23 珊瑚王国(5)

You may go, Professor Aronnax, Captain Nemo told me.

你可以走了,教授,船长对我说。

I left the captain in the dying man's cabin and I repaired to my stateroom, very moved by this scene. All day long I was aquiver with gruesome forebodings. That night I slept poorly, and between my fitful dreams, I thought I heard a distant moaning, like a funeral dirge. Was it a prayer for the dead, murmured in that language I couldn't understand?

我出来,让船长一人留在危急病人的房里,我回到我的房中,为了刚才的场面情绪很激动。那一整天,我心中有种种不祥的预感,十分不安。夜间睡得不好,睡梦中时常惊醒,觉得听到了远远传来的悲叹和好像唱丧歌的声音。这是对死者的祷词,用那种我不能懂得语言说出来的祷词吗?

The next morning I climbed on deck. Captain Nemo was already there. As soon as he saw me, he came over.

第二天早晨,我又到了平台上,尼摩船长已经在那里了。他一看见我,就走到我面前来。

Professor, he said to me, would it be convenient for you to make an underwater excursion today?

教授,他对我说,您愿意今天去作一次海底散步吗?

With my companions? I asked.

我的同伴可以一同去吗?我问。

If they're agreeable.

如果他们愿意,他们可以一同去。

We're yours to command, captain.

我们一定跟您去,船长。

Then kindly put on your ping suits.

请你们就去穿潜水衣。

As for the dead or dying man, he hadn't come into the picture. I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil. I informed them of Captain Nemo's proposition. Conseil was eager to accept, and this time the Canadian proved perfectly amenable to going with us.

关于那个危急病人或死人的消息,他再也不提。我到尼德。兰和康塞尔那儿,把尼摩船长的提议告诉他们。康塞尔立刻就答应去,这一次加拿大人也表示很乐意跟我们一道去。

It was eight o'clock in the morning. By 8:30 we were suited up for this new stroll and equipped with our two devices for lighting and breathing. The double door opened, and accompanied by Captain Nemo with a dozen crewmen following, we set foot on the firm seafloor where the Nautilus was resting, ten meters down.

时间是早上八点。到八点半,我们穿好了这次散步穿的潜水衣,并带上探照灯和呼吸器。那座双重的门打开了,尼摩船长和跟在他后面的十来个船员一齐出来,我们到了水下十米的地方,我们的脚便踩在诺第留斯号停下来的海底地上。

A gentle slope gravitated to an uneven bottom whose depth was about fifteen fathoms. This bottom was completely different from the one I had visited during my first excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here I saw no fine-grained sand, no underwater prairies, not one open-sea forest. I immediately recognized the wondrous region in which Captain Nemo did the honors that day. It was the coral realm.

一段轻微的斜坡路通到崎岖不平的地面,深度大约为二十五米左右。这地面跟我第一次在太平洋水底下散步时看见过的完全不一样。这里没有细沙,没有海底草地,没有海底树林,我立即认识这一天尼摩船长请我们来的这个神奇地方;这个地方是珊瑚王国。