海底兩萬里 第320期 第23章 珊瑚王國(19)
Yes! It will be a really unusual experience!
對(duì)了！這事很新奇，十分新奇。
And possibly dangerous! I added in an insinuating tone.
或者很危險(xiǎn)呢！我用暗示的語氣又加上一句。
Dangerous? Ned Land replied. A simple trip to an oysterbank?
很危險(xiǎn)！尼德·蘭回答，到珍珠貝礁石上走一走！
Assuredly, Captain Nemo hadn't seen fit to plant the idea of sharks in the minds of my companions.
一定是尼摩船長(zhǎng)認(rèn)為沒有必要讓我的同伴想到鮫魚，所以他不對(duì)他們說。
For my part, I stared at them with anxious eyes, as if they were already missing a limb or two. Should I alert them? Yes, surely, but I hardly knew how to go about it.
我眼光有些慌張地注視他們，好像他們的肢體已經(jīng)被咬走了一部分似的。我應(yīng)該事先通知他們嗎？當(dāng)然應(yīng)該的，不過我不知道怎樣跟他們說才好。
Would master, Conseil said to me, give us some background on pearl fishing?
先生，康塞爾對(duì)我說，先生愿意給我們講一些關(guān)于采珍珠的情形嗎？
On the fishing itself? I asked. Or on the occupational hazards that--
是講采珍珠這事情本身呢，我問，還是講有關(guān)的故事呢？
On the fishing, the Canadian replied. Before we tackle the terrain, it helps to be familiar with it.
講采珍珠的事情，加拿大人回答，到實(shí)地去看之前，先知道一點(diǎn)是好的。
All right, sit down, my friends, and I'll teach you everything I myself have just been taught by the Englishman H. C. Sirr!
好吧，朋友們，你們坐下，我從英國人西爾寫的書中所知道的一切，都講給你們聽吧。
Ned and Conseil took seats on a couch, and right off the Canadian said to me:
尼德·蘭和康塞爾在長(zhǎng)沙發(fā)上坐下，加拿大人首先對(duì)我說：
Sir, just what is a pearl exactly?
先生，珍珠是什么呢？
My gallant Ned, I replied, for poets a pearl is a tear from the sea;
老實(shí)的尼德，我回答；對(duì)詩人來說，珍珠是大海的眼淚；
for Orientals it's a drop of solidified dew; for the ladies it's a jewel they can wear on their fingers, necks, and ears that's oblong in shape, glassy in luster, and formed from mother-of-pearl;
對(duì)東方人來說，它是一滴固體化的露水；對(duì)婦女們來說，它是她們帶在手指上。脖子上或耳朵上的，長(zhǎng)圓形，透明色，螺鈾質(zhì)的飾物；
for chemists it's a mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate with a little gelatin protein;
對(duì)化學(xué)家來說，它是帶了些膠質(zhì)的磷酸鹽和碳酸鈣的混合物；
and finally, for naturalists it's a simple festering secretion from the organ that produces mother-of-pearl in certain bivalves.
最后，對(duì)生物學(xué)家來說，它不過是某種雙殼類動(dòng)物產(chǎn)生螺鋼質(zhì)的器官的病態(tài)分泌物。
