Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

海底二万里

   CHAPTER 4

   第二部 第四章

   The Red Sea

   红海

   DURING THE DAY of January 29, the island of Ceylon disappeared below the horizon, and at a speed of twenty miles per hour, the Nautilus glided into the labyrinthine channels that separate the Maldive and Laccadive Islands. It likewise hugged Kiltan Island, a shore of madreporic origin discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1499 and one of nineteen chief islands in the island group of the Laccadives, located between latitude 10 degrees and 14 degrees 30' north, and between longitude 50 degrees 72' and 69 degrees east.

   1月29日,锡兰岛远在天边看不见了,诺第留斯号的速度是每小时二十海里,驶人把马尔代夫群岛和拉克代夫群岛分开的弯弯曲曲的水道中。它又沿吉檀岛行驶,这岛原是珊瑚岛,1499年被法斯科-德-嘉马①发现,为拉克代夫群岛的十九座主要岛屿之一,位于北纬10度和14度30分之间,东经69度和50度72分之间。

   By then we had fared 16,220 miles, or 7,500 leagues, from our starting point in the seas of Japan.

   我们从日本海出发以来,到现在,我们已经走了一万六千二百二十海里,即七千五百里了。

   The next day, January 30, when the Nautilus rose to the surface of the ocean, there was no more land in sight. Setting its course to the north-northwest, the ship headed toward the Gulf of Oman, carved out between Arabia and the Indian peninsula and providing access to the Persian Gulf.

   第二天,1月30日,当诺第留斯号浮出洋面来的时候,看不见陆地了。船对着西北偏北方向,向阿曼海驶去,这海位于阿拉伯和印度岛之间,是波斯湾的出口。

   This was obviously a blind alley with no possible outlet. So where was Captain Nemo taking us? I was unable to say. Which didn't satisfy the Canadian, who that day asked me where we were going.

   很明白,波斯湾是不可能有出路的,是不能通行的海湾。那么尼摩船长带我们到哪里去呢?我说不上。这点。 加拿大人很不满意,因为他那一天问我,我们要到哪里去。

   "We're going, Mr. Ned, where the captain's fancy takes us."

   “尼德-兰师傅,随船长的意思,他愿意带我们到哪里,我们就到哪里。”

   "His fancy," the Canadian replied, "won't take us very far. The Persian Gulf has no outlet, and if we enter those waters, it won't be long before we return in our tracks."

   “随船长的意思,”加拿大人回答,“那他可不能带我们走得很远哩。波斯湾是没有出路的,我们进去,我们不久就要从原路回来。”

   "All right, we'll return, Mr. Land, and after the Persian Gulf, if the Nautilus wants to visit the Red Sea, the Strait of Bab el Mandeb is still there to let us in!"

   “好吧!兰师傅,我们回来就是了,走过波斯湾,诺第留斯号要走红海,巴布厄尔曼特海峡总在那里,可以给它一条通路驶过去。”

   "I don't have to tell you, sir," Ned Land replied, "that the Red Sea is just as landlocked as the gulf, since the Isthmus of Suez hasn't been cut all the way through yet; and even if it was, a boat as secretive as ours wouldn't risk a canal intersected with locks. So the Red Sea won't be our way back to Europe either."

   “先生,”尼德-兰回答,“我用不着告诉您,红海跟波斯湾一样是没有通路的,因为苏伊土地峡还没有凿通,即使凿通,我们这只怪船,恐怕也不方便在这些有堤堰和闸口的水道间冒险吧。所以,红海并不是带我们回到欧洲的路。”

   "But I didn't say we'd return to Europe."

   “所以,我只是说,我们可能要回欧洲去。”

   "What do you figure, then?"

   “那您是怎么设想的呢?”

   "I figure that after visiting these unusual waterways of Arabia and Egypt, the Nautilus will go back down to the Indian Ocean, perhaps through Mozambique Channel, perhaps off the Mascarene Islands, and then make for the Cape of Good Hope."

   “我设想,走过阿拉伯和埃及一带的新奇海水后,诺第留斯号重回到印度洋:或者经莫三鼻给海峡,或者走马斯加’林群岛海面,驶到好望角。”

   "And once we're at the Cape of Good Hope?" the Canadian asked with typical persistence.

   “到了好望角怎样呢?”加拿大人特别坚持地问。

   "Well then, we'll enter that Atlantic Ocean with which we aren't yet familiar. What's wrong, Ned my friend? Are you tired of this voyage under the seas? Are you bored with the constantly changing sight of these underwater wonders? Speaking for myself, I'll be extremely distressed to see the end of a voyage so few men will ever have a chance to make."

   “那么我们就要走入我们还不认得的大西洋了。朋友! 您对这种海底旅行感到疲倦了吗?您看见海底新奇的、时常变换的景象,难道无动于衷吗?对我来说,这种旅行将来差不多是没有人能做的了,要是这这样完结了,我真觉得十分遗憾。”

   "But don't you realize, Professor Aronnax," the Canadian replied, "that soon we'll have been imprisoned for three whole months aboard this Nautilus?"

   “不过,”加拿大人回答,“阿龙纳斯先生,您知道我们被禁在这只诺第留斯号船上快要到三个月了吗?”

   "No, Ned, I didn't realize it, I don't want to realize it, and I don't keep track of every day and every hour."

   “不,尼德,我不知道,我不想知道,我不计日,我也不计“结论呢?”

   "But when will it be over?"

   "In its appointed time. Meanwhile there's nothing we can do about it, and our discussions are futile. My gallant Ned, if you come and tell me, 'A chance to escape is available to us,' then I'll discuss it with you. But that isn't the case, and in all honesty, I don't think Captain Nemo ever ventures into European seas."

   “结论将有一夭到来。并且我们一点不能作主,我们现在讨论,完全无用。老实的尼德,如果您来跟我说:‘逃走的机会有了。’那我就来和您讨论。可是情形并不是这样,并且但白地对您说,我想尼摩船长可能永远不会冒险到欧洲海中去。”

   This short dialogue reveals that in my mania for the Nautilus, I was turning into the spitting image of its commander.

   As for Ned Land, he ended our talk in his best speechifying style: "That's all fine and dandy. But in my humble opinion, a life in jail is a life without joy."

   For four days until February 3, the Nautilus inspected the Gulf of Oman at various speeds and depths. It seemed to be traveling at random, as if hesitating over which course to follow, but it never crossed the Tropic of Cancer.

   在四天内,直至2月3日,诺第留斯号在不同速度和不同深度下走过了阿曼海。船好像是随意地行驶,因为它沿着走的航线很不一定,不过它从不越过北回归线。

   After leaving this gulf we raised Muscat for an instant, the most important town in the country of Oman. I marveled at its strange appearance in the midst of the black rocks surrounding it, against which the white of its houses and forts stood out sharply. I spotted the rounded domes of its mosques, the elegant tips of its minarets, and its fresh, leafy terraces. But it was only a fleeting vision, and the Nautilus soon sank beneath the dark waves of these waterways.

   离开阿曼海的时候,我们有一个短时间去认识马斯喀特城,它是阿曼地方最重要的城市。我很赞美它的奇异外表。但这仅仅是一瞬间的感觉,诺第留斯号不久就潜人这海面的深水中。

   Then our ship went along at a distance of six miles from the Arabic coasts of Mahra and Hadhramaut, their undulating lines of mountains relieved by a few ancient ruins. On February 5 we finally put into the Gulf of Aden, a genuine funnel stuck into the neck of Bab el Mandeb and bottling these Indian waters in the Red Sea.

   随后,它在距岸六海里的海面,沿马拉和哈达拉毛一带的阿拉伯海岸行驶,这一带海岸线上有起伏不平的山岭,间有一些古代遗迹。2月5月,我们进人亚丁湾,这湾是巴布厄尔曼特长颈形海峡的真正漏斗,把印度洋的水倒流入红海中。

   On February 6 the Nautilus cruised in sight of the city of Aden, perched on a promontory connected to the continent by a narrow isthmus, a sort of inaccessible Gibraltar whose fortifications the English rebuilt after capturing it in 1839. I glimpsed the octagonal minarets of this town, which used to be one of the wealthiest, busiest commercial centers along this coast, as the Arab historian Idrisi tells it.

   2月6日,诺第留斯号浮出水面,远远看见亚丁港,港筑在海呷上,一条很窄的地峡把它跟大陆连接起来。

   I was convinced that when Captain Nemo reached this point, he would back out again; but I was mistaken, and much to my surprise, he did nothing of the sort.

   我认为尼摩船长到了这个地方,一定要退回来,可是我错了,我很惊异,他并不这样做。

   The next day, February 7, we entered the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, whose name means "Gate of Tears" in the Arabic language. Twenty miles wide, it's only fifty-two kilometers long, and with the Nautilus launched at full speed, clearing it was the work of barely an hour. But I didn't see a thing, not even Perim Island where the British government built fortifications to strengthen Aden's position. There were many English and French steamers plowing this narrow passageway, liners going from Suez to Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne, Réunion Island, and Mauritius; far too much traffic for the Nautilus to make an appearance on the surface. So it wisely stayed in midwater.

   第二天,2月7日,我们走进巴布厄尔曼特海峡,这个’名字照阿拉伯语是“泪门”的意思。海峡二十海里宽,只有五十二公里长,对诺底留斯号来说。开足马力走过去,不过是1小时的事,但是我看不见什么,就是丕林岛也没有看到这岛是英国政府拿来使亚丁港的防卫更加巩固的。过多的英国船和法国船,从苏伊士到孟买、到加尔各答、到墨尔本到波旁、到毛利斯,都经过这狭窄的海峡,使诺第留斯号不慈浮出来。所以它很小心地只在水底下行驶。

   Finally, at noon, we were plowing the waves of the Red Sea.

   到了中午,我们就走在红海里面了。

   The Red Sea: that great lake so famous in biblical traditions, seldom replenished by rains, fed by no important rivers, continually drained by a high rate of evaporation, its water level dropping a meter and a half every year! If it were fully landlocked like a lake, this odd gulf might dry up completely; on this score it's inferior to its neighbors, the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea, whose levels lower only to the point where their evaporation exactly equals the amounts of water they take to their hearts.

   红海是《圣经》传说中的名湖,下雨也不凉爽,又没有一条大河流入,过度的蒸发使水量不断消失,平均每年有一米半厚的水面损失呢!真是奇怪的海湾,四面封闭,要是照一般湖沼的情况来说,应当早就完全干涸了。

   This Red Sea is 2,600 kilometers long with an average width of 240. In the days of the Ptolemies and the Roman emperors, it was a great commercial artery for the world, and when its isthmus has been cut through, it will completely regain that bygone importance that the Suez railways have already brought back in part.

   I would not even attempt to understand the whim that induced Captain Nemo to take us into this gulf. But I wholeheartedly approved of the Nautilus's entering it. It adopted a medium pace, sometimes staying on the surface, sometimes diving to avoid some ship, and so I could observe both the inside and topside of this highly unusual sea.

   我甚至于不想了解尼摩船长的意思,他为什么决定把我们带到这海湾中来。我完全赞同诺第留斯号进入红海。 它以中常速度行驶,有时浮出水面,有时潜入水底,躲避往来的船只,这样,我可以从水里面和水面上来观察这浪新奇的海。

   On February 8, as early as the first hours of daylight, Mocha appeared before us: a town now in ruins, whose walls would collapse at the mere sound of a cannon, and which shelters a few leafy date trees here and there. This once-important city used to contain six public marketplaces plus twenty-six mosques, and its walls, protected by fourteen forts, fashioned a three-kilometer girdle around it.

   2月8日,这一天的早晨,摩卡港出现在我们面前。

   Then the Nautilus drew near the beaches of Africa, where the sea is considerably deeper. There, through the open panels and in a midwater of crystal clarity, our ship enabled us to study wonderful bushes of shining coral and huge chunks of rock wrapped in splendid green furs of algae and fucus. What an indescribable sight, and what a variety of settings and scenery where these reefs and volcanic islands leveled off by the Libyan coast! But soon the Nautilus hugged the eastern shore where these tree forms appeared in all their glory. This was off the coast of Tihama, and there such zoophyte displays not only flourished below sea level but they also fashioned picturesque networks that unreeled as high as ten fathoms above it; the latter were more whimsical but less colorful than the former, which kept their bloom thanks to the moist vitality of the waters.

   随后,诺第留斯号走近非洲海岸,这一带的海就深得多了。这里,在水晶一般清澈的海水中间,从打开的嵌板,我可以细细看那色彩鲜明的珊瑚的奇妙丛林,那披上海带和黑角莱的华美青绿毛皮的一片片宽大岩石。与利比亚海岸相接的这些火山的暗礁和小岛,铺排成地毯一般,景色变化无穷,真是无法形容,无法描写!但是,海底这些丛生的枝状动物表现得最美丽的地方;还是在诺第留斯号就要驶到的东部的海岸附近。那是在铁哈马海岸一带,因为在这一带海岸,不单海面下有一层一层的花一般的植虫动物,而且这些植虫动物在二十米水深左右满是组成五色斑烂的图象花纹,但水底下的比接近水面的一层变化更多,颜色较为黯淡,因为近水面的一层受海水的湿润,保持着鲜艳的颜色。

   How many delightful hours I spent in this way at the lounge window! How many new specimens of underwater flora and fauna I marveled at beneath the light of our electric beacon! Mushroom-shaped fungus coral, some slate-colored sea anemone including the species Thalassianthus aster among others, organ-pipe coral arranged like flutes and just begging for a puff from the god Pan, shells unique to this sea that dwell in madreporic cavities and whose bases are twisted into squat spirals, and finally a thousand samples of a polypary I hadn't observed until then: the common sponge.

   我这样在客厅的玻璃窗户边,不知道度过了多少惬意进人的时间!我在我们的电光探照灯下,不知道欣赏了多少海底下的新品种动植物!有伞形菌;有石板色的多须峭;特别是晶形峭;有管珊瑚,像笛子一般,等着潘神①来吹,有这一带海中特产的贝壳,附生在造礁珊瑚的空洞中,下部有,很短的螺丝纹环绕,最后有成千成万的那种水媳类,那些就是我还没有看到过的普通海绵。

   First division in the polyp group, the class Spongiaria has been created by scientists precisely for this unusual exhibit whose usefulness is beyond dispute. The sponge is definitely not a plant, as some naturalists still believe, but an animal of the lowest order, a polypary inferior even to coral. Its animal nature isn't in doubt, and we can't accept even the views of the ancients, who regarded it as halfway between plant and animal. But I must say that naturalists are not in agreement on the structural mode of sponges. For some it's a polypary, and for others, such as Professor Milne-Edwards, it's a single, solitary individual.

   海绵纲是水熄类的第一纲,这一纲就是由这种非常有用处的新奇产物组成的。海绵并不是植物,像现在还有些……生物学家承认的那样。它是动物,不过是最低一目的动物,是比珊瑚更低的水熄丛。它的动物性是无可怀疑的,我们不能接受古代人的意见,认为它是动植物间的中介物。不过我要说,关于海绵的机体组织,生物学家还没有共同一致的意见。有些生物学家说海绵是水熄丛:另外一些,像爱德华先生,却认为它是独立的、单一的个体。

   The class Spongiaria contains about 300 species that are encountered in a large number of seas and even in certain streams, where they've been given the name freshwater sponges. But their waters of choice are the Red Sea and the Mediterranean near the Greek Islands or the coast of Syria. These waters witness the reproduction and growth of soft, delicate bath sponges whose prices run as high as 150 francs apiece: the yellow sponge from Syria, the horn sponge from Barbary, etc. But since I had no hope of studying these zoophytes in the seaports of the Levant, from which we were separated by the insuperable Isthmus of Suez, I had to be content with observing them in the waters of the Red Sea.

   海绵纲大约共有三百种,大多数的海中都有,并且也生在某部分淡水流里面,被称为”河水海绵”。不过海绵特别“繁殖的地方是地中海、希腊半岛、叙利亚海岸和红海一带。 在这一带海中,那些柔软细嫩的海绵繁殖得很快,每块价值达一百五十法郎,比如叙利亚的金色海绵,巴巴利亚的坚韧“海绵等。既然我们被苏伊土地峡分开,走不过去,我不可能-在近东各港湾里来研究这些植虫动物,我只得在红海中来观察它们了。

   So I called Conseil to my side, while at an average depth of eight to nine meters, the Nautilus slowly skimmed every beautiful rock on the easterly coast.

   所以,当诺第留斯号在平均八至九米的水层,慢慢溜过这些东部海岸的美丽岩石的时候,我叫康塞尔到我身边来。

   There sponges grew in every shape, globular, stalklike, leaflike, fingerlike. With reasonable accuracy, they lived up to their nicknames of basket sponges, chalice sponges, distaff sponges, elkhorn sponges, lion's paws, peacock's tails, and Neptune's gloves-- designations bestowed on them by fishermen, more poetically inclined than scientists. A gelatinous, semifluid substance coated the fibrous tissue of these sponges, and from this tissue there escaped a steady trickle of water that, after carrying sustenance to each cell, was being expelled by a contracting movement. This jellylike substance disappears when the polyp dies, emitting ammonia as it rots. Finally nothing remains but the fibers, either gelatinous or made of horn, that constitute your household sponge, which takes on a russet hue and is used for various tasks depending on its degree of elasticity, permeability, or resistance to saturation.

   在这一带海水里面,生长着各种形状的海绵,脚形海绵、卅状海绵、球形海绵、指形海绵。看见这些形状的海绵,诗人意味比学者意味重的渔人们给它们取的名字很美妙,例如花篮、花枣、羚羊角、狮子蹄、孔雀尾、海王手套等等……——,都是非常恰当的。从它们附有半液体胶质的纤维组织中,不断流出线一样的水,这线水把生命带进了每一个细胞中,成后就被收缩的运动排除出来。这种半液体胶质在水熄死后便不再分泌,它同时腐烂了,发出阿摩尼亚气体来。这时候就只剩下那日用海绵所有的角质纤维或胶质纤维了。刀用海绵是茶褐色,根据它的弹力、渗透力或抵抗浸渍力的程度大小,可以安排它作各种不同的用途。

   These polyparies were sticking to rocks, shells of mollusks, and even the stalks of water plants. They adorned the smallest crevices, some sprawling, others standing or hanging like coral outgrowths. I told Conseil that sponges are fished up in two ways, either by dragnet or by hand. The latter method calls for the services of a diver, but it's preferable because it spares the polypary's tissue, leaving it with a much higher market value.

   这些水螅丛附在岩石上,软体动物的介壳上,并且附在蛇婆茎上它们把最轻微的凹凸都铺平了,有的是摆开来。 有的是竖起或垂下,像珊瑚形成的瘤一样。我告诉了康塞尔,海绵可用两种方法来采取,或用打捞机,或用手。后一种方法要使用潜水的采绵人,这种方法比较好,因为不损伤水螅丛的纤维,可以给它保留了很高的使用价值。

   Other zoophytes swarming near the sponges consisted chiefly of a very elegant species of jellyfish; mollusks were represented by varieties of squid that, according to Professor Orbigny, are unique to the Red Sea; and reptiles by virgata turtles belonging to the genus Chelonia, which furnished our table with a dainty but wholesome dish.

   在海绵类旁边繁殖着的其他植虫动物,主要是形状很美观的一种水母。软体类有各种各样的枪乌贼,据奥比尼①说,这些枪乌贼是红海的特产。爬虫类有属于龟鳖属的条纹甲鱼,这种甲鱼可以供应我们餐桌上一盘又卫生又好吃砌食品。”

   As for fish, they were numerous and often remarkable. Here are the ones that the Nautilus's nets most frequently hauled on board: rays, including spotted rays that were oval in shape and brick red in color, their bodies strewn with erratic blue speckles and identifiable by their jagged double stings, silver-backed skates, common stingrays with stippled tails, butterfly rays that looked like huge two-meter cloaks flapping at middepth, toothless guitarfish that were a type of cartilaginous fish closer to the shark, trunkfish known as dromedaries that were one and a half feet long and had humps ending in backward-curving stings, serpentine moray eels with silver tails and bluish backs plus brown pectorals trimmed in gray piping, a species of butterfish called the fiatola decked out in thin gold stripes and the three colors of the French flag, Montague blennies four decimeters long, superb jacks handsomely embellished by seven black crosswise streaks with blue and yellow fins plus gold and silver scales, snooks, standard mullet with yellow heads, parrotfish, wrasse, triggerfish, gobies, etc., plus a thousand other fish common to the oceans we had already crossed.

   至于鱼类;这里有很多,并且很值得注意。下面是诺络留斯号的鱼网时常拉到船上来的鱼:鳃鱼类,里面有椭圆形、砖石色,身上有不等的蓝黑斑点的稣鱼,从它们身上带有双重的齿形刺就可以认出来。背色银白的白鳍鱼,尾带小点的赤醇鱼,以及锦带谭鱼,像长两米的宽大套子,在水中间滚来滚去。没齿稣,完全没有牙齿,是跟鲛鱼相近的软骨鱼。驼峰牡蛎,峰顶是弯的尖刺,身长一英尺半。蛇鱼类,像尾色银白、背上淡蓝、褐色胸部带灰色边线的海鳗一样。有光鱼,属鳍科的一种,身上有窄条的金色纹,带法国国旗的红蓝白三色。长四分米的楔形硬鳍鱼;美丽的加郎鱼,身上有漆黑的六条横带,蓝色和黄色的鳍)金色和银色的鳞。还有团足鱼,黄头耳形豚鱼,硬鳍斯加鱼,海婆鱼,箭鱼,虾虎鱼以及我们已经走过的海洋都有的其他千百种鱼类。

   On February 9 the Nautilus cruised in the widest part of the Red Sea, measuring 190 miles straight across from Suakin on the west coast to Qunfidha on the east coast.

   2月9日,诺第留斯号浮出在红海最宽阔的一部分海面上,海面的西岸是苏阿京,东岸是光享达,直径是一百丸十海里。

   At noon that day after our position fix, Captain Nemo climbed onto the platform, where I happened to be. I vowed not to let him go below again without at least sounding him out on his future plans. As soon as he saw me, he came over, graciously offered me a cigar, and said to me:

   这一天中午,在地图上记录了船行的方位后,尼摩船长走上平台来,正好我也在那里。我心中打算,对于他此后的航行计划如果得不到一些了解,我就不让他回船里面去。 他一看见我就走向前来,很礼貌地送我一支雪前烟,对我说:

   "Well, professor, are you pleased with this Red Sea? Have you seen enough of its hidden wonders, its fish and zoophytes, its gardens of sponges and forests of coral? Have you glimpsed the towns built on its shores?"

   “喂!教授,您喜欢这红海吗?您曾充分观察它所蕴藏伪奇异东西吗?它的鱼类和它的植虫类,它的海绵花坛和它的珊瑚森林吗?您曾望见散在海边的城市吗?”

   "Yes, Captain Nemo," I replied, "and the Nautilus is wonderfully suited to this whole survey. Ah, it's a clever boat!"

   “是的,尼摩船长,”我回答,“诺第留斯号是奇妙的最便于做这种研究的。啊!农真是一只聪明的有智慧的船!”

   "Yes, sir, clever, daring, and invulnerable! It fears neither the Red Sea's dreadful storms nor its currents and reefs."

   “不错,先生,又聪明,叉大胆,叉是不会受损伤的!它、不伯红海的厉害风暴,汹涌波涛,危险暗礁。”

   "Indeed," I said, "this sea is mentioned as one of the worst, and in the days of the ancients, if I'm not mistaken, it had an abominable reputation."

   “是的,,我说,“红海常被称为最厉害多风浪的海,如果、我没有记错,在上古时代,它的声名听来就使人讨厌。”

   "Thoroughly abominable, Professor Aronnax. The Greek and Latin historians can find nothing to say in its favor, and the Greek geographer Strabo adds that it's especially rough during the rainy season and the period of summer prevailing winds. The Arab Idrisi, referring to it by the name Gulf of Colzoum, relates that ships perished in large numbers on its sandbanks and that no one risked navigating it by night. This, he claims, is a sea subject to fearful hurricanes, strewn with inhospitable islands, and 'with nothing good to offer,' either on its surface or in its depths. As a matter of fact, the same views can also be found in Arrian, Agatharchides, and Artemidorus."

   “阿龙纳斯先生,是的,使人讨厌。希腊和拉丁的历史家没有说它好,史杜拉宾说,红海在刮北风和雨季的时期特别难航,特别厉害。阿捡伯人艾德利西是用哥尔藏海湾的名字来写红海的,他说有很多的船只在它的浮洲上就沉役了、没有人敢在夜间冒险航行。他认为,这海受厉害台风伪控制,处处有损害船只的小岛,不管在海底下和海面上,‘一点都没有好处。’”

   "One can easily see," I answered, "that those historians didn't navigate aboard the Nautilus."

   “很明白,-我马上说,“那就是因为这些历史家并没有在诺第留斯号船上航行过。”

   "Indeed," the captain replied with a smile, "and in this respect, the moderns aren't much farther along than the ancients. It took many centuries to discover the mechanical power of steam! Who knows whether we'll see a second Nautilus within the next 100 years! Progress is slow, Professor Aronnax."

   “是的,船长带着微笑回答,“关于这一点,近代人并没有比古代入进步。发明蒸汽力是要好几千百年的时间呢! 谁知道在一百年后,是否将有第二只诺第留斯号出现呢! 啊龙纳斯先生,进步是很慢的呢。”

   "It's true," I replied. "Your ship is a century ahead of its time, perhaps several centuries. It would be most unfortunate if such a secret were to die with its inventor!"

   “真的,-我回答,“您的船比它的时代进步了一世纪,或者好几世纪。这样一个秘密要跟它的发明人一同消逝,是多么不幸”

   Captain Nemo did not reply. After some minutes of silence:

   尼摩船长并不回答我的话。

   "We were discussing," he said, "the views of ancient historians on the dangers of navigating this Red Sea?"

   "True," I replied. "But weren't their fears exaggerated?"

   "Yes and no, Professor Aronnax," answered Captain Nemo, who seemed to know "his Red Sea" by heart. "To a modern ship, well rigged, solidly constructed, and in control of its course thanks to obedient steam, some conditions are no longer hazardous that offered all sorts of dangers to the vessels of the ancients. Picture those early navigators venturing forth in sailboats built from planks lashed together with palm-tree ropes, caulked with powdered resin, and coated with dogfish grease. They didn't even have instruments for taking their bearings, they went by guesswork in the midst of currents they barely knew. Under such conditions, shipwrecks had to be numerous. But nowadays steamers providing service between Suez and the South Seas have nothing to fear from the fury of this gulf, despite the contrary winds of its monsoons. Their captains and passengers no longer prepare for departure with sacrifices to placate the gods, and after returning, they don't traipse in wreaths and gold ribbons to say thanks at the local temple."

   "Agreed," I said. "And steam seems to have killed off all gratitude in seamen's hearts. But since you seem to have made a special study of this sea, captain, can you tell me how it got its name?"

   静默了几分钟后,我问:“船长,您好像是特别研究过这海,您可以让我知道红海这名字的来源吗?”

   "Many explanations exist on the subject, Professor Aronnax. Would you like to hear the views of one chronicler in the 14th century?"

   “阿龙纳斯先生,关于这问题有很多的解释。您愿意知道一个十四世纪的史学家的意见吗?”

   "Gladly."

   “当然愿意知道。”

   "This fanciful fellow claims the sea was given its name after the crossing of the Israelites, when the Pharaoh perished in those waves that came together again at Moses' command:

   “这位空想家认为‘红海’这个名字是在以色列人走过这海之后才有的,当时法老军队追赶他们到海上,海听到摩西的声音就涌上来,把法老军队淹没了①:

   To mark that miraculous sequel, the sea turned a red without equal.
Thus no other course would do but to name it for its hue."

   为表示这种神奇,变成为鲜红的海,自后除了”红海’的称呼再不能叫它别的名字了。”

   "An artistic explanation, Captain Nemo," I replied, "but I'm unable to rest content with it. So I'll ask you for your own personal views."

   “尼摩船长,”我回答,“这是诗人的解释,我不能满足。 所以我要问问您个人的意见。”

   "Here they come. To my thinking, Professor Aronnax, this 'Red Sea' designation must be regarded as a translation of the Hebrew word 'Edrom,' and if the ancients gave it that name, it was because of the unique color of its waters."

   “阿龙纳斯先生,照我的意思,我们要把红海名字看作为希伯来语‘爱德龙’一词的转译,古代的人所以称它这个名字,是由于这海的水有一种特殊颜色。”

   "Until now, however, I've seen only clear waves, without any unique hue."

   “可是,直到目前,我看见的都是清澈的水波,没有什么特殊颜色。”

   "Surely, but as we move ahead to the far end of this gulf, you'll note its odd appearance. I recall seeing the bay of El Tur completely red, like a lake of blood."

   “当然,’不过您走进这海湾的内部时,您就会看到这奇异现象。我回想起从前看过的多尔湾,完全红色,好像血湖一样。”

   "And you attribute this color to the presence of microscopic algae?"

   “这颜色,您认为是由于海中有某种微生海藻的存在吗?”

   "Yes. It's a purplish, mucilaginous substance produced by those tiny buds known by the name trichodesmia, 40,000 of which are needed to occupy the space of one square millimeter. Perhaps you'll encounter them when we reach El Tur."

   “是的。那是称为‘三棱藻’的细小植物所产生的朱红色的粘性物质,四万个这种植物,才占面积一平方厘米。说不定我们到多尔湾的时候,您就可以看到这些植物。”

   "Hence, Captain Nemo, this isn't the first time you've gone through the Red Sea aboard the Nautilus?"

   “尼摩船长,这样说来,您乘诺第留斯号经过红海,难道这回不是第一次吗?”

   "No, sir."

   “不是第一次,先生。”

   "Then, since you've already mentioned the crossing of the Israelites and the catastrophe that befell the Egyptians, I would ask if you've ever discovered any traces under the waters of that great historic event?"

   “那么,您上面说过以色列人走过这海和埃及军队淹没水中的事,我要问问您,您在海底下曾经看到这件历史大事的一些痕迹吗?”

   "No, professor, and for an excellent reason."

   “没看见,教授,因为有一个显明的理由。”

   "What's that?"

   “什么理由呢?”

   "It's because that same locality where Moses crossed with all his people is now so clogged with sand, camels can barely get their legs wet. You can understand that my Nautilus wouldn't have enough water for itself."

   “就是赐西带领他的人民走过的地方,现在完全是沙土了,差不多骆驼的腿也泡不湿了。您很明白,我的诺第留斯号没有足够的水,是不可能驶过那里。”

   "And that locality is . . . ?" I asked.

   “这地方在哪儿?……”我问。

   "That locality lies a little above Suez in a sound that used to form a deep estuary when the Red Sea stretched as far as the Bitter Lakes. Now, whether or not their crossing was literally miraculous, the Israelites did cross there in returning to the Promised Land, and the Pharaoh's army did perish at precisely that locality. So I think that excavating those sands would bring to light a great many weapons and tools of Egyptian origin."

   “这地方在苏伊士上面一点,在从前是很深的河口的海汉里面,因为当时红海的水面还一直伸到这些咸水湖中。 现在这条水道是不是能发生奇迹,暂且不管,但从前以色列人就是通过这里走到巴勒斯但去的,法老的军队也就是在这里被水淹没的。所以我想,在这些沙土中间来做发掘工作,一定可以发现埃及制造的大量武器和用具。”

   "Obviously," I replied. "And for the sake of archaeology, let's hope that sooner or later such excavations do take place, once new towns are settled on the isthmus after the Suez Canal has been cut through-- a canal, by the way, of little use to a ship such as the Nautilus!"

   “那很显然,”我回答,”同时希望考古学家有一天要把这种发掘工作赶快进行,因为苏伊士运flpffi穿后,许多新的城市就要在这地峡上建设起来了。对于诺第留斯号这样的一只船来说,这条运河实在没有什么用处!”

   "Surely, but of great use to the world at large," Captain Nemo said. "The ancients well understood the usefulness to commerce of connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, but they never dreamed of cutting a canal between the two, and instead they picked the Nile as their link. If we can trust tradition, it was probably Egypt's King Sesostris who started digging the canal needed to join the Nile with the Red Sea. What's certain is that in 615 B.C. King Necho II was hard at work on a canal that was fed by Nile water and ran through the Egyptian plains opposite Arabia. This canal could be traveled in four days, and it was so wide, two triple-tiered galleys could pass through it abreast. Its construction was continued by Darius the Great, son of Hystaspes, and probably completed by King Ptolemy II. Strabo saw it used for shipping; but the weakness of its slope between its starting point, near Bubastis, and the Red Sea left it navigable only a few months out of the year. This canal served commerce until the century of Rome's Antonine emperors; it was then abandoned and covered with sand, subsequently reinstated by Arabia's Caliph Omar I, and finally filled in for good in 761 or 762 A.D. by Caliph Al-Mansur, in an effort to prevent supplies from reaching Mohammed ibn Abdullah, who had rebelled against him. During his Egyptian campaign, your General Napoleon Bonaparte discovered traces of this old canal in the Suez desert, and when the tide caught him by surprise, he wellnigh perished just a few hours before rejoining his regiment at Hadjaroth, the very place where Moses had pitched camp 3,300 years before him."

   “不错,不过对全世界很有用。”船长回答,“古时的人很明白,在红海与地中海之间建立交通,对于他们的商业有很大的好处,可是他们没有想到发掘一条直通的运河,他们是利用尼罗河来作居间。按照传说,这条连接尼罗河和红海的运河,很可能在薛索斯土利斯王朝①就开始有了。其中确定的事实是,纪元前615年,尼哥斯②进行了一条运河的工程,引尼罗河水,穿过与阿拉伯相望的埃及平原。这条运河上溯航行需要四天的时间,河宽是两艘有三排桨的船可以并行无阻。运河工程由伊他斯比的儿子大流士③继续进行,大约在蒲图连美二世时代完工,史杜拉宾看见了这河作航行使用。不过在运河近布巴斯提地方的起点和红海之间的何床坡度大小,一年中只有几个月可以行船。直到安敦难②时代,这运河一直是商业贸易的途径:后来,由于‘哈利发’峨默尔⑤命令把运河放弃,就淤塞了,随后又修复起来;761年或762年,‘哈利发’阿利-蒙索尔要阻止粮食运到反抗他的穆罕默德-宾-阿比多拉那里,这运河便完全被填平了。”

   "Well, captain, what the ancients hesitated to undertake, Mr. de Lesseps is now finishing up; his joining of these two seas will shorten the route from Cadiz to the East Indies by 9,000 kilometers, and he'll soon change Africa into an immense island."

   “船长,那么,古代人不敢开凿的、把两个海连结起来并使加的斯到印度的航程缩短九千公里的这条运河,现在由德,勒赛普干起来了,不久,就要把非洲变为一个巨大的海岛了。”

   "Yes, Professor Aronnax, and you have every right to be proud of your fellow countryman. Such a man brings a nation more honor than the greatest commanders! Like so many others, he began with difficulties and setbacks, but he triumphed because he has the volunteer spirit. And it's sad to think that this deed, which should have been an international deed, which would have insured that any administration went down in history, will succeed only through the efforts of one man. So all hail to Mr. de Lesseps!"

   "Yes, all hail to that great French citizen," I replied, quite startled by how emphatically Captain Nemo had just spoken.

   "Unfortunately," he went on, "I can't take you through that Suez Canal, but the day after tomorrow, you'll be able to see the long jetties of Port Said when we're in the Mediterranean."

   “很可惜,”他又说,“我不能带您穿过苏伊士运河,但后夫,我们在地中海的时候,您可以望见塞得港的长堤。”

   "In the Mediterranean!" I exclaimed.

   “在地中海!”我喊道。

   "Yes, professor. Does that amaze you?"

   “是的,教授,这事您觉得奇怪吗?”

   "What amazes me is thinking we'll be there the day after tomorrow."

   “我觉得奇怪的是,后天我们就到地中海了。”

   "Oh really?"

   “为什么要奇怪呢?”

   "Yes, captain, although since I've been aboard your vessel, I should have formed the habit of not being amazed by anything!"

   "But what is it that startles you?"

   "The thought of how hideously fast the Nautilus will need to go, if it's to double the Cape of Good Hope, circle around Africa, and lie in the open Mediterranean by the day after tomorrow."

   “因为诺第留斯号经好望角,绕非洲一周,后天要在地中海,您必定要它以惊人的速度航行!”

   "And who says it will circle Africa, professor? What's this talk about doubling the Cape of Good Hope?"

   “教授谁告诉您,它要绕非洲一周呢?谁告诉您,它要经过好望角呢?”

   "But unless the Nautilus navigates on dry land and crosses over the isthmus--"

   “除非是它在陆地上行驶,和从地峡上面过去,那……”

   "Or under it, Professor Aronnax."

   “或从底下穿过去,阿龙纳斯先生。”

   "Under it?"

   “从底下穿过去吗?”

   "Surely," Captain Nemo replied serenely. "Under that tongue of land, nature long ago made what man today is making on its surface."

   “当然,”尼摩船长用很安静的语气回答,“很久以来,人们在这舌形地面上所做的,大自然早就在它底下做了。”

   "What! There's a passageway?"

   “怎么!原来底下有条通路!”

   "Yes, an underground passageway that I've named the Arabian Tunnel. It starts below Suez and leads to the Bay of Pelusium."

   “是的、底下有一条地道,我称它为阿拉伯海底地道。 地道在苏伊士下面,通到北路斯海湾。”

   "But isn't that isthmus only composed of quicksand?"

   “那么,这地峡只是由松动的沙土形成的吗?”

   "To a certain depth. But at merely fifty meters, one encounters a firm foundation of rock."

   “由沙上形成的部分达到某种深度。但是到了五十米以下,就有一层很坚固的不可动的岩石。”

   "And it's by luck that you discovered this passageway?" I asked, more and more startled.

   “您发现这地道是由于偶然的机会吗?”我愈来愈惊奇地问。

   "Luck plus logic, professor, and logic even more than luck."

   “由于偶然的机会,同时也由于推理,教授,甚至推理的戍分多于偶然的成分。”

   "Captain, I hear you, but I can't believe my ears."

   “船长,我心里虽然在听您讲,但我的耳朵却抗拒它听到的话。”

   "Oh, sir! The old saying still holds good: Aures habent et non audient! Not only does this passageway exist, but I've taken advantage of it on several occasions. Without it, I wouldn't have ventured today into such a blind alley as the Red Sea."

   “先生啊!‘他们有耳朵,但他们听不见”③,这种人什么时代都有的。这条海底地道不仅是存在,并且我也利用过好几次。如果不是这样,我今天也不到这无路可通的红海中来随便冒险了。”

   "Is it indiscreet to ask how you discovered this tunnel?"

   “问问您怎样发现这条海底地道,不至于冒昧吗?”

   "Sir," the captain answered me, "there can be no secrets between men who will never leave each other."

   “先生,”船长回答我,“在彼此不能分开的人们中间,不可以有任何秘密的存在。”

   I ignored this innuendo and waited for Captain Nemo's explanation.

   我不理他这句别有所指的话,我等待尼摩船长关于这事的讲述。他说:

   "Professor," he told me, "the simple logic of the naturalist led me to discover this passageway, and I alone am familiar with it. I'd noted that in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean there exist a number of absolutely identical species of fish: eels, butterfish, greenfish, bass, jewelfish, flying fish. Certain of this fact, I wondered if there weren't a connection between the two seas. If there were, its underground current had to go from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean simply because of their difference in level. So I caught a large number of fish in the vicinity of Suez. I slipped copper rings around their tails and tossed them back into the sea. A few months later off the coast of Syria, I recaptured a few specimens of my fish, adorned with their telltale rings. So this proved to me that some connection existed between the two seas. I searched for it with my Nautilus, I discovered it, I ventured into it; and soon, professor, you also will have cleared my Arabic tunnel!"

   “教授,使我发现这条只有我一人认识的海底地道的,是一个生物学家的简单推理。我曾经注意到,在红海中和在地中海中有某一些完全相同的鱼类,比如蛇鱼,车鱼,绞车鱼,簇鱼,愚鱼,飞鱼。我确定了这事实,我就问,在这两、个海中间是不是有交通路线的存在。如果有交通路线存在,地下水流仅仅由于两海的水平面不同,必然要从红海流到地中海。因此我在苏伊士附近打了很多鱼,我把铜圈套在鱼尾上,然后把鱼放人海中。几个月后,在叙利亚海岸,我找到了一些我从前放走的尾上有铜圈的鱼。因此两海之间有路可通的想法就得到了证明小我利用诺第留斯号去找寻这条通路,要于把它发现了,我也冒险走过去了。教授。 不久:您也要通过我的阿拉伯海底地道!”