海底兩萬(wàn)里 第472期 第29章 缺少空氣(2)
I led the Canadian to the room where the Nautilus's men were putting on their diving suits. I informed the captain of Ned's proposition, which was promptly accepted. The Canadian got into his underwater costume and was ready as soon as his fellow workers. Each of them carried on his back a Rouquayrol device that the air tanks had supplied with a generous allowance of fresh oxygen. A considerable but necessary drain on the Nautilus's reserves. As for the Ruhmkorff lamps, they were unnecessary in the midst of these brilliant waters saturated with our electric rays.
我?guī)Ъ幽么笕说街Z第留斯號(hào)的船員穿潛水衣的房子中。我把尼德·蘭的提議告訴船長(zhǎng)，船長(zhǎng)接受了。加拿大人穿上他的海中衣服，不久就跟他的工作同伴們一樣準(zhǔn)備好了。每人背上一個(gè)盧格羅爾的空氣箱，由儲(chǔ)藏庫(kù)供應(yīng)了大量的純空氣。對(duì)諾第留斯號(hào)的空氣儲(chǔ)藏庫(kù)來(lái)說(shuō)，這是大量的，然而是必要的支出。至于蘭可夫燈，在這滿是電光的明亮海水中間是沒有用的。
After Ned was dressed, I reentered the lounge, whose windows had been uncovered; stationed next to Conseil, I examined the strata surrounding and supporting the Nautilus.
當(dāng)尼德裝備好了，我回到客廳，廳中的嵌板都開了，我站在康塞爾旁邊，細(xì)看那頂住諾第留斯號(hào)的周圍冰層。
Some moments later, we saw a dozen crewmen set foot on the shelf of ice, among them Ned Land, easily recognized by his tall figure. Captain Nemo was with them.
幾分鐘后，我們看見十多個(gè)船員下到冰地上，其中有尼德·蘭，由于他的身材高大，很容易認(rèn)出。尼摩船長(zhǎng)跟他門在一起。
Before digging into the ice, the captain had to obtain borings, to insure working in the best direction. Long bores were driven into the side walls; but after fifteen meters, the instruments were still impeded by the thickness of those walls. It was futile to attack the ceiling since that surface was the Ice Bank itself, more than 400 meters high. Captain Nemo then bored into the lower surface. There we were separated from the sea by a ten-meter barrier. That's how thick the iceberg was. From this point on, it was an issue of cutting out a piece equal in surface area to the Nautilus's waterline. This meant detaching about 6,500 cubic meters, to dig a hole through which the ship could descend below this tract of ice.
在進(jìn)行穿鑿冰墻之前，他讓人先做種種探測(cè)，保證工作是向順利方面進(jìn)行。很長(zhǎng)的探測(cè)繩放人上下兩面的冰墻。上面到了十五米，仍然被厚冰墻擋住，所以從上層冰板來(lái)廠鑿是不成的，因?yàn)槟蔷褪撬陌倜赘叩谋奖旧?。尼摩船長(zhǎng)于是使人探測(cè)下部冰層的厚度。下部有十米厚的冰板把我們跟海水隔開。就是這片冰場(chǎng)有十米厚。自后就是要把冰場(chǎng)鑿開一片，大小等于諾第留斯號(hào)從浮標(biāo)線上來(lái)計(jì)算的面積。要鑿開這么一個(gè)大孔，我們可以從這孔下到這冰地的下面去，那大約需挖掘六千五百立方米的冰。
Work began immediately and was carried on with tireless tenacity. Instead of digging all around the Nautilus, which would have entailed even greater difficulties, Captain Nemo had an immense trench outlined on the ice, eight meters from our port quarter. Then his men simultaneously staked it off at several points around its circumference. Soon their picks were vigorously attacking this compact matter, and huge chunks were loosened from its mass. These chunks weighed less than the water, and by an unusual effect of specific gravity, each chunk took wing, as it were, to the roof of the tunnel, which thickened above by as much as it diminished below. But this hardly mattered so long as the lower surface kept growing thinner.
工作立即開始，以十分堅(jiān)持的頑強(qiáng)力氣來(lái)進(jìn)行。不是在諾第留斯號(hào)周圍挖掘，這樣可能帶來(lái)更大的困難，尼摩船長(zhǎng)是另外在距船左舷八米遠(yuǎn)的地方畫了一個(gè)巨大的圓圈他的人員就在這圓圈的周圍數(shù)處同時(shí)挖掘，不久，鐵锨很有勁的打進(jìn)了堅(jiān)硬的冰，一塊一塊的冰從冰場(chǎng)鑿開來(lái)。由于體重的新奇作用，這些冰塊沒有水重，它們于是飛跑到冰們頂上去了，這樣一來(lái)，下面是減薄，上面就增厚了。但沒關(guān)系，下層的冰總是削薄了。
