海底兩萬里 第227期 第17章 海底森林(8)

At a depth of ten meters, we walked amid a swarm of small fish from every species, more numerous than birds in the air, more agile too; but no aquatic game worthy of a gunshot had yet been offered to our eyes.

在十米深的地方，我們就走在一大群各種各類的小魚中間，比空中飛烏的數(shù)量還多，也更敏捷，但還沒有值得我們槍擊的水產(chǎn)獵物在我們眼前出現(xiàn)。

Just then I saw the captain's weapon spring to his shoulder and track a moving object through the bushes. A shot went off, I heard a faint hissing, and an animal dropped a few paces away, literally struck by lightning.

這時候，我看見船長的槍急急頂在肩上，對著叢林間一個正在走動的東西瞄準。槍響了，我聽到輕微的嘯聲，那個動物在離幾步遠的地方被擊中倒下來了。

It was a magnificent sea otter from the genus Enhydra, the only exclusively marine quadruped. One and a half meters long, this otter had to be worth a good high price. Its coat, chestnut brown above and silver below, would have made one of those wonderful fur pieces so much in demand in the Russian and Chinese markets; the fineness and luster of its pelt guaranteed that it would go for at least 2,000 francs. I was full of wonderment at this unusual mammal, with its circular head adorned by short ears, its round eyes, its white whiskers like those on a cat, its webbed and clawed feet, its bushy tail. Hunted and trapped by fishermen, this valuable carnivore has become extremely rare, and it takes refuge chiefly in the northernmost parts of the Pacific, where in all likelihood its species will soon be facing extinction

倒下來的是一只很好看的水獺，一只水獸，它可能是住在海中的唯一的四足獸了。這水獺有一米半長，價值一定非常大。它的皮，表面是栗褐色，底面是銀白色，可以制成十分好看的皮筒，在俄國和中國的市場上，是十分罕見的皮料。皮毛的柔軟精細和它的光滑色澤決定它的價格至少也是二千法郎。我很贊美這新奇的哺乳類動物，圓突的頭，上面有短短的耳朵，圓圓的眼睛，像貓須一般的白色甕須，掌形帶甲的腳，團簇的尾巴。這種珍貴的內(nèi)食動物，因為漁人的追趕和捕獲，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)十分稀罕，它們主要是躲藏在太平洋的北極圈里，就是在北極圈里，它們這一族也快要滅絕了。

Captain Nemo's companion picked up the animal, loaded it on his shoulder, and we took to the trail again.

尼摩船長的同伴跑上前去把水獺撿起來，放在肩頭上，我們又向前走。