32 海湾暖流(7)
We could hope to be picked up. So it was a promising opportunity, despite the thirty miles that separated the Nautilus from these Union coasts.
我们可以希望他们收留我们。所以，尽管“鹦鹉螺号”现在离美联邦海岸还有30海里，这仍是一个有利的机会。
But one distressing circumstance totally thwarted the Canadian's plans. The weather was thoroughly foul. We were approaching waterways where storms are commonplace, the very homeland of tornadoes and cyclones specifically engendered by the Gulf Stream's current. To face a frequently raging sea in a frail skiff was a race to certain disaster. Ned Land conceded this himself. So he champed at the bit, in the grip of an intense homesickness that could be cured only by our escape.
但天气非常糟糕。这个令人讨厌的情况完全打乱了加拿大人的计划。我们现在接近的这一带海域经常有暴风雨，确切地说，这是一处由海湾暖流一孕一育出来的飓风和旋风的发源地。如果此时在一只脆弱的小艇上与时常有惊涛，骇一浪一的海洋作斗争，那肯定是白白送死。尼德·兰自己也同意这一点。因此， 饱受疯狂的思乡病折磨，只有逃跑才能医治好的他，此时只好咬咬牙关忍一忍。
"Sir," he told me that day, "it's got to stop. I want to get to the bottom of this. Your Nemo's veering away from shore and heading up north. But believe you me, I had my fill at the South Pole and I'm not going with him to the North Pole."
“先生，”那天他对我说，“这一切该结束了。我对此心知肚明。您的尼摩避开陆地向北行驶，但我得跟您说，我在南极已经受够了，我不想跟他到北极去。”
"What can we do, Ned, since it isn't feasible to escape right now?" "I keep coming back to my idea. We've got to talk to the captain. When we were in your own country's seas, you didn't say a word. Now that we're in mine, I intend to speak up. Before a few days are out, I figure the Nautilus will lie abreast of Nova Scotia, and from there to Newfoundland is the mouth of a large gulf, and the St. Lawrence empties into that gulf, and the St. Lawrence is my own river, the river running by Quebec, my hometown--and when I think about all this, my gorge rises and my hair stands on end! Honestly, sir, I'd rather jump overboard! I can't stay here any longer! I'm suffocating!"
“既然这时逃走是行不通的，那怎么办呢，尼德？” “我还是那个主意，向船长挑明好了。以前我们在您的国家的海里时，您什么也没说。现在我们在我的国家的海里，我可是想说。当我想到，没过几天，‘鹦鹉螺号’就要到新苏格兰的同一纬度上，而那里接近纽芬兰岛，敞开着一个大海湾，圣—劳伦斯河就是注入这个海湾的，圣—劳伦斯河是我的河，我的故乡魁北克的河。当我想到这些，我便怒发冲冠，我的头发都竖一起来了。瞧，先生，我宁可跳到海里去，而不愿意留在这儿！我快闷死了！”