29 缺少空气(6)
By then the thermometer ga一ve -7 degrees centigrade outside. Captain Nemo led me to the galley where a huge distilling mechanism was at work, supplying drinking water via evaporation. The mechanism was loaded with water, and the full electric heat of our batteries was thrown into coils awash in liquid. In a few minutes the water reached 100 degrees centigrade. It was sent to the pumps while new water replaced it in the process. The heat generated by our batteries was so intense that after simply going through the mechanism, water drawn cold from the sea arrived boiling hot at the body of the pump.那时在外面的温度表指着零下七度。尼摩船长领我到厨房一中,那里有许多复杂的蒸馏器,由蒸发作用供一应我们可以喝的开水。机器装满了水,电池所有的电热都投到浸在水中的螺旋管中去。几分钟后,这水就达到沸点。把开水送入一抽一气机中,同时就有冷水进来,补充流一出去的开水。电池发出的热力达到很高的程度,从海中吸进的凉水,单单经过机器,一到一抽一气机中就滚开了。
The steaming water was injected into the icy water outside, and after three hours had passed, the thermometer ga一ve the exterior temperature as -6 degrees centigrade. That was one degree gained. Two hours later the thermometer ga一ve only -4 degrees.开水的放射开始,三小时后,在外面的温度表指着零下六度;温度提高一度。两小时后,温度表只指在零下四度了。
After I monitored the operation's progress, double-checking it with many inspections, I told the captain, "It's working.""I think so," he answered me. "We've escaped being crushed. Now we ha一ve only asphyxiation to fear."我看了这种工作的进展,同时从许多地方加以检查,我对船长说:“我们一定可以成功。"“我想可以成功,”船长回答我说,“我们不至被压扁了。我们所怕的只有被窒息了。”
During the night the water temperature rose to -1 degrees centigrade. The injections couldn't get it to go asingle degree higher. But since salt water freezes only at -2 degrees, I was finally assured that there was no danger of it solidifying.在夜间,水的温度又提高了一度。开水的放射力量不能使温度再提高了。可是海水的冰冻作用要再下两度才能发生,因此我们得到保证,不至有凝固的危险了。
By the next day, March 27, six meters of ice had been torn from the socket. Only four meters were left to beremoved. That still meant forty-eight hours of work. The air couldn't be renewed in the Nautilus's interior.Accordingly, that day it kept getting worse.第二天,3月27日,六米厚的冰从这冰窝中挖去了。还剩下四米厚的冰需要挖去。还要四十一八小时的工作。在诺第留斯号一内一部,空气不可能调换。因此这一天的情形是更坏了。
An unbearable hea一viness weighed me down. Near three o'clock in the afternoon, this agonizing sensation affected me to an intense degree. Yawns dislocated my jaws. My lungs were gasping in their quest for that enkindling elastic fluid required for breathing, now growing scarcer and scarcer. My mind was in a daze. I lay outstretched, strength gone, nearly unconscious. My gallant Conseil felt the same symptoms, suffered the same sufferings, yet never left my side. He held my hand, he kept encouraging me, and I even heard him mutter:"Oh, if only I didn't ha一ve to breathe, to lea一ve more air for master!"一种不可忍受的重浊空气使我难过。下午三点左右,这种痛苦感觉到了猛烈的程度。呵欠喘气把我的上下鄂都弄歪了。我的肺叶迫切寻求有活力的氧是呼吸所必不可少的东西,现在愈来愈稀薄了。我的一精一神完全在昏沉沉的状态中。我没有气力地躺下来,差不多失去了知觉。我的忠实的康塞尔有了同样的病征,受着同样的苦痛,他在我身边,再不离开我。他拉着我的手,他鼓励我,我还听到他低声说:“啊!如果我可以不呼吸,让先生可以多有些空气!”
It brought tears to my eyes to hear him say these words.我听到他说这话,不觉眼中满是泪水。