海底兩萬里 第355期 第23章 珊瑚王國(54)

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With Ned and Conseil, I went to sit on the platform. The coast to the east looked like a slightly blurred mass in a damp fog.

我坐在平臺上，有尼德·蘭和康塞爾陪著。東岸好像有一大塊東西，在濕霧中隱約顯現(xiàn)。

Leaning against the sides of the skiff, we were chatting of one thing and another, when Ned Land stretched his hand toward a point in the water, saying to me:

我們靠在小艇側(cè)面，大家隨便地說東道西，正談的時候，尼德·蘭伸手指著海上的一點，對我說：

See anything out there, professor?

教授，您看見那邊的東西嗎？

No, Ned, I replied, but you know I don't have your eyes.

沒有，尼德，我回答，我的眼睛不好，您是知道的。

Take a good look, Ned went on. There, ahead to starboard, almost level with the beacon! Don't you see a mass that seems to be moving around?

好好地看一下，尼德·蘭又說，那右舷前頭，差不多在探照燈的同一直線上！您看不見那塊好像動的東西嗎？

Right, I said after observing carefully, I can make out something like a long, blackish object on the surface of the water.

是的，我仔細地看一下說，我望見水面上有一個灰黑色的長東西。

A second Nautilus? Conseil said.

是另一只諾第留斯號嗎？康塞爾說。

No, the Canadian replied, unless I'm badly mistaken, that's some marine animal.

不是，加拿大人說，或者我弄錯了，或者那是一只海牛動物。

Are there whales in the Red Sea? Conseil asked.

紅海中有鯨魚嗎？康塞爾問。

Yes, my boy, I replied, they're sometimes found here.

有的，老實人，我回答，人們有時碰得見呢。

That's no whale, continued Ned Land, whose eyes never strayed from the object they had sighted. We're old chums, whales and I, and I couldn't mistake their little ways.

那不是鯨魚，尼德·蘭回答，同時目不轉(zhuǎn)晴地盯住那東西，鯨魚和我，我們是老相識，它們的形狀我決不至弄錯。

Let's wait and see, Conseil said. The Nautilus is heading that direction, and we'll soon know what we're in for.

我們等著吧，康塞爾說，諾第留斯號向那邊駛?cè)チ耍粫覀兙涂梢灾滥鞘鞘裁礀|西。

In fact, that blackish object was soon only a mile away from us. It looked like a huge reef stranded in midocean. What was it? I still couldn't make up my mind.

正是，這灰黑的物體不久離我們只有一海里遠了。它很像擱淺在海中間的大礁。是什么呢？我還不能說出來。

Oh, it's moving off! It's ping! Ned Land exclaimed. Damnation! What can that animal be?

??！它走動了！它潛入水中了，尼德·蘭喊道，真奇怪！可能是什么動物呢？

It doesn't have a forked tail like baleen whales or sperm whales, and its fins look like sawed-off limbs.

它沒有跟鯨魚或大頭鯨一樣的分開來的尾巴，它的鰭好像是切斷的手足那樣。

But in that case-I put in.

那么是…我說。

Good lord, the Canadian went on, it's rolled over on its back, and it's raising its breasts in the air!

好嗎，加拿大人立即又說，它朝天翻過來了，它把奶頭挺起在空中了！

It's a siren! Conseil exclaimed. With all due respect to master, it's an actual mermaid!

那是人魚！康塞爾喊道，是真正的人魚，請先生原諒我這樣說。