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.
这样，诺第留斯号的四周，上面下面，都是不可通过的冰墙。我们是冰山的俘虏了。加拿大人把他的粗大拳头拍打着桌子。康塞尔沉默不言。我眼盯着船长。他的面容又恢复了平常的冷淡、严肃，他两手交叉着，他心中思考。诺第留斯号不动了。
The captain then broke into speech:
船长于是发言了，他声音镇定地说：
"Gentlemen," he said in a calm voice, "there are two ways of dying under the conditions in which we're placed."
“先生们，在我们目前所处的情况下，有两种死的方式。”
This inexplicable individual acted like a mathematics professor working out a problem for his pupils.
这个神秘人物好像一位数学教员，给他的学生作算术问题的解答。他又说：
"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."
“第一种死的方式是被压死。第二种是被闷死。我不说有饿死的可能，因为诺第留斯号储藏的粮食一定比我们还能耐久一些。因此我们来考虑一下压死或闷死的可能性“船长，”
"As for asphyxiation, captain," I replied, "that isn't a cause for alarm, because the air tanks are full."
我回答说。”至于闷死那是不用怕的，因为我的储藏库有满满的空气。”
"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."
“对，”船长说，“可是这些空气只能使用两天，现在我潜入水中已经有三十六小时了，诺第留斯号的重浊空气经需要调换。到四十八小时，我们储藏的空气就用完
"Well then, captain, let's free ourselves within forty-eight hours!"
“那么，船长，我们想法在四十八小时前脱身就是了。”
"We'll try to at least, by cutting through one of these walls surrounding us."
“至少，我们要想法试一下，把围住我们的冰墙凿开。”
"Which one?" I asked.
“从哪一面凿呢？“我问。
"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."
“那探测器可以使我知道。我把诺第留斯号搁浅在下部冰层，我的船员穿上潜水衣，从冰墙最薄的地方凿开冰山。”
"Can the panels in the lounge be left open?"
“可以把客厅的嵌板打开来吗？”
"Without ill effect. We're no longer in motion."
“没有什么不可以。船已经不行驶了。”
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.
尼摩船长走了。不久发出哨声，我知道海水吸入储水池中。诺第留斯号慢慢下沉，停在三百五十米深的冰底下，这是冰山下部冰层潜入水底的深度。
"My friends," I said, "we're in a serious predicament, but I'm counting on your courage and energy."
“朋友们，”我说，“情形很是严重，但我相信你们能拿出你们的勇气和力量来。”
"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，“现在不是拿责骂来惹您讨厌的时候。我准备为大家共同的安全牺牲一切。”
"Excellent, Ned," I said, extending my hand to the Canadian.
“好，尼德。”我伸手给加拿大人说。
"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."
“我又要说，”他补充说，“我使铁锨和使鱼叉一样灵活，如果我可能对船长有用，请他随便吩咐我吧。”
"He won't turn down your assistance. Come along, Ned."
“他一定不拒绝您的帮助。请跟我来，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.
我带加拿大人到诺第留斯号的船员穿潜水衣的房子中。我把尼德-兰的提议告诉船长，船长接受了。加拿大人穿上他的海中衣服，不久就跟他的工作同伴们一样准备好了。每人背上一个卢格罗尔的空气箱，由储藏库供应了大量的纯空气。对诺第留斯号的空气储藏库来说，这是大量的，然而是必要的支出。至于兰可夫灯，在这满是电光的明亮海水中间是没有用的。
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.
当尼德装备好了，我回到客厅，厅中的嵌板都开了，我站在康塞尔旁边，细看那顶住诺第留斯号的周围冰层。
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.
几分钟后，我们看见十多个船员下到冰地上，其中有尼德-兰，由于他的身材高大，很容易认出。尼摩船长跟他门在一起。
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.
在进行穿凿冰墙之前，他让人先做种种探测，保证工作是向顺利方面进行。很长的探测绳放人上下两面的冰墙。上面到了十五米，仍然被厚冰墙挡住，所以从上层冰板来厂凿是不成的，因为那就是四百米高的冰山本身。尼摩船长于是使人探测下部冰层的厚度。下部有十米厚的冰板把我们跟海水隔开。就是这片冰场有十米厚。自后就是要把冰场凿开一片，大小等于诺第留斯号从浮标线上来计算的面积。要凿开这么一个大孔，我们可以从这孔下到这冰地的下面去，那大约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.
工作立即开始，以十分坚持的顽强力气来进行。不是在诺第留斯号周围挖掘，这样可能带来更大的困难，尼摩船长是另外在距船左舷八米远的地方画了一个巨大的圆圈他的人员就在这圆圈的周围数处同时挖掘，不久，铁锨很有劲的打进了坚硬的冰，一块一块的冰从冰场凿开来。由于体重的新奇作用，这些冰块没有水重，它们于是飞跑到冰们顶上去了，这样一来，下面是减薄，上面就增厚了。但没关系，下层的冰总是削薄了。
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.
经过两小时的努力工作，尼德-兰疲倦不堪地回来。他的同伴们和他，由别的人员替代，康塞尔和我，我们这次也加入。诺第留斯号的船副来指导我们。
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.
我觉得海水特别冷，但我挥动铁锨，不久就暖和了。我的动作虽然在三十度气压下面进行，但是很轻松自在。
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.
当我工作了两小时，回来吃点东西，休息一会儿的时候，我觉得卢格罗尔气箱供应我的纯洁空气，跟已经很多碳酸气的诺第留斯号船中的大气，很为不同。空气自四十八小时来没有调换，它的刺激兴奋力量已经很薄弱。可是，过了十二小时，我们在画出的冰面上，只挖去了厚一米的冰，就是约六百立方米的冰。假定每十二小时可以做同样工作，把这个工作好好的完成，还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！”我对我的同伴们说，“但在储藏库中我们只有够用两天的空””
"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!"
“并且，”尼德。兰回答，“又没有算上我们脱离了这座魔鬼监牢后，我们可能还要被禁在冰山下，仍不能立即跟上面的大气相交通！”
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.
这是正确的想法。那时谁能预料我们得救所需要的最小限度的时间是多少呢？在诺第留斯号可能回到水面之前，缺乏氧气不是就把我们窒息死了吗？难道这船是连同它载上的所有的人都注定死在这冰的坟墓中吗？看来情形十分可怕。但人人都正视它，人人都决心尽各人的责任，坚持到底。
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?
照我的预见，在夜间，又有一片一米厚的冰从这巨大的圆圈中挖去。但是，到了早晨，当我穿上了潜水衣，在零下六、七度温度下，走过海水时，我看到旁边的冰墙渐渐地连接起来了。在水坑中远一点的水，因为人的劳力和工具的作用不能使它温热，现出要冻结的情势。面前发生了这个新的危险，我们得救的机会将是怎样呢？这种海水中间的冻结作用，可能把诺第留斯号的船壳像玻璃一样压碎，怎样加以防止呢？
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.
我并不让我的两个同伴知道这个危险，以免他们做这种辛苦救护工作的勇气受到打击。不过，当我回到船上的时候，我向尼摩船长提出，要他注意这种严重的复杂情形。
"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."
“我知道这事，”他对我说，他总是这样，最可怕的意外也不能更改他的镇定，“这是多加了一个危险，我看不见有什么方法可以躲过。我们得救的唯一机会，就是我们的工作比冻结作用进行得更快。问题在于谁先抢在前面。”
Get there first! By then I should have been used to this type of talk!
抢在前面！我早就应该习惯于这种说法了！
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.
这一天，在好几个钟头内，我坚持顽强地挥动铁锨。这工作支持和鼓励我。并且，工作就等于离开诺第留斯号，也就是直接呼吸那现在是从储藏库取来的、由空气箱供应的纯洁空气，就是离开那贫乏和恶浊的船上空气。
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。当我回到船上时，我吸了空气中饱和的碳酸气，差不多窒息了。啊！我们为什么没有方法来消除这种有害的气体呢！我们并不缺乏氧。这海水中含有大量的氧，我们的强力电池可以把它分解出来，它可能给我们把那兴奋刺激人的气体回复了原来状态。我想过这事，但有利：么用处，因为，由我们呼吸产生的碳酸气已经侵入船上各部分了。吸收碳酸气，要把氯化钾放在排气管中，不停地摇动玻璃管。可是船上缺乏氯化钾，没有别的物质可以替代。
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.
这一晚上，尼摩船长必须打开储藏库的龙头，放出数阵纯洁空气到诺第留斯号内部。没有这种措施，也许我们早上就不能醒来。
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，我又做矿工的工作，要把第五米的冰挖出来。冰山的两侧和底层显然加厚了。很显然，这些冰块在诺第留斯号可能脱身之前，都要凝结起来。我一时感到绝望。我的铁锨差不多要从我手中掉下来了。挖有什么用处，既然我要被窒息死，被这变为石头的水所压扁，就是野蛮人的残酷也没有发明出这样的一种酷刑。好像我是夹在一个怪物的牙床里面，无法抵抗，逐渐收紧在利齿中了。
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.
这时候，尼摩船长指挥工作，他自己也工作，从我身边走过。我手挨他，把我们冰监牢的墙壁指给他看。船右舷的冰墙挨近诺第留斯号的船身不及四米了。
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.
船长明白我的意思，做个手势，要我跟着他走。我们回到船上。我的潜水衣脱下后，我随他到客厅中。
"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."
“阿龙纳斯先生，”他对我说，“我们要使用些特殊奇妙的方法，不然的话，我们就要被封在这凝固的冰中，像被封在洋灰中那样。”
"Yes!" I said. "But what can we do?"
“对！”我说，“但怎么办呢？”
"Oh," he exclaimed, "if only my Nautilus were strong enough to stand that much pressure without being crushed!"
“啊！”他喊道，“我的诺第留斯号是不是有足够力量，可以支持这种压力，不至被压扁呢？”
"Well?" I asked, not catching the captain's meaning.
“那么将怎样呢？”我问。我不明白船长的意思。
"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?"
“您不明白这水的冻结作用可以帮助我们！您没有看见因为水的凝固，它可以炸开那困住我们的冰场，就像它在冰冻的时候，它可以炸开最坚硬的石头那样！您没有觉得它并不是毁灭人的力量，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."
“对，船长，或者是这样。但是，不管诺第留斯号有怎样的抵抗力，它不可能支持那种大得怕人的压力，”它要被压扁，像一片钢叶了。”
"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，我知道这点。那么，我们不能指望大自然的帮助，要完全依靠我们自己了。那就得反抗这种凝固作用，就得消除它。不单是两侧的冰壁愈来愈紧了，而且诺第留斯号的前头或后面也没有剩下十英尺水了。凝固作用是从各方面向我们进攻了。”
"How long," I asked, "will the oxygen in the air tanks enable us to breathe on board?"
“储藏库中的空气，可以我们在船上呼吸多少时候？”
The captain looked me straight in the eye.
我问船长跟我面面相觑地说
"After tomorrow," he said, "the air tanks will be empty!"
“后天，储藏库就空了！”
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。不过，对他的回答我还用得着诧异吗？3月22日，诺第留斯号潜入南极流畅的水底下。今天是260，五天以来，我们生活的空气就完全依靠船上的储藏了！而这留下可以呼吸的空气又要保留给工作人员。就是我现在写这些事件的时候，我的印象还是十分深刻，我全身发生一种自然而然的恐怖，好像我的肺叶中是没有空气了！
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，尼摩船长在那里思考，一言不发，站着不动。显然是他心中有了一个主意。但他好像又不接受。他自己给了否定的答复。后来，他嘴里说出这话来，他低声说：
"Boiling water!" he muttered.
“开水”
"Boiling water?" I exclaimed.
“开水？”我问。
"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。我们是被关在一个相当窄的空间里面。开水喷射，不断从诺第留斯号的怞水机放出来，不是可以提高这空间的温度，延缓水的冻结吗？”
"It's worth trying!" I said resolutely.
“这要试一试。”我坚定他说。
"So let's try it, professor."
“我们要试一试，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.
那时在外面的温度表指着零下七度。尼摩船长领我到厨房中，那里有许多复杂的蒸馏器，由蒸发作用供应我们可以喝的开水。机器装满了水，电池所有的电热都投到浸在水中的螺旋管中去。几分钟后，这水就达到沸点。把开水送入怞气机中，同时就有冷水进来，补充流出去的开水。电池发出的热力达到很高的程度，从海中吸进的凉水，单单经过机器，一到怞气机中就滚开了。
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.
开水的放射开始，三小时后，在外面的温度表指着零下六度；温度提高一度。两小时后，温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."
我看了这种工作的进展，同时从许多地方加以检查，我对船长说：“我们一定可以成功。”
"I think so," he answered me. "We've escaped being crushed. Now we have only asphyxiation to fear."
“我想可以成功，”船长回答我说，“我们不至被压扁了。我们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.
在夜间，水的温度又提高了一度。开水的放射力量不能使温度再提高了。可是海水的冰冻作用要再下两度才能发生，因此我们得到保证，不至有凝固的危险了。
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，六米厚的冰从这冰窝中挖去了。还剩下四米厚的冰需要挖去。还要四十八小时的工作。在诺第留斯号内部，空气不可能调换。因此这一天的情形是更坏了。
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:
一种不可忍受的重浊空气使我难过。下午三点左右，这种痛苦感觉到了猛烈的程度。呵欠喘气把我的上下鄂都弄歪了。我的肺叶迫切寻求有活力的氧，“白是呼吸所必不可少的东西，现在愈来愈稀薄了。我的精神完全在昏沉沉的状态中。我没有气力地躺下来，差不多失去了知觉。我的忠实的康塞尔有了同样的病征，受着同样的苦府，他在我身边，再不离开我。他拉着我的手，他鼓励我，我还听到他低声说：
"Oh, if only I didn't have to breathe, to leave more air for master!"
“啊！如果我可以不呼吸，让先生可以多有些空气！”
It brought tears to my eyes to hear him say these words.
我听到他说这话，不觉眼中满是泪水。
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!
对我们全体来说，我们在船上都觉得难受，所以轮到自己挖冰的时候，人人都很迅速地、很高兴地穿上潜水衣，立即出去工作！铁锨在冰层上通通作响。胳膊累了，手弄破了，但这些疲倦算什么，这些伤口有什么要紧！总算有新鲜空气到肺中了！人们总可以呼吸了！人们总可以呼吸了！
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，没有谁超出指定的时间，延长自己在水下的工作。备人工作完了，各人就将有氧气放出来的气箱交给自己的同伴。尼摩船长自己先做个榜样，他第一个遵守这种严格的纪律。时间到了，他把他的气箱给另一个人，回到船上有害的大气中，他老是那么镇定，一点不示弱，不发一句怨言。
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!
这一天，一定的工作经常是更有力地完成了。在整个面积上，只剩下两米的冰要挖去。把我们跟自由海水分开的，只有两米的冰了。可是储藏库差不多空了。剩下的一些空气只能保留给工作人员使用。一点也不能绘诺第留斯号！
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.
当我回到船上的时候，我是半窒息了。多么难过的夜！我简直不能加以描写。这样的一类痛苦是木可能写出来的。第二天，我的呼吸阻塞不通。头脑疼痛又加上昏沉发晕，使我成为一个醉人。我的同伴们也感到同样的难受。有些船员已经呼吸急促，正在发喘了。
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.
这一天，我们的监牢剩下第六层的最后一米冰，尼摩船长觉得铁锨挖得大慢，决定用高压力来冲开那个把我们和底下水面分开的冰层。这个人仍然保持他原有的冷静和精力。他拿他的精神力量抑制他的肉体痛苦。他思想，他计划，他执行。
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，船减轻了分量，就是说，由于重力的变化，它从冰冻的一层浮起来。当它浮起来的时候，人们就想法把它拖到照它的浮标线所画出的宽大的坑上。然后，让它的储水池装满了水，它降下，装在坑里。
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.
这时候，所有的船员都回到船上来，跟外间交通的两重门都紧闭起。诺第留斯号这时是躺在冰层上，这冰层只有一米厚，并且有千百处被探测器钻通。
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.
储水池的龙头于是完全打开来，一百立方米的水都流进去，把诺第留斯号的重量增加了十万公厅。
We waited, we listened, we forgot our sufferings, we hoped once more. We had staked our salvation on this one last gamble.
我们等着，我们听着，忘记了我们的痛苦，仍然抱着希望。我们好像赌博，得救与否，完全看这最后一着了。
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.
不管我脑子中嗡嗡作响，昏舌、不清，但不久我听到诺第留斯号船身下颤抖了。下陷的作用发生了。冰层破裂，发出新奇的声响，像撕纸的声音一样，诺第留斯号渐渐沉下去。
"We're going through!" Conseil muttered in my ear.
“我们穿过去了！”康塞尔在我耳边低声说。
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，紧紧握住他的手。
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!
突然间，诺第留斯号被它的过分重量所带走，像一颗炮弹沉入水中，就是说，它掉下去，像它在真空中尽可能快地掉下去那样！
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.
于是把所有的电力都送到怞水机上，怞水机立即把储水池中的水排出。几分钟后，我们的下降停止。并且不久，压力表就指出船是在上升。推进器全速开行，船身钢板发生震动，一直在螺丝钉上都感到，它带我们向北方驶去。
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，现在从冰山下到自由海的航行，要延长多少时候呢，还要一天吗？如果是这样的话，那我仍不免要死在前头了！
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.
我半身躺在图书室的长沙发椅上，我不能出气了。我的脸孔发紫，我的双唇变蓝，我身体器官失灵。我看不见，我听不到。时间的概念在我心中消减了。我的肌肉不能伸缩了。
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 . . .
这样度过的时间，我不可能估量。但我意识到我临死的痛苦开始了。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?
忽然我苏醒过来。几口空气吹入我的肺中。我们是回升到了水面吗？我们是越过冰山了吗？
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-兰和康塞尔，我的两个忠实朋友，他们牺牲自己来救我。还有些空气留在一个气箱里面；他们不呼吸它，他们给我保存起来，当他们窒总的时候，他们把一点一滴的生命送给我！我要把气箱推开；他们扯住我的手，于是我很快意地呼吸了一会儿空气。
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.
我的眼光向大钟看去，正是早上十一点。这天应当是8月28日。诺第留斯号以每小时四十海里的惊人速度行驶。它简直是在水中作痛苦的挣扎了。
Where was Captain Nemo? Had he perished? Had his companions died with him?
尼摩船长在哪里？他丧失了生命吗？他的同伴们跟他同时牺牲了吗？
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?
这时候，压力表指出，我们距水面只有二十英尺。单单有一座冰场把我们跟大气分开。我们不可以冲开它吗？
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.
总之，诺第留斯号去做这种工作了。是的，我感到它采取倾斜的方位，把后部下降，将前面的冲角挺起来。水装进去，就足以使它不平衡。然后，由于它的强力推进器的推动，它从冰场下面，像一架强大的攻城机冲上去。“它先把冰场渐渐撞开，然后退下来，再用全速力向裂开的冰场冲去，最后，它被极大的冲击力带走，它跳上了受它的体重所憧碎的冰面。
The hatches were opened--or torn off, if you prefer--and waves of clean air were admitted into every part of the Nautilus.
嵌板是打开了，可以说是拔开了，纯洁空气像潮水一般涌人诺第留斯号船上所有各部分来了。