海底兩萬里 第50期 第5章 冒險(xiǎn)活動(5)

Ned Land still kept up the most tenacious skepticism; beyond his spells on watch,

尼德蘭總是抱著不肯輕信的態(tài)度;

he pretended that he never even looked at the surface of the waves, at least while no whales were in sight.

除了輪到他在甲板上看守以外，他甚至故意不看洋面—至少在沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)鯨魚的時候是這樣。

And yet the marvelous power of his vision could have performed yeoman service.

他的神奇的眼力有很大的用處，

But this stubborn Canadian spent eight hours out of every twelve reading or sleeping in his cabin. A hundred times I chided him for his unconcern.

可是在十二小時中有八小時，這位固執(zhí)的加拿大人只是在艙房中看書或睡覺，我多少次責(zé)備他的冷淡和不關(guān)心。

Bah! he replied. Nothing's out there, Professor Aronnax, and if there is some animal, what chance would we have of spotting it?

算了吧!他答，阿龍納斯先生，什么都沒有，就算海中真有什么怪物，我們可能有機(jī)會看見它嗎?

Can't you see we're just wandering around at random? People say they've sighted this slippery beast again in the Pacific high seas-I'm truly willing to believe it,

我們不是漫無計(jì)劃地瞎撿嗎?據(jù)說在太平洋的北部海中，又有人看見了這個無法找到的怪物，這我并不否認(rèn)：

but two months have already gone by since then, and judging by your narwhale's personality, it hates growing moldy from hanging out too long in the same waterways!

但是，自從那次碰見后，兩個月已經(jīng)過去了，要是根據(jù)您的這條獨(dú)角鯨的怪脾氣來看，

It's blessed with a terrific gift for getting around.

它決不愿意長久停在這一帶海上!