32 海湾暖流(13)
I withdrew. From that day forward our position was very strained. I reported this conversation to my two companions.
我只好退出来。从那天起，我们的处境就变得非常紧张。我向我的两个同伴汇报了我的谈话。
Now we know, Ned said, "that we can't expect a thing from this man. The Nautilus is nearing Long Island. We'll escape, no matter what the weather."
“我们现在知道，”尼德说，“对于这个人没有任何可指望了。‘鹦鹉螺号’正在向长岛靠近。不论天气如何，我们逃走吧。”
But the skies became more and more threatening. There were conspicuous signs of a hurricane on the way. The atmosphere was turning white and milky. Slender shea一ves of cirrus clouds were followed on the horizon by layers of nimbocumulus. Other low clouds fled swiftly. The sea grew towering, inflated by long swells. Every bird had disappeared except a few petrels, friends of the storms. The barometer fell significantly, indicating a tremendous tension in the surrounding haze. The mixture in our stormglass decomposed under the influence of the electricity charging the air. A struggle of the elements was approaching.
但天气变得越来越糟，出现了一些大风暴的迹象。大气灰沉沉的。天际边一层层散开的卷云的后面，紧随一团一团一乌云，还有一些低云飞快地掠过。海水高涨，海一浪一澎湃。除了暴风雨的朋友海燕外，其他的鸟儿都不见了。晴雨表明显下降，说明空气中一湿一度极高。在大气中饱含的电离子的作用下，雷鸣电闪：暴风雨就要来了。
The storm burst during the daytime of May 13, just as the Nautilus was cruising abreast of Long Island, a few miles from the narrows to Upper New York Bay. I'm able to describe this struggle of the elements because Captain Nemo didn't flee into the ocean depths; instead, from some inexplicable whim, he decided to bra一ve it out on the surface.
5月13日，确切地说，当“鹦鹉螺号”船只浮在与长岛同一纬度上，距纽约水道几海里时，暴风雨发作了。我之所以能描绘下这场暴风雨，是因为尼摩船长由于不可解释的任一性一，不是让船潜入海底避雨，而是正面与暴风雨对抗。
The wind was blowing from the southwest, initially a stiff breeze, in other words, with a speed of fifteen meters per second, which built to twenty-five meters near three o'clock in the afternoon. This is the figure for major storms.
当时风从西南面刮来，先是阵阵每秒15米风速的凉爽大风，到晚上三点钟，刮到了每秒25米。这是台风的速度。