海底兩萬里 第413期 第25章 地中海四十八小時(43)

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Just this, captain. In going toward the ocean's lower strata, we know that vegetable life disappears more quickly than animal life.

船長，人們所知道的情形是這樣。人們知道，深入到海洋下的最底層，植物比動物更不容易生長，更快地絕跡。

We know that moving creatures can still be encountered where water plants no longer grow. We know that oysters and pilgrim scallops live in 2,000 meters of water, and that Admiral McClintock, England's hero of the polar seas, pulled in a live sea star from a depth of 2,500 meters.

人們知道，在還可以碰到一些生物的水層，任何一種海產(chǎn)植物也沒有了。人們知道，有生活在二千米水深的肩掛貝，牡蠣類，兩極探險英雄麥克·格林托克。曾在北極海中二千五百米深處，采得一個星貝。

We know that the crew of the Royal Navy's Bulldog fished up a starfish from 2,620 fathoms, hence from a depth of more than one vertical league.

人們知道，英國皇家海軍猛犬號的船員從二千六百二十英尺，即一海里多的深處，采得一個海星。

Would you still say, Captain Nemo, that we really know nothing?

尼摩船長，您或者會對我說，人們實是一無所知吧？

No, professor, the captain replied, I wouldn't be so discourteous. Yet I'll ask you to explain how these creatures can live at such depths?

教授，船長回答，不，我不能這樣不客氣，不過，我要問您，您怎樣解釋這些生物可以在這樣深的水層生活呢？

I explain it on two grounds, I replied. In the first place, because vertical currents, which are caused by differences in the water's salinity and density, can produce enough motion to sustain the rudimentary lifestyles of sea lilies and starfish.

我用兩個理由來解釋，我回答，第一，因為那些上下垂直往來的水流，由海水的不同咸度和不同密度決定，發(fā)生一種運動，足以維持海百合和海星一類的原始基本生活。

True, the captain put in.

對。船長說。

In the second place, because oxygen is the basis of life, and we know that the amount of oxygen dissolved in salt water increases rather than decreases with depth, that the pressure in these lower strata helps to concentrate their oxygen content.

其次，因為氧是生命的基礎，人們知道，氧溶解在海水中，并不因水深而減少，反因水深而增加，而底下水層的壓力又把它壓縮了。