We were silent. What was Captain Nemo thinking? Perhaps that this approaching shore was too close for comfort, contrary to the Canadian's views in which it still seemed too far away. As for Conseil, he had come along out of simple curiosity.
我們沉默不作聲,尼摩船長在想什么呢?可能在想現(xiàn)在靠近的陸地,他覺得自己太靠近陸地了,這正跟加拿大人的意見相反,加拿大人卻覺得自己跟陸地相距太遠(yuǎn)了。至于康塞爾,他坐在那里什么也不理會,只是看著新鮮。
Near 5:30 the first glimmers of light on the horizon defined the upper lines of the coast with greater distinctness. Fairly flat to the east, it swelled a little toward the south. Five miles still separated it from us, and its beach merged with the misty waters. Between us and the shore, the sea was deserted. Not a boat, not a per. Profound solitude reigned over this gathering place of pearl fishermen. As Captain Nemo had commented, we were arriving in these waterways a month too soon.
五點半左右,天邊剛放出來的曙光把海岸的上層輪廓更清楚地襯托出來。在東邊,海岸相當(dāng)平坦,向南部分又有點突起。我們跟海岸相距還有五英里,它的邊岸跟蒙蒙的霧水相混起來。在邊岸和我們之間,海上什么也沒有,沒有一只船,沒有一個采珠人。在這采珠人聚會的場所,是沉重的孤寂。本來尼摩船長已經(jīng)向我說過,我們到這一帶海中來早了一個月。
At six o'clock the day broke suddenly, with that speed unique to tropical regions, which experience no real dawn or dusk. The sun's rays pierced the cloud curtain gathered on the easterly horizon, and the radiant orb rose swiftly.
六點,天忽然亮了,日夜很快來臨是熱帶地區(qū)特有的情形,這些地區(qū)是沒有晨暖和黃昏的。太陽光線穿過堆在東方天邊的云幕,燦爛的紅日很快就升起來了。
I could clearly see the shore, which featured a few sparse trees here and there.
我清楚地看見陸地,稀疏的樹木散在各處。
The skiff advanced toward Mannar Island, which curved to the south. Captain Nemo stood up from his thwart and studied the sea.
小艇向馬納爾島前進,島南部漸漸擴大。尼摩船長站起來,看一下海回
At his signal the anchor was lowered, but its chain barely ran because the bottom lay no more than a meter down, and this locality was one of the shallowest spots near the bank of shellfish. Instantly the skiff wheeled around under the ebb tide's outbound thrust.
他點一點頭,錨就拋下去了,但鐵鏈只下沉了一點,因為水底只有一米左右深、這里形成了一處小紋貝礁巖脈突起來的最高峰。小艇受了向大海方面排去的退潮力量,立即轉(zhuǎn)過頭來。