035 尼摩船长的最后几句话(2)

I could barely glimpse the swift passing of longnose sharks, hammerhead sharks, spotted dogfish that frequent these waters, big eagle rays, swarms of seahorse looking like knights on a chessboard, eels quivering like fireworks serpents, armies of crab that fled obliquely by crossing their pincers over their carapaces, finally schools of porpoise that held contests of speed with the Nautilus. But by this point observing, studying, and classifying were out of the question.

这时,我勉强瞥见一些迅速掠过的长鼻角鲨,双髻鱼,经常出没于这一带海域的猫鲨,大海鹰,成像国际象棋中的马的海马,行动像烟火蛇一样的海鳗,大交叉着蟹甲上的螯钳横行的海蟹,最后是一大与“鹦鹉螺号”赛跑的鼠海豚。但此时已不再是进行观察、研究和分类的时候了。

By evening we had cleared 200 leagues up the Atlantic. Shadows gathered and gloom overran the sea until the moon came up.

到了傍晚时分,我们横穿了大西洋200里。不久,影出现了海面被黑暗侵吞了。等到月亮升起来,海面有了些光亮。

I repaired to my stateroom. I couldn't sleep. I was assaulted by nightmares. That horrible scene of destruction kept repeating in my mind's eye.

我回到房间里睡觉。但我一直被恶梦困扰着,那可怕的毁灭场面老是在我的脑海中重现,我一点也睡不着。

From that day forward, who knows where the Nautilus took us in the north Atlantic basin? Always at incalculable speed! Always amid the High Arctic mists! Did it call at the capes of Spitzbergen or the shores of Novaya Zemlya? Did it visit such uncharted seas as the White Sea, the Kara Sea, the Gulf of Ob, the Lyakhov Islands, or those unknown beaches on the Siberian coast? I'm unable to say. I lost track of the passing hours.

从这天起,谁能说出来在这北大西洋里,“鹦鹉螺号”船只要把我们带到哪里去呢?它总是以飞快的速度行驶!它总是出现在那片北方的浓雾中!它靠近了斯匹兹堡顶端,可它靠近了新赞布尔悬崖吗?它走过了那些不为人知的海,像白海、克拉海、奥比湾、里亚洛夫岛和亚细亚沿海那人类尚未知道的海岸吗?我说不上来。这样白白流逝掉的时光,我是无法估量出来的。