海底兩萬里 第306期 第23章 珊瑚王國(5)
You may go, Professor Aronnax, Captain Nemo told me.
你可以走了，教授，船長對我說。
I left the captain in the dying man's cabin and I repaired to my stateroom, very moved by this scene. All day long I was aquiver with gruesome forebodings. That night I slept poorly, and between my fitful dreams, I thought I heard a distant moaning, like a funeral dirge. Was it a prayer for the dead, murmured in that language I couldn't understand?
我出來，讓船長一人留在危急病人的房里，我回到我的房中，為了剛才的場面情緒很激動。那一整天，我心中有種種不祥的預感，十分不安。夜間睡得不好，睡夢中時常驚醒，覺得聽到了遠遠傳來的悲嘆和好像唱喪歌的聲音。這是對死者的禱詞，用那種我不能懂得語言說出來的禱詞嗎？
The next morning I climbed on deck. Captain Nemo was already there. As soon as he saw me, he came over.
第二天早晨，我又到了平臺上，尼摩船長已經在那里了。他一看見我，就走到我面前來。
Professor, he said to me, would it be convenient for you to make an underwater excursion today?
教授，他對我說，您愿意今天去作一次海底散步嗎？
With my companions? I asked.
我的同伴可以一同去嗎？我問。
If they're agreeable.
如果他們愿意，他們可以一同去。
We're yours to command, captain.
我們一定跟您去，船長。
Then kindly put on your ping suits.
請你們就去穿潛水衣。
As for the dead or dying man, he hadn't come into the picture. I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil. I informed them of Captain Nemo's proposition. Conseil was eager to accept, and this time the Canadian proved perfectly amenable to going with us.
關于那個危急病人或死人的消息，他再也不提。我到尼德。蘭和康塞爾那兒，把尼摩船長的提議告訴他們。康塞爾立刻就答應去，這一次加拿大人也表示很樂意跟我們一道去。
It was eight o'clock in the morning. By 8:30 we were suited up for this new stroll and equipped with our two devices for lighting and breathing. The double door opened, and accompanied by Captain Nemo with a dozen crewmen following, we set foot on the firm seafloor where the Nautilus was resting, ten meters down.
時間是早上八點。到八點半，我們穿好了這次散步穿的潛水衣，并帶上探照燈和呼吸器。那座雙重的門打開了，尼摩船長和跟在他后面的十來個船員一齊出來，我們到了水下十米的地方，我們的腳便踩在諾第留斯號停下來的海底地上。
A gentle slope gravitated to an uneven bottom whose depth was about fifteen fathoms. This bottom was completely different from the one I had visited during my first excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here I saw no fine-grained sand, no underwater prairies, not one open-sea forest. I immediately recognized the wondrous region in which Captain Nemo did the honors that day. It was the coral realm.
一段輕微的斜坡路通到崎嶇不平的地面，深度大約為二十五米左右。這地面跟我第一次在太平洋水底下散步時看見過的完全不一樣。這里沒有細沙，沒有海底草地，沒有海底樹林，我立即認識這一天尼摩船長請我們來的這個神奇地方；這個地方是珊瑚王國。
