11 诺第留斯号(2)

Captain Nemo, I told my host, who had just stretched out on a couch, this is a library that would do credit to more than one continental palace,

尼摩船长,我对刚在沙发上躺下的主人说,这样一个图书室,就是放在大陆上的宫廷中也足以自豪,

and I truly marvel to think it can go with you into the deepest seas.

我一想到它可以跟着您到海底的最深处,真不禁要眉飞舞,十分高兴起来。

Where could one find greater silence or solitude, professor? Captain Nemo replied. Did your study at the museum afford you such a perfect retreat?

教授,试问哪里还可以找出比这里更隐僻更静溢的地方来?尼摩船长答,您的自然博物馆的工作室能供给您这样一个安静舒适的环境吗?

No, sir, and I might add that it's quite a humble one next to yours. You own 6,000 or 7,000 volumes here . . .

没有,先生,我还得说,我的工作室跟这比较起来,显然是太寒酸了。您这室中有六七千本书呢…

12,000, Professor Aronnax. They're my sole remaining ties with dry land.

阿龙纳斯先生,有一万二千本。这是我跟陆地上的唯一联系。

But I was done with the shore the day my Nautilus submerged for the first time under the waters.

但从我的诺第留斯号第一次潜入水底的那一天起,对我来说,人世就完结了。

That day I purchased my last volumes, my last pamphlets, my last newspapers, and ever since I've chosen to believe that humanity no longer thinks or writes.

这一天,我买了我最后一批书,最后一批小册子,最后几份日报,从那时候起,我就认为,人类没有什么思想,也没有什么著作了。

In any event, professor, these books are at your disposal, and you may use them freely.

教授,这些书随您的便,您可以自由使用。