■神秘岛
The Mysterious Island
◎Jules Verne/儒勒·凡尔纳
Your error is one that we may admire, and your name has nothing to fear from the judgment of history, which does not condemn heroic folly, but its results.
It was the open sea, whose waves were still dashing with tremendous violence! It was the ocean, without any visible limits, even for those whose gaze, from their commanding position, extended over a radius of forty miles. The vast liquid plain,lashed[37] without mercy by the storm, appeared as if covered with herds of furious chargers, whose white and disheveled crests were streaming in the wind. No land was in sight, not a solitary ship could be seen. It was necessary at any cost to arrest their downward course, and to prevent the balloon from being engulfed in the waves. The voyagers directed all their energies to this urgent work. But, notwithstanding their efforts, the balloon still fell, and at the same time shifted with the greatest rapidity, following the direction of the wind, that is to say, from the northeast to the
作品导读
您的错误并不能使您失去别人的钦佩，您的名字丝毫也不用害怕历史的判断。历史喜爱英勇豪迈的事迹，同时也谴责这种事迹所造成的后果。
开阔的海面上，依旧是巨浪涛天！即使是居高临下来俯瞰这片海域，延展到方圆40英里都还是一望无际。这广阔的液态平原，在暴风无情的鞭打下，好似有万马在奔腾，它们白色的鬃毛被这狂风吹得凌乱不堪。一眼望去，看不到一片陆地和一叶孤舟。他们必须不惜一切代价阻止气球再往下坠落，否则转眼就会被这海浪吞没。乘客们竭尽全力想办好这件紧急之事，但是，不管他们怎么努力，气球还是不断地往下坠，同时，还随着风急速地从东北向西南移动。
southwest.
Frightful indeed was the situation of these unfortunate men. They were evidently no longer masters of the machine. All their attempts were useless. The case of the balloon collapsed more and more. The gas escaped without any possibility of retaining it. Their descent was visibly accelerated, and soon after midday the car hung within 600 feet of the ocean.
It was impossible to prevent the escape of gas, which rushed through a large rent in the silk. By lightening the car of all the articles which it contained, the passengers had been able to prolong their suspension in the air for a few hours. But the inevitable catastrophe could only be retarded, and if land did not appear before night, voyagers, car, and balloon must to a certainty vanish beneath the waves.
They now resorted to the only remaining expedient. They were truly dauntless men, who knew how to look death in the face. Not a single murmur escaped from their lips. They were determined to struggle to the last minute, to do anything to retard their fall. The car was only a sort of willow basket, unable to float, and there was not the slightest possibility of maintaining it on the surface of the sea.
Two more hours passed and the balloon was scarcely 400 feet above the water.
At that moment a loud voice, the voice of a man whose heart was inaccessible to fear, was heard. To this voice responded others not less determined.“Is everything thrown out?” “No, here are still 2，000 dollars in gold.” A heavy bag immediately plunged into the sea.“Does the balloon rise?” “A little, but it will not be long before it falls again.” “What still remains to be thrown out?” “Nothing.” “Yes! The car!” “Let us catch hold of the net, and into the sea with the car.”
这些不幸的人现在的处境真可谓危如累卵。显然，他们已算不上是这气球的主人。所有的努力都是徒劳。气球的气囊越来越干瘪，氢气一点点泄露，丝毫没办法保存。他们的下降速度明显又加快了，刚过正午，吊篮离海面已经不足600英尺。
想要阻止氢气从气囊里的裂缝里冲出来是不可能了。乘客们把气球上的物件都丢了下去，以减轻吊篮的重量，借此他们还能在空中多飘几个小时。但是，这只能延缓这场不可避免的灾难的到来，要是在夜幕降临之前还找不到陆地的话，乘客、吊篮和气球都会被海浪吞噬。
现在，他们拿出了最后的应急方法。他们都是无畏无惧的人，知道怎样直面死亡，也丝毫没有怨言。他们决定要奋斗到最后一分钟，想尽办法延迟坠落。吊篮只是个柳木篮子，没法漂浮，要想一直漂在海面上是不可能的。
又过去了两个小时，气球离洋面已不足400英尺。
这时，有人大声喊了一句，从他的声音里，我们完全感受不到他在害怕。回答他的声音同样决绝。“还有东西没丢下去吗？”“是的，这儿还有2000美元的黄金。”一个沉重的袋子立马被抛进海里。“气球上升了吗？”“上升了一点，但一会儿又会往下坠。”“还有什么剩余的东西可扔吗？”“没有了。”“不！还有吊篮！”“我们都抓住网绳，把吊篮丢进海里。”
This was, in fact, the last and only mode of lightening the balloon. The ropes which held the car were cut, and the balloon, after its fall, mounted 2，000 feet. The five voyagers had hoisted themselves into the net, and clung to the meshes, gazing at the abyss.
The delicate sensibility of balloons is well known. It is sufficient to throw out the lightest article to produce a difference in its vertical position. The apparatus in the air is like a balance of mathematical precision. It can be thus easily understood that when it is lightened of any considerable weight its movement will be impetuous and sudden. So it happened on this occasion. But after being suspended for an instant aloft, the balloon began to redescend, the gas escaping by the rent which it was impossible to repair.
The men had done all that men could do. No human efforts could save them now.
They must trust to the mercy of Him who rules the elements.
At four o’clock the balloon was only 500 feet above the surface of the water.
A loud barking was heard. A dog accompanied the voyagers, and was held pressed close to his master in the meshes of the net.
“Top has seen something,” cried one of the men. Then immediately a loud voice shouted,—
“Land! Land!”
The balloon, which the wind still drove towards the southwest, had since daybreak gone a considerable distance, which might be by hundreds of miles, and a tolerably high land had, in fact, appeared in that direction. But this land was still thirty miles off. It would not take less than an hour to get to it, and then there was the chance of falling to leeward.
An hour! Might not the balloon before that be emptied of all the fluid it
事实上，这确实是最后且唯一减轻气球重量的法子。吊着吊篮的绳索立刻被割断了，吊篮坠下去后，气球升高了2000英尺。五个乘客爬进网绳里，紧紧抓住网眼，凝视着下面那一片无底深渊。
众所周知，气球对重量的增减十分敏感。哪怕只是扔掉一个最轻的物件，都能让它有所上升。这个空中气球装置就像是一个高度精确的天平。因此，很容易明白，要是减去一个很重的东西，它就会突然猛烈上升。眼下就是这么个情形。但是，在空中飘了一会儿后，气球又重新开始下降，氢气从缝里不断地漏出去，怎么也堵不上。
乘客们已经尽了全力。现在，人为的努力已经救不了他们了。
此刻，他们只能听天由命。
4点时，气球离水面只剩下500英尺高。
一声响亮的狗吠声响起。还有一只狗在乘客的身边，它紧靠着它的主人，抓着网眼。
“托普看见了什么东西。”其中一个人高声喊道。然后，马上有一个声音大叫着——
“陆地！是陆地！”
从黎明到现在，风吹着气球向西南方向飞了一个相当可观的距离，据估算，大约有几百英里；一个高高的陆地出现在前方，但离这儿也还有30英里远。到那片陆地去至少还有1个小时，然后才有机会背风降落。
1个小时！在到那里之前，气球剩下的氢气会不会漏光？
yet retained?
Such was the terrible question! The voyagers could distinctly see that solid spot which they must reach at any cost. They were ignorant of what it was, whether an island or a continent, for they did not know to what part of the world the hurricane had driven them. But they must reach this land, whether inhabited or desolate, whether hospitable or not.
It was evident that the balloon could no longer support itself! Several times already had the crests of the enormous billows licked the bottom of the net, making it still heavier, and the balloon only half rose, like a bird with a wounded wing. Half an hour later the land was not more than a mile off, but the balloon, exhausted, flabby, hanging in great folds, had gas in its upper part alone. The voyagers, clinging to the net, were still too heavy for it, and soon, half plunged into the sea, they were beaten by the furious waves. The balloon-case bulged out again, and the wind, taking it, drove it along like a vessel. Might it not possibly thus reach the land?
But, when only two fathoms[38] off, terrible cries resounded from four pairs of lungs at once. The balloon, which had appeared as if it would never again rise, suddenly made an unexpected bound, after having been struck by a tremendous sea. As if it had been at that instant relieved of a new part of its weight, it mounted to a height of 1，500 feet, and here it met a current of wind, which instead of taking it directly to the coast, carried it in a nearly parallel direction.
At last, two minutes later, it reproached obliquely[39], and finally fell on a sandy beach, out of the reach of the waves.
这才是一个大难题！乘客们都能清楚地看到陆地，他们必须不择手段到达那里。他们并不知道那是什么，一座岛，还是一片大陆，因为他们不知道飓风把他们拽到了世界的哪个地方。但是，他们一定要到达那片陆地，不管它有人居住还是荒无人烟，也不管它环境是否恶劣。
气球明显撑不下去了！巨浪的浪峰好几次都拍打到网绳的底端，这使得气球更重了；气球半飞着半贴着水面，就像一只翅膀受伤的鸟儿。半个小时过后，陆地就在前方不足1英里的地方，但气球也耗尽了氢气，干瘪着，起了大大的褶皱，只有上部还剩下一点氢气。乘客们都紧紧抓着网绳，但对气球来说还是太重，很快他们就半浸入海水里，遭受着巨浪的拍打。气球像帆一样被吹得鼓起来，风推着这个像船一样的气球前行。也许这样就能达到陆地了。
但是，离陆地还剩下两英寻的时候，四个人同时发出可怕的惊呼声。本来气球似乎再也升不起来，被一个大浪一拍，突然又意外地升了起来。那一瞬间，它好像减轻了一部分重量，一下升到1500英尺的高度，这儿又正好遇到一阵风，风并没有直接把他们吹到海岸上，而是吹着它向几乎平行于海岸的方向飞去。
又过了两分钟，气球倾斜了一下，最终掉落在一片海浪冲刷不到的沙滩上。