30 从合恩角到亚马逊河(1)

Chapter 17 From Cape Horn to the Amazon

第十七 从合恩角到亚马逊河

How I got onto the platform I'm unable to say. Perhaps the Canadian transferred me there. But I could breathe, I could inhale the life-giving sea air. Next to me my two companions were getting tipsy on the fresh oxygen particles. Poor souls who have suffered from long starvation mustn't pounce heedlessly on the first food given them. We, on the other hand, didn't have to practice such moderation: we could suck the atoms from theair by the lungful, and it was the breeze, the breeze itself, that poured into us this luxurious intoxication!

我怎样到平台上来,我不能说。或者是加拿大人把我抱上来的。但我呼吸、我细细尝到那大海的兴奋刺激的空气了。我的两个同伴在我旁边也尽情狂吸这新鲜的空气。不幸受苦的人们长久没有吃东西,是不能马上尽情乱吃人们第一次给他们的食物的;我们却正相反,我们用不着节制,我们可以尽各人的肺量吸取这海上的空气。而给我们送来这种快意迷醉的,正是那海风,正是那海风!

"Ahhh!" Conseil was putting in. "What fine oxygen! Let master have no fears about breathing. There's enough for everyone."

“啊!”康塞尔说,“氧,真好!先生不用怕呼吸了!现在并不缺少,人人都可以有了。”

As for Ned Land, he didn't say a word, but his wide-open jaws would have scared off a shark. And what powerful inhalations! The Canadian "drew" like a furnace going full blast.

至于尼德·兰,他不说话,但他张开大嘴,简直要让鲨鱼看见都害怕。多么大力的呼吸!加拿大人好像正在燃烧的火炉,在那里“气”呢。

Our strength returned promptly, and when I looked around, I saw that we were alone on the platform. No crewmen. Not even Captain Nemo. Those strange seamen on the Nautilus were content with the oxygen circulating inside. Not one of them had come up to enjoy the open air.The first words I pronounced were words of appreciation and gratitude to my two companions. Ned and Conseil had kept me alive during the final hours of our long death throes. But no expression of thanks could repay them fully for such devotion.

我们的气力很快就恢复过来,我看一下我们周围,在平台上的只有我们三人:没有一个船上的人员。尼摩船长也不见。诺第留斯号的奇怪的水手们仅仅呼吸那流通到船的空气就满足了。没有一人出来享受那外面的新鲜空气。我说的第一句话是对我的两个同伴表示感激和多谢的话。尼德·兰和康塞尔在长期痛苦的最后数小时中延续了我的生命,把我所有的感谢拿出来偿付这种牺牲神并不算过多。

"Good lord, professor," Ned Land answered me, "don't mention it! What did we do that's so praiseworthy? Not a thing. It was a question of simple arithmetic. Your life is worth more than ours. So we had to save it."

“好!教授,”尼德·兰回答我,“这事值得说出来吗!我们对这事有什么值得称赞的地方吗?一点都没有。这只是一个算术问题。您的生命比我们的有价值。所以必须保存。”