇叭管。我尝过这种鱼的肉,我觉得平淡无味,但康塞尔的意见不同,他很喜欢吃。

   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.

   暴风雪一直延长到第二天,站在平台上,简直不可能。我在客厅中写我这次到南极大陆来旅行的事件,从厅中听到在大风雪中间飞翔上下的海燕和信天翁的号叫。诺第留斯号并不是停止不动,它沿着海岸驶去,在太阳掠过天际的时候所留下的曙光中间,再向南前进十海里左右。

   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,风雪停了。天气比较寒冷一些,温度表是零下二度。浓雾散开,我希望今天我们的方位观察可以做出来。

   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.

   尼摩船长还没有出来,小艇先载了康塞尔和我,把我们送到陆地上去。地上的土质跟前面一样,是火山形成的。到处都是火山喷发物,火山岩,玄武岩的遗迹,但我没有看见喷出这些岩石来的火口。这里跟前面一样,有无数的鸟类给南极大陆这一部分添了生动活泼的气象。但同时跟亡们一齐领有这块土地的,还有一大群海中哺侞类动物,这些动物拿它们的温和眼光盯着我们。那是各种不同的海豹。有的躺在地上,有的睡在倾斜的冰块上,有些又从海中上来,或回到海中去。它们看见我们近前,并不逃走,因为它们从没有跟人打过交道,我看这里的海豹很多,可以装载好几百艘船。

   "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.

   时间是早晨八点。太阳可以供我们观察利用的时间只剩下四小时了。我向一处宽大的港湾一步步走去,湾作斩月形,在花岗石的悬崖中间。

   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.

   在那里,我简直可以说,我们周围,陆地上和冰层上,一望无际都是被海中哺侞动物挤满了,我眼光不期然而然地找那老头蒲罗德,他是神话中给海神涅豆尼看守家畜群的老收人。海豹特别多。它们形成个别分开的队伍,雄的和雌的一起,父海豹关心它的家族,母海豹给它的小海豹喂奶,有些已经壮大的年轻海豹随意走开;在远一些的地方。当这些哺侞动物要走动的时候,它们由于躯体的伸缩,一跳一跳地走,同时它们相当笨,拿它们的不发达的鳍来帮助走动,但这鳍在它们的同类海牛身上,就成为真正的前臂了。我得说,它们在海水里面生活环境优越,这些脊骨活动,骨盘狭窄,毛又短又密,掌形脚的动物,是游泳的好手。当它门休息和在地上的时候,它们的姿态十分美观,使人喜欢。

   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.

   我给康塞尔指出,这种聪明的鲸科动物,大脑叶特别发达。除了人类:任何哺侞类都没有这样丰富的脑髓神经。因此,海豹可能接受某种程度的教育;它们容易驯养,成为家畜。我跟某些生物学家的意见相同,适当地把海豹训练起来,它们可以当作打鱼的猎狗,给人类服务,做许多有益的事。

   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。在这些真正的海豹中间,它们是没有外耳的——这一点它们跟有突出的外耳的海獭不同——我看见有好些海獭的变种,长三英尺,毛白色,猎狗一般的头,上下颚共有十枚牙齿,各有四枚门牙,两枚百合花形的大虎牙。在它们中间,又有海象踏来蹋去,这是带有活动的短鼻筒的海豹,是这种动物中最巨大的类型,周身二十英尺,长十英尺。它们看我们走近前去,动也不动。

   "Are these animals dangerous?" Conseil asked me.

   “它们不是危险伤人的动物吗?”康塞尔问我。

   "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,“除非是人家要攻击它们。当一条海豹保卫它的子女的时候,它是愤怒得怕人,它把渔人的小船弄成碎片,并不是希罕的事。”

   "They're within their rights," Conseil answered.

   “那是它的正当权利。”康塞尔立即说。

   "I don't say nay."

   “我没有说不是呀。”

   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.

   再走两海里远,我们就被保护港湾不受南风吹打的尖峡挡住了。尖峡靠海矗立,回潮打来,泡沫飞溅,呷外有隆隆的吼叫声发出,就像一群牛羊反刍类可能发出的声响那么利害。

   "Gracious," Conseil put in, "a choir of bulls?"

   “怎么,”康塞尔说,“是水牛的音乐会吗?”

   "No," I said, "a choir of walruses."

"Are they fighting with each other?"

   “不,”我说,“是海马的音乐会。”

    “它们打架吗?”

   "Either fighting or playing."

   “它们或者是打架,或者是玩耍。”

   "With all due respect to master, this we must see."

   “请先生原谅,我们应当去看一下。”

   "Then see it we must, Conseil."

   “我们应当去看一下,康塞尔。”

   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:

   我们于是在意想不到的乱石间,被冰块弄得很滑溜的碎石上走过那些灰黑的岩石地。不止一次,我滑倒了,弄得腰部酸痛。康塞尔,或者是因为他比较小心,或者是因为他比较结实,没有摔过:他把我扶起来,说:

   "If master's legs would kindly adopt a wider stance, master will keep his balance."

   “如果先生愿意把两腿挪开一些,先生就更能保持身体的平衡了。”

   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,我望见一片白色的广大平原,上面全是海马。这些海马正在成群玩耍,刚才听到的是它们的快乐的声音,不是它们愤怒的壕叫。

   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.

   海马从躯体的外形上看,从四肢的安排上看,跟海豹很相象。可是它们的下鄂没有虎牙和门牙,至于上鄂的虎牙,那是两枚长八十厘米,下槽周圆三十三厘米的角牙,这些牙由致密无疵的牙质上成,比象牙更硬,又比较不易变黄。是人们争求的珍品。因此这些海马受到意外过度的猎取。不久就要被消减到最后阶段了,因为打海马的猎人盲目屠杀,不管是有孕的母海马还是幼年海马,每年屠杀的数目超过四千条。

   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.

   从这些新奇的动物旁边走过,我可以从容地考察它们,因为它们留在那里不动。它们的表皮很厚,多皱纹,色调是类似褚红的茶褐色,皮毛很短,并且很少。有些海马长至四米。它们比北冰洋的海马安静,胆大,它们并不委派特别选出来的哨兵来看守它们露营的周围。

   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.

   考察了这所海马齐集的城市后,我就想回去了。时间是十一点了。如果尼摩船长觉得条件顺利,可以观察,那我要到他面前,看着他做。可是,我不敢希望这一天太阳会钻出来。重重积压在天边的浓云使它躲开了我们的眼睛。好像这十分珍重的太阳,不愿意在这地球上人迹不能到的地点,现出来给人们看。

   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,我想应当回诺第留斯号去了。我们沿着悬崖顶一条狭窄斜坡下去。十一点半,我们到了上陆的地点。搁浅在那里的小艇正把船长送上地来。我看见他站在一块玄武石岩上,他的器械放在他近边。他眼光盯着北方天际。,太阳在那边画出长长的曲线。

   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.

   我站在他旁边,我等候着,不说话。正午到了,跟昨天一样,太阳不出来。

   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.

   这真是没办法的事。观察又不能做。如果明天观察不能完成,那测定我们所在方位的事情,恐怕只好完全放弃了。

   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,析光作用映出的阳光不算,太阳以后就要没人水平线下,有六个月不能出来,太阳不见,极圈的长夜时期就开始了,从九月中的秋分日起,它在北方天际出现,沿着长长的螺旋线上升,直到12月21日。这个时候是北冰洋地区的夏至日,它又开始下降,明天就是它射出光线的最后一天了。

   I shared my thoughts and fears with Captain Nemo.

   我把自己的意见和顾虑告诉尼摩船长,他对我说。

   "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."

   “您说得对,阿龙纳斯先生,如果明天我不能测量太阳的高度,我就不用能在六个月之内再做测量了。不过也正因为我这次航行的机会,3月21日把我带到这南极海中来如果太阳给我们现出来,我的方位是很容易测定的。”

   "Why easy, captain?"

   “船长,为什么呢?”

   "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."

   “因为,太阳沿着那么拉长的螺旋线走,想在水平线上确切测量它的高度,很是困难,仪器也容易犯严重的错误。”

   "Then what can you do?"

   “那么,您怎样来进行呢?”

   "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时计,”尼摩船长回答我,“如果明天3月21日,折光作用估计在内,太阳圈轮正好切在北方的水平线上,那我就是在南极点上了。”

   "Right," I said. "Nevertheless, it isn't mathematically exact proof, because the equinox needn't fall precisely at noon."

   “是的,”我说,“不过这个测定从数学上看,并不是完全精确的,因为春分时间不一定是在正午。”

   "No doubt, sir, but the error will be under 100 meters, and that's close enough for us. Until tomorrow then."

   “当然,先生,但差数也不能过一百米,并且我们也不要更进一步的准确,那么,明天再来吧。”

   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.

   尼摩船长转回船上去了。康塞尔和我,我们留到五点,在海滩上跑来跑去,作观察,作研究。我没有得到什么新奇的东西,就是拾得一个海枭的蛋,蛋特别大,一个珍奇收藏家可能出一千多法郎来收买。它的浅黄颜色,像用象形文字描绘在上面的线条和花纹,使它成为一件希有的珍玩。我把它交给康塞尔,这个小心的孩子脚步很稳,把它拿在手中,像珍贵的中国瓷器一样,完整地带到诺第留斯号。

   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,我把蛋放在陈列室的一个玻璃橱中。我晚餐吃得很好,吃了一块海豹肝,味道很美,很像猪肝。然后我回房睡觉,睡的时候,像印度人那样,祈求太阳的恩惠,要它明天出来。

   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日早晨五点,我走上平台,我看见尼摩船长已经在台上,他对我说:

   "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."

   “天气清朗一些,太阳出来很有希望。早餐后,我们到地上去,选择一个地点,做我们的观察。”

   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.

   这点确定后,我去找尼德-兰。我想拉他跟我一迈去。固执的加拿大人拒绝了,我很看得出来,他的沉默跟他的坏脾气一样,一天一天增加了。本来,他在这种情况下表示固执不愿意去,我也并不惋惜。真的,地上海豹大多了,我们下应该拿它们来诱惑这个粗心不思考的打鱼人。

   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。诺第留斯号在夜间又向上前进了好几海里。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。小艇载了我和尼摩船长,两个船员,以及仪器,即航海时计、望远镜和晴雨表。

   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.

   当我们的船走过的时候,我看见许多鲸鱼,它们是属于南极特有的三种鲸:平直鲸,没有脊鳍:驼背鲸,吐腹多皱折,宽大灰白色的绪,尽管它有这样的名字,隆起的背并不形成为翼;鳍背鲸,黄褐色,最活泼的鲸科动物。这些强大动物发出的声音远远就使人听到了,它们正把混有气体的水柱射人高空,好像喷出阵阵的浓烟。这些不同的哺侞类动物在安静的海水中往来玩耍,我看到,南极海水现在是成为过度受猎人追逐的鲸科动物的避难所了。

   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.

   九点,我们靠岸了。天空洁朗起来,浓云向南飞走,雾也放弃了冰冷的水面。尼摩船长走向一座尖峰,他一定想在这座峰上做他的观察。我们是在充满喷火口所发出的流磺气体的大气中,沿着尖利的火石和浮石的石层,作艰苦的攀登。船长是一个已经不惯踩踏陆地的人,走上这些最陡峭的斜坡,轻便灵活,不单我不能比,就是追赶羚羊的猎人心中也要欣羡。

   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.

   我们费了两个钟头,才到达这座云斑岩、玄武岩掺杂的尖峰上面。从上面看,我们的眼光望见一片广阔的海,海在北面天空中清楚现出它的最后界线来。我们脚下,是眩眼的光辉的白冰场。我们头上,是从云雾中现出来的淡白的蔚蓝色。在北方,太阳的轮盘像一只火球一样,已经被水平线的锋刃削开一角了。海水中间,有美丽好看的喷水花束成千成百地放出来。远远的所在,是那诺第留斯号,像酣睡着的鲸科动物一样。在我们后面,东方和南方,有一片广阔的陆地,是望不见边际的岩石和冰群的凌乱层台。

   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.

   尼摩船长走到峰顶上,拿晴雨表小心测量尖峰的高度,因为在他的观察中,峰高也要估计在内。

   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,单从折光作用看,太阳像金盘一样现出,它对这从没有人迹来过的海面,把它的最后光芒散在荒凉无人的大陆上。

   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.

   尼摩船长戴上网形线望远镜,这镜利用一个镜面,可以改正折光作用,他观察那沿着一条拖拉得很长的对角线,渐渐沉入水平线下的太阳。我手拿着航海时计。我的心跳得厉害。如果太阳轮盘的一半隐没的时候,正好是航海时计指着正午,那我们就是在南极点上了。

   "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.

   “南极!”尼摩船长用很严肃的声音回答,同时把望远镜给我,镜中显出的太阳正好在水平线上切成完全相等的两半。

   I stared at the last rays wreathing this peak, while shadows were gradually climbing its gradients.

   我注视那照在尖峰顶上的最后阳光和那从尖峰层峦渐次上来的黑影。

   Just then, resting his hand on my shoulder, Captain Nemo said to me:

   这时候,尼摩船长手扶住我的肩头,对我说:

   "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,荷兰人叶里克被海浪和风暴所吹送,到了南纬64度,发现南设得兰群岛。1773年1月17日,著名的库克沿着东经38度,到达南纬67度30分;1774年二月30日,他在西经109度上,到了南纬71度15分。1819年,俄国人伯林哥生到了南纬69度上;1821年,他在西经111度上,到了南纬66度。1820年,英国人布兰斯非尔在南纬65度上停下来。同年,美国人莫列尔,他的记述不可靠,从西经42度上溯,在纬度70度14分上发现自由流动的海。1825年,英国人包威尔到达南纬62度,不能超过。同年,一个不过是打海豹的渔人,英国人威德尔,在西经35度上,一直上到南纬72度14分,在西经36度上,一直上到南纬74度15分。1829年,英国人福斯脱指挥香特克利号,占领了南纬63度26分,西经63度26分的南冰洋大陆。1831年2月1日,英国人比斯哥在南纬68度50分发现恩德比地方;1832年2月5日,他在南纬67度发现阿地拉衣地方;2月21日,在南纬64度45分发现格拉罕地方。1833年,法国人杜蒙-居维尔在南纬62度57分的冰山前面停住,交代了路易-菲力浦地方的位置:两年后,1月21日,到南方的另一尖点,南纬66度30分,他称为阿德利地方;八天后,到南纬64度40分,他名为克拉利海岸。1838年,英国人威尔克斯在东经100度上前进到南纬69度。1839年,英国人巴连尼在南极圈的边界上发现了沙布利邓地方。最后,1842年,英国人詹姆斯-罗斯走上爱列贝斯山和铁罗尔山,1月12日,在南纬76度56分,东经171度7分发现维多利亚地方;同月23R,他测定南纬74度的方位,这是当时可以达到的最高点了,27日他到达南纬76度8分,28日,到南纬77度32分,2月2日,到南纬78度4分,1842年,他回到他不能越过的南纬71度上来。那么,现在,我,尼摩船长,1866年3月21日,我在南纬90度上到达了南极点,我占领了面积等于人所知道的大陆六分之一的这一部分地球上的土地。”

   "In the name of which sovereign, captain?"

   “船长,您用谁的名字呢?”

   "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:

   说这话的时候,尼摩船长展开一面黑旗,旗中间有一个金黄的N字。然后,回过身来,他面对着最后光芒正射在大海水平线上的太阳,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!"

   “再见,太阳!沉下去吧,光辉的金球!你安息在这个自由的海底下吧,让六个月的长夜把它的陰影遮覆在我的新领土上吧!”