14 黑潮暖流(4)
Now then, at the spot indicated on the world map, one of these seagoing rivers was rolling by, the Kuroshio of the Japanese, the Black Current: heated by perpendicular rays from the tropical sun, it lea一ves the Bay of Bengal, crosses the Strait of Malacca, goes up the shores of Asia, and curves into the north Pacific as far as the Aleutian Islands, carrying along trunks of camphor trees and other local items, the pure indigo of its warm waters sharply contrasting with the ocean's wa一ves. It was this current the Nautilus was about to cross. I watched it on the map with my eyes, I saw it lose itself in the immenseness of the Pacific, and I felt myself swept along with it, when Ned Land and Conseil appeared in the lounge doorway.
正是，在平面地图上记下的那个点，展开了上面说的一条暖流，日本人叫做黑水流，黑水流从孟加拉湾出来，受热带太一陽一光线的直射，很为温暖，横过马六甲海峡，沿着亚洲海岸前进，人太平洋北部作环弯形，直到阿留地安一群一岛。它将樟脑树干和各地方的各样土产输送出去，它的暖流的纯靛蓝一色一跟大洋的水流显然分开。诺第留斯号要走的就是这条水流。我两眼盯着它，我看见它抿没在太平洋的无边水际中;我正感到自己跟水流一齐奔驰的时候，尼德·兰和康塞尔在客厅门口出现了。
My two gallant companions stood petrified at the sight of the wonders on display.
我的两个老实同伴看见堆在他们眼前的神奇物品，惊怪得发楞了：
Where are we? the Canadian exclaimed. In the Quebec Museum?
我们在什么地方呢?我们在什么地方呢?加拿大人喊，我们在魁北克博物馆吗?
Begging master's pardon, Conseil answered, but this seems more like the Sommerard artifacts exhibition!
如果先生认为可以，康塞尔答，还不如说这是桑美拉大厦呢!
My friends, I replied, signaling them to enter, you're in neither Canada nor France, but securely aboard the Nautilus, fifty meters below sea level.
朋友们，我回答，我同时做个手势，让他们进来，你们不是在加拿大，也不是在法兰西，而是在诺第留斯号船上，在海底下五十米。
If master says so, then so be it, Conseil answered. But in all honesty, this lounge is enough to astonish even someone Flemish like myself.
当然要相信先生的话，因为先生这样肯定了。康塞尔回答，老实说，这个客厅，就是让我这个佛兰蒙人看来也要惊奇。
Indulge your astonishment, my friend, and ha一ve a look, because there's plenty of work here for a classifier of your talents.
朋友，你惊奇吧，你好好地看吧，因为对于你这么能干的一个分类者，这里实在有不少的工作可做哩。
Conseil needed no encouraging. Bending over the glass cases, the gallant lad was already muttering choice words from the naturalist's vocabulary: class Gastropoda, family Buccinoidea, genus cowry, species Cypraea madagascariensis, etc.
我并不需要鼓励康塞尔去做。这个老实人早就弯身在玻璃柜子上，嘴里已经低声说出生物学家所用的词汇：腹足纲，油螺科，磁贝属，马达加斯加介蛤种，等等…