23 珊瑚王国(3)

Excellent, sir.

很好,先生。

My reply obviously pleased Captain Nemo. But not knowing what he was driving at, I waited for further questions, ready to reply as circumstances dictated.

我的答复显然使尼摩船长满意。但是,我不知道他为什么说到这事,我等他提出新问题来,自己可以随机应变地答复。

Professor Aronnax, the captain said to me, would you consent to give your medical attentions to one of my men?

阿龙纳斯先生,船长对我说,您愿意来治疗我的一个船员吗?

Someone is sick?Yes.

您这儿有病人吗?是的。

I'm ready to go with you.Come.

我就跟您看去。请跟我来吧。

I admit that my heart was pounding. Lord knows why, but I saw a definite connection between this sick crewman and yesterday's happenings, and the mystery of those events concerned me at least as much as the man's sickness.

我得承认,我这时心很跳动。我不知道为什么,在这个船员的疾病和昨晚的事件之间我觉得有某一种关联,这个秘密至少跟那个病人一样,盘踞在我心中。

Captain Nemo led me to the Nautilus's stern and invited me into a cabin located next to the sailors' quarters.

尼摩船长带我到诺第留斯号的后部,让我走进挨着水手住所的一间舱房。

On a bed there lay a man some forty years old, with strongly molded features, the very image of an Anglo-Saxon.

中床上,躺着一个四十岁左右的人,外貌坚强有力,是真正盎格鲁一萨克逊人的典型。

I bent over him. Not only was he sick, he was wounded. Swathed in blood-soaked linen, his head was resting on a folded pillow. I undid the linen bandages, while the wounded man gazed with great staring eyes and let me proceed without making a single complaint.

我弯下身去看他。他不仅是有病,而且受了伤。他的头部包裹着血淋淋的纱布,躺在两个枕头上。我把包布解开,病人睁大眼睛看我,让我解开,一声也不说痛。

It was a horrible wound. The cranium had been smashed open by some blunt instrument, leaving the naked brains exposed, and the cerebral matter had suffered deep abrasions. Blood clots had formed in this dissolving mass, taking on the color of wine dregs. Both contusion and concussion of the brain had occurred. The sick man's breathing was labored, and muscle spasms quivered in his face. Cerebral inflammation was complete and had brought on a paralysis of movement and sensation.

伤处看来很是怕人。头盖骨被冲击的器械打碎,脑子露出来,脑上受到了很厉害的摩擦。在有伤的脑子上面凝结着一块一块的血痕,颜像酒槽。脑子同时被打伤又受震动。伤员的呼吸很缓慢。肌肉痉挛着,使他的脸孔抖动。大脑完全发炎了,因此思想和动作都麻木不灵了。