海底兩萬(wàn)里 第51期 第5章 冒險(xiǎn)活動(dòng)(6)

Now, professor, you know even better than I that nature doesn't violate good sense,

并且，教授，您比我更了解，自然造物，決不自相矛盾，

and she wouldn't give some naturally slow animal the ability to move swiftly if it hadn't a need to use that talent.

它決不使天性遲緩的動(dòng)物，有快速走動(dòng)的能力，因?yàn)檫@種能力對(duì)它并無(wú)必要。

So if the beast does exist, it's already long gone!

所以，這種動(dòng)物如果存在的話，它早就跑遠(yuǎn)了!

I had no reply to this. Obviously we were just groping blindly.

聽(tīng)了他這話，我沒(méi)法回答。很明顯，我們確實(shí)是盲目地行動(dòng)著。

But how else could we go about it? All the same, our chances were automatically pretty limited.

可是，又有什么辦法呢?我們的機(jī)會(huì)很有限，

Yet everyone still felt confident of success, and not a sailor on board would have bet against the narwhale appearing, and soon.

不過(guò)，對(duì)于事情的成功，還沒(méi)有人加以懷疑，船上沒(méi)有一名水手敢打賭，說(shuō)沒(méi)有獨(dú)角鯨，說(shuō)它不會(huì)出現(xiàn)。

On July 20 we cut the Tropic of Capricorn at longitude 105 degrees, and by the 27th of the same month, we had cleared the equator on the 110th meridian.

7月20日南回歸線正交在經(jīng)度105度，同月27日我們穿過(guò)了在西經(jīng)110度上的赤道線。

These bearings determined, the frigate took a more decisive westward heading and tackled the seas of the central Pacific.

此后，船便一直向西行駛，駛進(jìn)太平洋的中部海中。