■海底两万里
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
◎Jules Verne/儒勒·凡尔纳
Hope springs eternal in the human breast!
But this state of things was provided for. I felt myself being pushed into a little room contiguous to the wardrobe-room. My companions followed, towed along in the same way. I heard a water-tight door, furnished with stopper-plates, close upon us, and we were wrapped in profound darkness.
After some minutes, a loud hissing was heard. I felt the cold mount from my feet to my chest. Evidently from some part of the vessel they had, by means of a tap, given entrance to the water, which was invading us, and with which the room was soon filled. A second door cut in the side of the Nautilus then opened. We saw a faint light. In another instant our feet trod the bottom of the sea.
And now, how can I retrace the impression left upon me by that walk under the waters? Words are impotent[31] to relate such wonders! Captain Nemo walked in front, his companion followed some steps behind. Conseil
作品导读
希望在人的心底总是根深蒂固的！
但是，这个情况早已如我所料。我感觉自己被推进了更衣室旁边的小房间。我的同伴也同样被推了进来。我听见了装着止动片的水密门关上的声音，周围变得一团漆黑。
几分钟以后，一阵刺耳的嘶嘶声传进我的耳朵里。我感觉到有一股凉气从脚底一直蔓延到胸膛。显然，有人打开了水闸，外面的海水由此漫进来将我们渐渐淹没，这个小房间很快便溢满了水。鹦鹉螺号潜艇身侧的另一扇门打开了，我们看见一束昏暗的光。一会儿，我们的脚就踏上了海底。
现在，我要怎么去描绘漫步水底平原给我留下的印象呢？这样的奇观实在是无以言表。尼摩船长走在前面，他的同伴慢了几步跟在后面。
and I remained near each other, as if an exchange of words had been possible through our metallic cases. I no longer felt the weight of my clothing, or of my shoes, of my reservoir[32] of air, or my thick helmet, in the midst of which my head rattled like an almond in its shell.
The light, which lit the soil thirty feet below the surface of the ocean, astonished me by its power. The solar rays shone through the watery mass easily, and dissipated all colour, and I clearly distinguished objects at a distance of a hundred and fifty yards. Beyond that the tints darkened into fine gradations of ultramarine, and faded into vague obscurity. Truly this water which surrounded me was but another air denser than the terrestrial atmosphere, but almost as transparent. Above me was the calm surface of the sea. We were walking on fine, even sand, not wrinkled, as on a flat shore, which retains the impression of the billows. This dazzling carpet, really a reflector, repelled the rays of the sun with wonderful intensity, which accounted for the vibration which penetrated every atom of liquid. Shall I be believed when I say that, at the depth of thirty feet, I could see as if I was in broad daylight?
For a quarter of an hour I trod on this sand, sown with the impalpable dust of shells. The hull of the Nautilus, resembling a long shoal, disappeared by degrees; but its lantern, when darkness should overtake us in the waters, would help to guide us on board by its distinct rays.
Soon forms of objects outlined in the distance were discernible. I recognised magnificent rocks, hung with a tapestry of zoophytes of the most beautiful kind, and I was at first struck by the peculiar effect of this medium.
It was then ten in the morning; the rays of the sun struck the surface of the waves at rather an oblique angle, and at the touch of their light, decomposed by refraction as through a prism, flowers, rocks, plants,
我和康塞尔彼此挨得很近，就好像这样我们就能通过金属头盔讲话似的。我完全感受不到衣服、鞋子、空气存储器和原本重重的头盔的重量；我的头在头盔里晃荡着，仿佛杏仁在它的壳里滚动一样。
我惊讶于这光的穿透力，它能照亮海面下30英尺的地方。太阳光线轻易就射透水层，淡化了海水的所有颜色，我能清晰地分辨出150码远的物体的轮廓。在这距离之外的地方，海水的颜色渐变成深蓝，越远越淡，最后朦胧成一片昏暗。事实上，我周围的海水不过是另一种空气，只是比陆地上的空气要稠密得多，但都基本一样是透明的。在我的头顶之上，是风平浪静的海平面。我们走在细腻平坦的沙地上，这不像是平坦海滨上的沙地，在巨浪冲刷后会褶皱不平。这个耀眼的沙毯，真是一个反射镜，强烈地将太阳光发射回去，由此产生的光线穿透了每一个水层。倘若我说我在30英尺深处还能像光亮的白天一样看清东西，你们会信吗？
我们在这由那细小无形的贝壳粉末堆成的沙地上走了一刻钟。鹦鹉螺号的船身如长长的暗礁，也一点一点消失了；但是，当水里的黑暗吞没我们时，它那光线耀眼的照明灯会指引我们回到船上。
不一会儿，就能看见远处一些物体的大体轮廓了。我认出那是雄伟壮丽的礁石，上面悬挂着五彩缤纷的植物虫，就好像一个挂帘。我一下子就被这罕见的美景震惊了。
大概在早上10点钟时，太阳光线以一个巧妙的斜角投射在波面上，一接触这光线，海底的花、礁石、植物、贝壳和珊瑚虫的边缘便被镀上
shells, and polypi were shaded at the edges by the seven solar colours. It was marvellous, a feast for the eyes, this complication of coloured tints, a perfect kaleidoscope of red, green, yellow, orange, violet, indigo, and blue; in one word, the whole palette of an enthusiastic colourist! Why could I not communicate to Conseil the lively sensations which were mounting to my brain, and rival him in expressions of admiration? For aught I knew, Captain Nemo and his companion might be able to exchange thoughts by means of signs previously agreed upon. So, for want of better, I talked to myself; I declaimed in the copper box which covered my head, thereby expending more air in vain words than was perhaps wise.
……
All these wonders I saw in the space of a quarter of a mile, scarcely stopping, and following Captain Nemo, who beckoned me on by signs. Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain succeeded an extent of slimy mud which the Americans call “ooze”, composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous shells. We then travelled over a plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation. This sward was of close texture, and soft to the feet, and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of man. But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our heads. A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family of seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known, grew on the surface of the water. I saw long ribbons of fucus floating, some globular[33], others tuberous: laurenciae and cladostephi of most delicate foliage, and some rhodomeniae palmatae, resembling the fan of a cactus. I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea, whilst the red were at a greater depth, leaving to the black or brown the care of forming gardens and parterres in the remote beds of the ocean.
了七色光彩，就好像是被三棱镜分解的色彩一样。这美轮美奂的景象真是一场视觉盛宴，错综交替的色彩如一个赤橙黄绿青蓝紫的万花筒，总之，就是这激情澎湃的画家手中的七色调色板！为什么我就不能同康塞尔讲讲我心里真实的感觉，也不能和他一起表达满心的赞叹呢？也许，尼摩船长正用他们事先商量好的手势进行交流呢。因为没有更好的办法，我只好自言自语；我在戴在头上的铜头盔里跟自己叫喊，因此，这些毫无用处的废话消耗了更多的空气。
……
在这1/4海里的行进过程中，我观赏了所有这些奇观，几乎没有多作停留；尼摩船长频频向我打手势，我就紧跟着他。再走了一会儿，脚下的沙土材质有些变了；平整的沙地变成一片泥泞的泥地，它们由等量的硅土和石灰贝壳构成，美国人称其为“软泥”。接着，我们穿过一片整齐肥沃的海藻平原。海藻很稠密，踩在脚下软绵绵的，可以与最柔软的手工地毯相媲美。不仅在我们的脚底下蔓延成一片碧绿，抬头也是青翠欲滴。一片网状的海生植物漂浮在水面上，那是家族兴盛的海藻，已发现的品种就有2000多种。我看见水中漂浮着长长的带状墨角藻，有些是球状的，另一些是管状的；还有叶片纤细的薛苔和形似仙人掌的蔷薇藻。我发现绿色的海藻都在近海面漂着，红色的在深一点的海域，而黑色和棕色的就在最深处，形成了海底的花园和花圃。