THE WAY HE SAID THIS, the unexpectedness of this scene, first the biography of this patriotic ship, then the excitement with which this eccentric individual pronounced these last words--the name Avenger whose significance could not escape me--all this, taken together, had a profound impact on my mind. My eyes never left the captain. Hands outstretched toward the sea, he contemplated the proud wreck with blazing eyes. Perhaps I would never learn who he was, where he came from or where he was heading, but more and more I could see a distinction between the man and the scientist. It was no ordinary misanthropy that kept Captain Nemo and his companions sequestered inside the Nautilus's plating, but a hate so monstrous or so sublime that the passing years could never weaken it.
这种说话方式，这个意外场面，这艘爱国战舰的历史事件，开头是淡淡他讲述，但是当这个古怪人物说出他最后几句话的时候，却已满怀激动的情绪。这个“复仇号”的名字，这个名字的意义，特别引起我的注意；这一切结合起来，深深打动我的心神。我的眼光不离开船长，注视着他。他，两手向海伸出，火热的眼睛看那光荣战舰的残骸。或者我永远不知道他是谁，从哪里来，到哪里去，但我愈来愈清楚地把这个人从仅是有学问的学者当中区分出来了。把尼摩船长和他的同伴们关闭在诺第留斯号船壳中的，并不是一种普通的愤世情绪，而是一种时间所不能削弱的，非常奇特的，非常崇高的仇恨。
Did this hate also hunger for vengeance? Time would soon tell.
这种仇恨还是要找报复吗？将来不久就要让我知道。
Meanwhile the Nautilus rose slowly to the surface of the sea, and I watched the Avenger's murky shape disappearing little by little. Soon a gentle rolling told me that we were afloat in the open air.
可是，诺第留斯号慢慢地回到海而上来，我看着复仇号的模糊形象渐渐消失。不久，有些轻微的摇摆给我指出，我们是浮在自由空气中的水面上了。
Just then a hollow explosion was audible. I looked at the captain. The captain did not stir.
这时候，有一种轻微的爆炸声发出。我眼看着船长，船长直立不动。
"Captain?" I said.
“船长？”我说。
He didn't reply.
他不回答。
I left him and climbed onto the platform. Conseil and the Canadian were already there.
我离开他，到平台上去。康塞尔和加拿大人比我先在乎台上了。
"What caused that explosion?" I asked.
“哪里的爆炸声？“我问。
"A cannon going off," Ned Land replied.
“是一下炮响。”尼德-兰回答。
I stared in the direction of the ship I had spotted. It was heading toward the Nautilus, and you could tell it had put on steam. Six miles separated it from us.
我眼光向我早先见到的那只汽船的方位望去。它向诺第留斯号驶来，人们看到它加大气压，迅速追赶。它距我们只有六海里。
"What sort of craft is it, Ned?"
“尼德，那是什么船？”
"From its rigging and its low masts," the Canadian replied, "I bet it's a warship. Here's hoping it pulls up and sinks this damned Nautilus!"
“看它的帆索船具，看它的桅杆高度，”加拿大人回答，“我敢打赌那是一艘战舰。它希望追上我们，必要的话，把诺第留斯号这怪物击沉！”
"Ned my friend," Conseil replied, "what harm could it do the Nautilus? Will it attack us under the waves? Will it cannonade us at the bottom of the sea?"
“尼德朋友，”康塞尔说，“它可能对诺第留斯号加以伤害吗？它可能做水下攻击吗？“它可能炮轰海底吗？”
"Tell me, Ned," I asked, "can you make out the nationality of that craft?"
“尼德，您告诉我，”我说，“您能认出这船的国籍吗？”
Creasing his brow, lowering his lids, and puckering the corners of his eyes, the Canadian focused the full power of his gaze on the ship for a short while.
"No, sir," he replied. "I can't make out what nation it's from. It's flying no flag. But I'll swear it's a warship, because there's a long pennant streaming from the peak of its mainmast."
“不，”他回答，“先生，我不能认出它是属于哪一国籍。它没有挂旗。但我可以肯定，它是一艘战舰。”
For a quarter of an hour, we continued to watch the craft bearing down on us. But it was inconceivable to me that it had discovered the Nautilus at such a distance, still less that it knew what this underwater machine really was.
在一刻钟的时间内，我们继续观察这只向我们驶来的大船。但是，我不能相信它从这个距离就能认出诺第留斯号，更不能相信它会知道这个潜水艇是什么。
Soon the Canadian announced that the craft was a big battleship, a double-decker ironclad complete with ram. Dark, dense smoke burst from its two funnels. Its furled sails merged with the lines of its yardarms. The gaff of its fore-and-aft sail flew no flag. Its distance still kept us from distinguishing the colors of its pennant, which was fluttering like a thin ribbon.
不久加拿大人通知我，那是一艘大战舰，有冲角，有两层铁甲板。浓厚的黑烟从它的两座烟囱喷出来。它的帆彼此挤得很紧，跟帆架错杂在一起。帆架上没有悬挂任何旗帜。距离还远，不能辨认它的信号旗的颜色，这信号旗像一条薄带在空中飘扬。
It was coming on fast. If Captain Nemo let it approach, a chance for salvation might be available to us.
它迅速前来。如果尼摩船长让它近前，那么一个得救的机会就在我们面前了。
"Sir," Ned Land told me, "if that boat gets within a mile of us, I'm jumping overboard, and I suggest you follow suit."
“先生，”尼德-兰说，“这船距我们一海里的时候，我就跳到海中去，我同时建议您跟我一样做。”
I didn't reply to the Canadian's proposition but kept watching the ship, which was looming larger on the horizon. Whether it was English, French, American, or Russian, it would surely welcome us aboard if we could just get to it.
我不回答加拿大人的提议，我继续注视那船，眼看它愈来愈大了。不管它是英国船、法国船、美国船、俄国船，如果我们能到船上，它一定很欢迎我们。
"Master may recall," Conseil then said, "that we have some experience with swimming. He can rely on me to tow him to that vessel, if he's agreeable to going with our friend Ned."
“请先生好好回忆一下”康塞尔于是说，“上一次我们游水的经验。先生完全可以相信我，如果先生觉得跟着尼德朋友走是合适的话，我会把先生驮到那船边去的。”
Before I could reply, white smoke streamed from the battleship's bow. Then, a few seconds later, the waters splashed astern of the Nautilus, disturbed by the fall of a heavy object. Soon after, an explosion struck my ears.
我正要回答的时候，一道白烟从战舰的前部发出，几秒钟后，有一件重东西落下，把水搅乱，水花飞溅到诺第留斯号的后部。不一会儿，爆炸声传到我耳中来。
"What's this? They're firing at us!" I exclaimed.
“怎么？他们向我们开炮！”我喊。
"Good lads!" the Canadian muttered.
“勇敢的好人！”加拿大人低声说。
"That means they don't see us as castaways clinging to some wreckage!"
“他们并不把我们当作攀附在海上漂流破船的遇难人！”
"With all due respect to master--gracious!" Conseil put in, shaking off the water that had sprayed over him from another shell. "With all due respect to master, they've discovered the narwhale and they're cannonading the same."
“请先生原谅……好，”康塞尔把再打来的一个炮弹溅在他身上的水扑下去的时候说，“请先生原谅，他们认出这条独角鲸，他们炮打独角鲸哩。”
"But it must be clear to them," I exclaimed, "that they're dealing with human beings."
“可是他们要看清楚，”我喊，“他们面对着的是人呢。”
"Maybe that's why!" Ned Land replied, staring hard at me.
“或者正是为这个呢！”尼德-兰眼盯着我回答。
The full truth dawned on me. Undoubtedly people now knew where they stood on the existence of this so-called monster. Undoubtedly the latter's encounter with the Abraham Lincoln, when the Canadian hit it with his harpoon, had led Commander Farragut to recognize the narwhale as actually an underwater boat, more dangerous than any unearthly cetacean!
我心中得到了全面的启示。肯定的，人们现在已经知道。应该怎样看待这个所谓怪物的存在。无疑的，当它跟林肯号接触，加拿大人用鱼叉打它的时候，法拉古司令认出这条独角鲸实际是一只潜水船，比神怪的鲸科动物更危险的东西。
Yes, this had to be the case, and undoubtedly they were now chasing this dreadful engine of destruction on every sea!
对，事情应该是这样，无疑的，在所有的海面上，人们现在正追逐这可怕的毁灭性机器!
Dreadful indeed, if, as we could assume, Captain Nemo had been using the Nautilus in works of vengeance! That night in the middle of the Indian Ocean, when he imprisoned us in the cell, hadn't he attacked some ship? That man now buried in the coral cemetery, wasn't he the victim of some collision caused by the Nautilus? Yes, I repeat: this had to be the case. One part of Captain Nemo's secret life had been unveiled. And now, even though his identity was still unknown, at least the nations allied against him knew they were no longer hunting some fairy-tale monster, but a man who had sworn an implacable hate toward them!
是的，我可以这样假定，如果尼摩船长拿诺第留斯号来进行报复，那当然很可怕！那一夜，我们被禁在我们的小房中，在印度洋上，它不是攻击了某些船只吗？那个葬在珊瑚墓地的人，他不是因为诺第留斯号所引起的冲击的牺牲者吗？是的，我一再说。看来事情确实是这样。尼摩船长的神秘生活的一部分被揭露出来了。他的身份虽然没有证明，但至少，联合起来反对它的国家，现在是追打一个不是空想的怪物，而是对各国有深仇宿恨的人!
This whole fearsome sequence of events appeared in my mind's eye. Instead of encountering friends on this approaching ship, we would find only pitiless enemies.
整个怕人可怪的这段往事都在我眼前现出来。在这只追赶前来的船上，我们碰不见朋友，我们只见到无情的敌人。
Meanwhile shells fell around us in increasing numbers. Some, meeting the liquid surface, would ricochet and vanish into the sea at considerable distances. But none of them reached the Nautilus.
可是，更多的炮弹在我们周围落下。有些碰在水面上，只碰一下就跳起来，落在距离很远的海面不见了．没有一颗打中诺第留斯号。
By then the ironclad was no more than three miles off. Despite its violent cannonade, Captain Nemo hadn't appeared on the platform. And yet if one of those conical shells had scored a routine hit on the Nautilus's hull, it could have been fatal to him.
那艘铁甲舰距我们只有三海里了。不管它的猛烈炮击，尼摩船长并不到平台上来。可是，如果一颗这种锥形炮弹正规地打在诺第留斯号船壳上，可能是它的致命伤。
The Canadian then told me:
加拿大人于是对我说。
"Sir, we've got to do everything we can to get out of this jam! Let's signal them! Damnation! Maybe they'll realize we're decent people!"
“先生，我们应当尽力想法，解除我们月前的危俭。我：们发出信号吧！天塌下也不管了！人们或者明白我们是正直善良的人！”
Ned Land pulled out his handkerchief to wave it in the air. But he had barely unfolded it when he was felled by an iron fist, and despite his great strength, he tumbled to the deck.
尼德-兰拿出他的手中，在空中招摇。但他刚把手中打开来，虽然他有非常大的气力，但他马上就被一只铁一般的手掀倒在平台板上。
"Scum!" the captain shouted. "Do you want to be nailed to the Nautilus's spur before it charges that ship?"
“浑东西！”船长喊，“你要我在诺第留斯号冲击那只战船之前，先把你钉在它的冲角上吗？”
Dreadful to hear, Captain Nemo was even more dreadful to see. His face was pale from some spasm of his heart, which must have stopped beating for an instant. His pupils were hideously contracted. His voice was no longer speaking, it was bellowing. Bending from the waist, he shook the Canadian by the shoulders.
尼摩船长，听他的说话已经很可怕，看他的脸孔更是可怕。他的脸孔由于心脏的痉挛而变得苍白，看来他的心脏跳动是暂时停止了一下的。他的瞳人可怕地怞缩着。他的声音不是说话，而是吼起来了。他身向前弯，手下扭住加拿大人的肩头。
Then, dropping Ned and turning to the battleship, whose shells were showering around him:
然后把加拿大人放下，回头对着那把炮弹向我们周围雨点般打来的战船，用他强大的声音喊：
"O ship of an accursed nation, you know who I am!" he shouted in his powerful voice. "And I don't need your colors to recognize you! Look! I'll show you mine!"
“啊！你知道我是谁，你这被诅咒的国家的船！我不需要你的旗就认得你！你看！我给你看我的旗！”
And in the bow of the platform, Captain Nemo unfurled a black flag, like the one he had left planted at the South Pole.
尼摩船长在平台前头展开一面旗，这旗跟他在南极插下的相同。
Just then a shell hit the Nautilus's hull obliquely, failed to breach it, ricocheted near the captain, and vanished into the sea.
这时候，一颗炮弹纵斜地打到诺第留斯号船身上，但没有能损伤它，炮弹跳到船长附近，又落入海中了。
Captain Nemo shrugged his shoulders. Then, addressing me:
尼摩船长耸耸两肩。他向着我，用干脆的语气对我说：
"Go below!" he told me in a curt tone. "You and your companions, go below!"
“下去，下去，您和您的同伴们都下去。”
"Sir," I exclaimed, "are you going to attack this ship?"
“先生，”我喊，“您要攻打那船吗？”
"Sir, I'm going to sink it."
“先生，我要把它打沉。”
"You wouldn't!"
“您不要做这事！”
"I will," Captain Nemo replied icily. "You're ill-advised to pass judgment on me, sir. Fate has shown you what you weren't meant to see. The attack has come. Our reply will be dreadful. Get back inside!"
“我要做，”尼摩船长冷冷地回答，“您休想给我下判断，先生。命运注定给您看见了您不应该看见的事情。对方的攻击开始了，我的反击是很可怕的。您进去。”
"From what country is that ship?"
“这艘船是哪一国的？”
"You don't know? Fine, so much the better! At least its nationality will remain a secret to you. Go below!"
“您不知道吗？那么！最好！至少，它的国籍对您来说是一个秘密。您下去。”
The Canadian, Conseil, and I could only obey. Some fifteen of the Nautilus's seamen surrounded their captain and stared with a feeling of implacable hate at the ship bearing down on them. You could feel the same spirit of vengeance enkindling their every soul.
加拿大人、康塞尔和我，我们只能服从。十五六个诺第留斯号船上的水手围绕着船长，带着十分坚决的仇恨情绪注视那艘向他们追来的战舰。
I went below just as another projectile scraped the Nautilus's hull, and I heard the captain exclaim:
我下去的时候，又有一颗炮弹落在诺第留斯号身上，我听到船长喊：
"Shoot, you demented vessel! Shower your futile shells! You won't escape the Nautilus's spur! But this isn't the place where you'll perish! I don't want your wreckage mingling with that of the Avenger!"
“打吧，疯狂的战舰！尽情放出你无用的炮弹来！你决躲不过诺第留斯号的冲角。但你不应该在这个地点灭亡！我不愿你的残骸跟复仇号的光荣残骸相混！”
I repaired to my stateroom. The captain and his chief officer stayed on the platform. The propeller was set in motion. The Nautilus swiftly retreated, putting us outside the range of the vessel's shells. But the chase continued, and Captain Nemo was content to keep his distance.
我回到房中。船长和他的副手留在平台上。推进器转动起来，诺第留斯号迅速避开，到战舰炮弹射程不能及的地方。但它仍然继续追来，尼摩船长仅仅使它保持一定距离。
Near four o'clock in the afternoon, unable to control the impatience and uneasiness devouring me, I went back to the central companionway. The hatch was open. I ventured onto the platform. The captain was still strolling there, his steps agitated. He stared at the ship, which stayed to his leeward five or six miles off. He was circling it like a wild beast, drawing it eastward, letting it chase after him. Yet he didn't attack. Was he, perhaps, still undecided?
下午四点左右，使我非常苦恼的那种焦急不安的情绪，再也抑制不住我自己了，我又到中央楼梯那边去，嵌板开着。我冒险到平台上。船长脚步激动地还在那里踱来踱去。他注视在他后面五六海里的战舰。他像野兽一般，在战舰周围转来转去，把它引到东方，让它追来。不过他并不回击。他或者还是迟疑不决吗？
I tried to intervene one last time. But I had barely queried Captain Nemo when the latter silenced me:
我想作一次最后的努力。但我刚要开口，他就不许我说话，要我禁声。他对我说：
"I'm the law, I'm the tribunal! I'm the oppressed, and there are my oppressors! Thanks to them, I've witnessed the destruction of everything I loved, cherished, and venerated--homeland, wife, children, father, and mother! There lies everything I hate! Not another word out of you!"
“我是权利！我是正义！我是被压迫的，瞧，那就是压迫者！由于他，所有一切我热爱过的，亲热过的，尊敬过的，祖园、爱人、子女、我的父亲、我的母亲，他们全死亡了！所有我仇恨的一切，就在那里！您不许说话！”
I took a last look at the battleship, which was putting on steam. Then I rejoined Ned and Conseil.
我眼光最后向那艘战舰看一下，它正加紧追来。随后我找到尼德和康塞尔，我喊道：
"We'll escape!" I exclaimed.
“我们逃走！”
"Good," Ned put in. "Where's that ship from?"
“好。”已德说，“战舰是哪一国的？”
"I've no idea. But wherever it's from, it will sink before nightfall. In any event, it's better to perish with it than be accomplices in some act of revenge whose merits we can't gauge."
“我不知道。不管它是哪一国的，黑夜来临前它一定要被击沉。总之，与其充当还不知道是否正义的报复行为的同谋人，倒不如跟它一起死亡。”
"That's my feeling," Ned Land replied coolly. "Let's wait for nightfall."
“这正是我的意见，”尼德-兰冷淡地回答，“我们等到黑夜再说。”
Night fell. A profound silence reigned on board. The compass indicated that the Nautilus hadn't changed direction. I could hear the beat of its propeller, churning the waves with steady speed. Staying on the surface of the water, it rolled gently, sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other.
黑夜来了。船上只是一片深沉的静默。罗盘指出诺第留斯号没有改变它的方向。我听到它的推进器转动，规律迅速地搅打海水。它浮在水波上，水波的轻微摆动时而使它转向这一边，时而使它转向那一边。
My companions and I had decided to escape as soon as the vessel came close enough for us to be heard--or seen, because the moon would wax full in three days and was shining brightly. Once we were aboard that ship, if we couldn't ward off the blow that threatened it, at least we could do everything that circumstances permitted. Several times I thought the Nautilus was about to attack. But it was content to let its adversary approach, and then it would quickly resume its retreating ways.
我的同伴和我，我们决心在战舰相当近前的时候就逃出去，或者我们可以被听到，或者我们可以被看见，因为月亮过三天就圆了，照得很亮。一经到了战舰上面，就是我们不能阻止危害它的袭击，至少我们是做了环境许可我们做的一切。有几次，我以为诺第留斯号就要下手攻击了。但它仅仅让它的敌手近前来，并且过一会后，它又作逃避的姿态。
Part of the night passed without incident. We kept watch for an opportunity to take action. We talked little, being too keyed up. Ned Land was all for jumping overboard. I forced him to wait. As I saw it, the Nautilus would attack the double-decker on the surface of the waves, and then it would be not only possible but easy to escape.
黑夜的一部分时间平安地度过。我们等待时机，准备行动。我们差不多不说话，因为情绪十分激动。尼德-兰真想跳到海中去。我强迫他等待。照我的看法，诺第留斯号要在水面上攻击这艘带双层甲板的战舰，这样就不仅可能，并已容易逃走。
At three o'clock in the morning, full of uneasiness, I climbed onto the platform. Captain Nemo hadn't left it. He stood in the bow next to his flag, which a mild breeze was unfurling above his head. His eyes never left that vessel. The extraordinary intensity of his gaze seemed to attract it, beguile it, and draw it more surely than if he had it in tow!
早晨三点，我心中很不安，到平台上去。尼摩船长并没有走开。他站在船前头，挨近他的旗，旗受微风吹动，在他头上招展。他两眼不离开那艘战舰。他目光炯炯，有如电照，好像是吸引它，诱惑它，像驳船一样更确实可靠地把它位过来！
The moon then passed its zenith. Jupiter was rising in the east. In the midst of this placid natural setting, sky and ocean competed with each other in tranquility, and the sea offered the orb of night the loveliest mirror ever to reflect its image.
那时月亮经过子午线。木星升起在东方。在这和平的大自然中间，天空和海洋彼此竞赛安静，大海给黑夜的月轮当作一面最美丽的明镜，恐怕这面明镜从没有这样美地把月亮的影子照出来呢。
And when I compared this deep calm of the elements with all the fury seething inside the plating of this barely perceptible Nautilus, I shivered all over.
当我想到海天一色的深沉安静，跟所有酝酿在极其渺小的诺第留斯号里面的愤怒相比，较，我感到我整个生命都颤抖了。
The vessel was two miles off. It drew nearer, always moving toward the phosphorescent glow that signaled the Nautilus's presence. I saw its green and red running lights, plus the white lantern hanging from the large stay of its foremast. Hazy flickerings were reflected on its rigging and indicated that its furnaces were pushed to the limit. Showers of sparks and cinders of flaming coal escaped from its funnels, spangling the air with stars.
战舰在距我们两海里的地方。它驶前来，老是向着那表示诺第留斯号所在的磷光追来。我看见战舰绿色和红色的表示方位的灯光，以及挂在前面大桅椅上的白色船灯。模糊的反射光线显出它上面的船具，同时指出它的火力过度猛烈。一阵一阵的火花，一团一团燃着的煤渣，从它的烟囱中喷出来，像星光一样，散人空中。
I stood there until six o'clock in the morning, Captain Nemo never seeming to notice me. The vessel lay a mile and a half off, and with the first glimmers of daylight, it resumed its cannonade. The time couldn't be far away when the Nautilus would attack its adversary, and my companions and I would leave forever this man I dared not judge.
我这样一直在那里呆到早晨，尼摩船长好像一直就没有看见我。战舰跟我们还有一海里半的距离，到第一次曙光出现的时候，它的炮声又隆隆响起来。诺第留斯号攻击它的敌人，我的同伴和我，我们要永远离开我不敢加以判断的这个人的时刻，看来不久就到了。
I was about to go below to alert them, when the chief officer climbed onto the platform. Several seamen were with him. Captain Nemo didn't see them, or didn't want to see them. They carried out certain procedures that, on the Nautilus, you could call "clearing the decks for action." They were quite simple. The manropes that formed a handrail around the platform were lowered. Likewise the pilothouse and the beacon housing were withdrawn into the hull until they lay exactly flush with it. The surface of this long sheet-iron cigar no longer offered a single protrusion that could hamper its maneuvers.
我正要下去通知他们的时候，船上副手走到平台上，有：好几个水手跟着他。尼摩船长没有看见他们，或不愿看见他们。当时就采取了可以称为诺第留斯号的“战斗准备”的某些措施；这些措施很简单。先把在平台周围作为栏杆的线网放下来：同样，探照灯和领航人的笼间也藏到船身里面，仅仅挨着船身露出在水面。这条长形钢板雪前烟的外部，连一个可能阻碍它行动的突出部分，现在也没有了。
I returned to the lounge. The Nautilus still emerged above the surface. A few morning gleams infiltrated the liquid strata. Beneath the undulations of the billows, the windows were enlivened by the blushing of the rising sun. That dreadful day of June 2 had dawned.
我回到客厅中。诺第留斯号老是浮出水面。清晨的曙光有些渗入到水中。由于海浪的波动，玻璃窗受到初升太阳的红光，呈现生动活泼的气象。这可怕的6月2日开始了。
At seven o'clock the log told me that the Nautilus had reduced speed. I realized that it was letting the warship approach. Moreover, the explosions grew more intensely audible. Shells furrowed the water around us, drilling through it with an odd hissing sound.
五点，我看测程器，知道诺第留斯号的速度减慢了。我明白它是故意让敌人接近。并且炮声也一阵一阵响得更猛烈。炮弹滚人周围水中，发出奇异的呼啸声，对准海中射击
"My friends," I said, "it's time. Let's shake hands, and may God be with us!"
“朋友们，”我说，“时候到了。大家握一握手，愿上帝保护我们！”
Ned Land was determined, Conseil calm, I myself nervous and barely in control.
尼德-兰很坚定，康塞尔很镇静，我神经紧张，差不多抑制不住自己。
We went into the library. Just as I pushed open the door leading to the well of the central companionway, I heard the hatch close sharply overhead.
我们走人图书室。当我推开那扇对着中央楼梯笼间的门的时候，我听到上层嵌板忽然关闭了。
The Canadian leaped up the steps, but I stopped him. A well-known hissing told me that water was entering the ship's ballast tanks. Indeed, in a few moments the Nautilus had submerged some meters below the surface of the waves.
加拿大人奋身跳到梯阶上去，但我把他拉住。很熟悉的一声呼啸，使我知道水被吸人船上的储水池中来。是的，不一会，诺第留斯号就潜入水面下几米的深处。
I understood this maneuver. It was too late to take action.
我明白了它的行动目标；我们现在要行动已经迟了。
The Nautilus wasn't going to strike the double-decker where it was clad in impenetrable iron armor, but below its waterline, where the metal carapace no longer protected its planking.
诺第留斯号不想从坚固的铁甲上来攻打这艘有双层甲板的战舰；它是要在那战舰的浮标线下面，它的钢壳不能保护它的边缘地方来进行袭击。
We were prisoners once more, unwilling spectators at the performance of this gruesome drama. But we barely had time to think. Taking refuge in my stateroom, we stared at each other without pronouncing a word. My mind was in a total daze. My mental processes came to a dead stop. I hovered in that painful state that predominates during the period of anticipation before some frightful explosion. I waited, I listened, I lived only through my sense of hearing!
我们又被关起来，要被迫做正在准备中的凶恶惨剧的见证人。并且，我们差不多也没有时间来思考。我们躲到我的房间里面，大家面面相觑，一句话不说。我心中十分恍忽：思想也停滞了。我这时的处境就像等待某一种可怕的爆炸那样，十分难受。我等待着，注意听，我只有靠听觉来生活了！
Meanwhile the Nautilus's speed had increased appreciably. So it was gathering momentum. Its entire hull was vibrating.
可是，诺第留斯号的速度显然增大了。它现在采取的是前进的速度：它的整个船壳都颤抖了。
Suddenly I let out a yell. There had been a collision, but it was comparatively mild. I could feel the penetrating force of the steel spur. I could hear scratchings and scrapings. Carried away with its driving power, the Nautilus had passed through the vessel's mass like a sailmaker's needle through canvas!
突然我大喊一声。冲撞发生了，但相对较轻。我感到那钢铁冲角的穿透力量。我听到拉开来和送进去的声音。但诺第留斯号在推进器的强力推动下，从这艘战舰身上横冲过去，就像帆船上的尖杆穿过布帆那样！
I couldn't hold still. Frantic, going insane, I leaped out of my stateroom and rushed into the lounge.
我简直忍不住了。我像疯子一样，神经完全错乱，我跑出我的房间，急急走进客厅中。
Captain Nemo was there. Mute, gloomy, implacable, he was staring through the port panel.
尼摩船长在客厅中。沉默、忧郁、冷面无情，他通过左舷的嵌板，两眼注视看。
An enormous mass was sinking beneath the waters, and the Nautilus, missing none of its death throes, was descending into the depths with it. Ten meters away, I could see its gaping hull, into which water was rushing with a sound of thunder, then its double rows of cannons and railings. Its deck was covered with dark, quivering shadows.
一个庞大的物体沉到水底下来，诺第留斯号跟它一起下降到深渊中要亲眼看一看它临死时的惨痛。距我十米远，我看见这只船壳裂开，海水像雷鸣一般涌进去，然后水淹了两列大炮和吊床舱房。甲板上满是往来乱动的黑影。
The water was rising. Those poor men leaped up into the shrouds, clung to the masts, writhed beneath the waters. It was a human anthill that an invading sea had caught by surprise!
海水涌上来。那些受难的不幸的人都跳到桅墙网上，抓住桅墙，在水中挣扎，扭弯肢体。这简直就是突然被整个大海侵进来的人类蚂蚁窝！
Paralyzed, rigid with anguish, my hair standing on end, my eyes popping out of my head, short of breath, suffocating, speechless, I stared-- I too! I was glued to the window by an irresistible allure!
我麻痹了，像被临死的痛苦僵化了，头发竖起来了，两眼睁得很大，呼吸急促喘不过来，没有气息，没有声音，我也两眼盯着看！一种不可抗拒的吸引力使我紧紧贴在玻璃上面！
The enormous vessel settled slowly. Following it down, the Nautilus kept watch on its every movement. Suddenly there was an eruption. The air compressed inside the craft sent its decks flying, as if the powder stores had been ignited. The thrust of the waters was so great, the Nautilus swerved away.
那艘巨大战舰慢慢地下沉。诺第留斯号追随着它，窥伺着它的所有动作。忽然战舰上发生了爆炸。被压缩的空气把战舰的甲板轰跑了，就像船舱中着了火一样。海水涌入的力量十分强大，影响到诺第留斯号，它也倾斜了。
The poor ship then sank more swiftly. Its mastheads appeared, laden with victims, then its crosstrees bending under clusters of men, finally the peak of its mainmast. Then the dark mass disappeared, and with it a crew of corpses dragged under by fearsome eddies. . . .
这么一来，那艘不幸受害的战船就迅速地下沉。它的桅槁架满挤着遇难人，首先现出来，其次是它的横木架，上面有一串一串的人把它压得弯曲了，最后是那大桅顶。然后，那沉黑的巨体沉没水中，跟它一起，这一群死尸组成的船员都被强大无比的漩涡拉下……
I turned to Captain Nemo. This dreadful executioner, this true archangel of hate, was still staring. When it was all over, Captain Nemo headed to the door of his stateroom, opened it, and entered. I followed him with my eyes.
我转过头来看尼摩船长。这个可怕的裁判执行人，是真正的仇恨天神，眼睛老是盯着看。当一切都完了，尼摩船长向他的房门走去，把门打开，走进房中。我眼看着他。
On the rear paneling, beneath the portraits of his heroes, I saw the portrait of a still-youthful woman with two little children. Captain Nemo stared at them for a few moments, stretched out his arms to them, sank to his knees, and melted into sobs.
在他房间里面的嵌板上，他的那些英雄人物的肖像下面，我看到一个年纪还轻的妇人和两个小孩的肖像。尼摩船长两眼看这肖像一下，向像中人伸出两只胳膊，同时跪着，怞咽起来。