海底兩萬里 第315期 第23章 珊瑚王國(14)
ON JANUARY 28, in latitude 9 degrees 4' north, when the Nautilus returned at noon to the surface of the sea, it lay in sight of land some eight miles to the west.
1月28日正午，當(dāng)諾第留斯號浮上水面來的時候，它在北緯9度4分，望見西邊八海里遠(yuǎn)有一塊陸地。
Right off, I observed a cluster of mountains about 2,000 feet high, whose shapes were very whimsically sculpted.
我首先注意一群山嶺，這群山嶺約二千英尺高，山形起伏，很不整齊。
After our position fix, I reentered the lounge, and when our bearings were reported on the chart,
測定了這陸地的方位后，我回到客廳中，把測好的經(jīng)緯度跟地圖一對時，
I saw that we were off the island of Ceylon, that pearl dangling from the lower lobe of the Indian peninsula.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)我們是在錫蘭島面前了，它是掛在印度半島下端的一顆寶珠。
I went looking in the library for a book about this island, one of the most fertile in the world.
我到圖書室去找一部關(guān)于這座島的著作，它是地球上的島嶼中最富饒的一個島。
Sure enough, I found a volume entitled Ceylon and the Singhalese by H. C. Sirr, Esq.
我正好找到西爾所寫、題名為《錫蘭和錫蘭人》的一部書。
Reentering the lounge, I first noted the bearings of Ceylon, on which antiquity lavished so many different names.
回到客廳中來，我首先記下錫蘭的方位，并且知道古時候這島有各種不同的名稱。
It was located between latitude 5 degrees 55' and 9 degrees 49' north, and between longitude 79 degrees 42' and 82 degrees 4' east of the meridian of Greenwich;
它的位置是在北緯5度55分和9度49分2red，東經(jīng)79度42分和82度4分之間，
its length is 275 miles; its maximum width, 150 miles; its circumference, 900 miles;
“島長二百七十五英里，最寬的地方一瓦五十英里，周圍900英里，
its surface area, 24,448 square miles, in other words, a little smaller than that of Ireland.
面積二萬四千四百四十八平方英里，就是說，比愛爾蘭島面積小一些尼摩船長和他的副手這時候進(jìn)來了。
