29 缺少空气(7)
Since conditions inside were universally unbearable, how eagerly, how happily, we put on our diving suits to take our turns working! Picks rang out on that bed of ice. Arms grew weary, hands were rubbed raw, but who cared about exhaustion, what difference were wounds? Life-sustaining air reached our lungs! We could breathe! We could breathe!
对我们全体来说，我们在船上都觉得难受，所以轮到自己挖冰的时候，人人都很迅速地、很高兴地穿上潜水衣，立即出去工作！铁锨在冰层上通通作响。胳膊累了，手弄一破了，但这些疲倦算什么，这些伤口有什么要紧！总算有新鲜空气到肺中了！人们总可以呼吸了！人们总可以呼吸了！
And yet nobody prolonged his underwater work beyond the time allotted him. His shift over, each man surrendered to a gasping companion the air tank that would revive him. Captain Nemo set the example and was foremostin submitting to this strict discipline. When his time was up, he yielded his equipment to another and reentered the foul air on board, always calm, unflinching, and uncomplaining.
可是，没有谁超出指定的时间，延长自己在水下的工作。备人工作完了，各人就将有氧气放出来的气箱交给自己的同伴。尼摩船长自己先做个榜样，他第一个遵守这种严格的纪律。时间到了，他把他的气箱给另一个人，回到船上有害的大气中，他老是那么镇定，一点不示弱，不发一句怨言。
That day the usual work was accomplished with even greater energy. Over the whole surface area, only two meters were left to be removed. Only two meters separated us from the open sea. But the ship's air tanks were nearly empty. The little air that remained had to be sa一ved for the workmen. Not an atom for the Nautilus!
这一天，一定的工作经常是更有力地完成了。在整个面积上，只剩下两米的冰要挖去。把我们跟自一由海水分开的，只有两米的冰了。可是储藏库差不多空了。剩下的一些空气只能保留给工作人员使用。一点也不能绘诺第留斯号！
When I returned on board, I felt half suffocated. What a night! I'm unable to depict it. Such sufferings areindescribable. The next day I was short-winded. Headaches and staggering fits of dizziness made me reel likea drunk. My companions were experiencing the same symptoms. Some crewmen were at their last gasp.
当我回到船上的时候，我是半窒息了。多么难过的夜！我简直不能加以描写。这样的一类痛苦是木可能写出来的。第二天，我的呼吸阻塞不通。头脑疼痛又加上昏沉发晕，使我成为一个醉人。我的同伴们也感到同样的难受。有些船员已经呼吸急促，正在发喘了。
That day, the sixth of our imprisonment, Captain Nemo concluded that picks and mattocks were too slow to deal with the ice layer still separating us from open water--and he decided to crush this layer. The man had kept his energy and composure. He had subdued physical pain with moral strength. He could still think, plan, and act.
这一天，我们的监牢剩下第六层的最后一米冰，尼摩船长觉得铁锨挖得大慢，决定用高一压力来冲开那个把我们和底下水面分开的冰层。这个人仍然保持他原有的冷静和一精一力。他拿他的一精一神力量抑制他的肉一体痛苦。他思想，他计划，他执行。
At his orders the craft was eased off, in other words, it was raised from its icy bed by a change in its specific gra一vity. When it was afloat, the crew towed it, leading it right above the immense trench outlined to match the ship's waterline. Next the ballast tanks filled with water, the boat sank, and was fitted into its socket.
按照他的指示，船减轻了分量，就是说，由于重力的变化，它从冰冻的一层浮起来。当它浮起来的时候，人们就想法把它拖到照它的浮标线所画出的宽大的坑上。然后，让它的储水池装满了水，它降下，装在坑里。
Just then the whole crew returned on board, and the double outside door was closed. By this point the Nautilus was resting on a bed of ice only one meter thick and drilled by bores in a thousand places.
这时候，所有的船员都回到船上来，跟外间交通的两重门都紧闭起。诺第留斯号这时是躺在冰层上，这冰层只有一米厚，并且有千百处被探测器钻通。