海底兩萬里 第328期 第23章 珊瑚王國(27)

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Near seven o'clock we finally surveyed the bank of shellfish, where pearl oysters reproduce by the millions. These valuable mollusks stick to rocks, where they're strongly attached by a mass of brown filaments that forbids their moving about. In this respect oysters are inferior even to mussels, to whom nature has not denied all talent for locomotion.

七點左右，我們終于到了小紋貝礁石巖脈上，巖脈上繁殖著不可數(shù)計的億萬珍珠貝、這些寶貴的軟體動物粘附著巖石，它們被那些棕色的纖維結(jié)實地縛在石上，擺脫不開。從這點來看，珍珠貝甚至于不如談菜，因為大自然還給淡菜有可能移動的能力。

The shellfish Meleagrina, that womb for pearls whose valves are nearly equal in size, has the shape of a round shell with thick walls and a very rough exterior. Some of these shells were furrowed with flaky, greenish bands that radiated down from the top. These were the young oysters. The others had rugged black surfaces, measured up to fifteen centimeters in width, and were ten or more years old.

雜色小紋貝，所謂珍珠母的兩片介殼差不多相等，殼作圓環(huán)形，殼壁很厚，外表很粗，凹凸不平。有些珍珠母的外殼上面帶一條一條的淡青色線紋，線紋盡頭處有些發(fā)亮。這是屬于年輕一類的珍珠母。別的珍珠母，表面上粗一點，黑一點，有十歲以上的年齡了，寬大可以到十五厘米。

Captain Nemo pointed to this prodigious heap of shellfish, and I saw that these mines were genuinely inexhaustible, since nature's creative powers are greater than man's destructive instincts. True to those instincts, Ned Land greedily stuffed the finest of these mollusks into a net he carried at his side.

尼摩船長用手指給我看一大堆小紋貝，我了解這個寶藏是采不盡的，因為大自然的創(chuàng)造力遠遠勝過人類的破壞本能。尼德·蘭行使他的這種本能，急急把那些最好的珍珠貝塞到他身邊帶著的魚網(wǎng)中。

But we couldn't stop. We had to follow the captain, who headed down trails seemingly known only to himself.

但我們不能停步。我們要跟著船長走，他好像沿著只有他才認得的小路走去。

The seafloor rose noticeably, and when I lifted my arms, sometimes they would pass above the surface of the sea. Then the level of the oysterbank would lower unpredictably.

水底地面顯然上升，我的胳膊有時候舉起來，伸出在水面上了。其次，巖脈的水平面也任意地低下來。

Often we went around tall, pointed rocks rising like pyramids. In their dark crevices huge crustaceans, aiming their long legs like heavy artillery, watched us with unblinking eyes, while underfoot there crept millipedes, bloodworms, aricia worms, and annelid worms, whose antennas and tubular tentacles were incredibly long.

我們時常繞著切為一根一根的四角錐形的高大巖石走過去。在巖石的陰暗凹凸的地方，有粗大的甲殼動物，長長的爪架起來，好像一門大炮，眼睛不動，盯住我們。在我們腳下，爬著無數(shù)的多須魚、藤蘿魚、卷魚類和環(huán)魚類，它們在那里特別伸長它們的觸角和卷須。