海底兩萬(wàn)里 第524期 第32章 海灣暖流(14)
Unshaken by these squalls, Captain Nemo stationed himself on the platform. He was lashed around the waist to withstand the monstrous breakers foaming over the deck. I hoisted and attached myself to the same place, dividing my wonderment between the storm and this incomparable man who faced it head-on.
尼摩船長(zhǎng)站在平臺(tái)上，迎風(fēng)傲然不動(dòng)。為了預(yù)防洶涌澎湃的巨浪，他的腰間系著一根纜繩。我也登上平臺(tái)，系上繩子，欣賞這場(chǎng)暴風(fēng)雨和這個(gè)昂首挺立的無(wú)可倫比的人。
The raging sea was swept with huge tattered clouds drenched by the waves. I saw no more of the small intervening billows that form in the troughs of the big crests. Just long, soot-colored undulations with crests so compact they didn't foam. They kept growing taller. They were spurring each other on. The Nautilus, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing on end like a mast, rolled and pitched frightfully.
浸在水波中的大塊的烏云橫掃過(guò)海濤翻滾的水面。我再也見不到那些大渦漩中的小浪花了，只見一陣陣煤煙色的低矮長(zhǎng)浪頭，一浪接一浪而來(lái)，慢慢地浪峰越來(lái)越高，相互推擁激蕩?！胞W鵡螺號(hào)”，時(shí)而側(cè)身臥倒，時(shí)而像桅桿一樣屹立，發(fā)瘋地翻轉(zhuǎn)搖晃。
Near five o'clock a torrential rain fell, but it lulled neither wind nor sea. The hurricane was unleashed at a speed of forty-five meters per second, hence almost forty leagues per hour. Under these conditions houses topple, roof tiles puncture doors, iron railings snap in two, and twenty-four-pounder cannons relocate. And yet in the midst of this turmoil, the Nautilus lived up to that saying of an expert engineer: "A well-constructed hull can defy any sea!" This submersible was no resisting rock that waves could demolish; it was a steel spindle, obediently in motion, without rigging or masting, and able to brave their fury with impunity.
5點(diǎn)鐘左右，一場(chǎng)暴雨降臨了，但海浪和狂風(fēng)并沒(méi)因此平息。暴風(fēng)以每秒45米，即接近每小時(shí)40里的速度脫韁而來(lái)。在這種情況下，它可以掀翻房屋，把屋瓦吹進(jìn)門里，折斷鐵欄柵，讓一架24厘米的大炮挪位。然而，在風(fēng)暴中間，“鸚鵡螺號(hào)”船只證實(shí)了一個(gè)工程師學(xué)者的話：“沒(méi)有不能縱橫大海的構(gòu)造完美的船體！”這不是一座海浪能夠沖毀的堅(jiān)石，而是一只馴良、活動(dòng)的鋼鐵紡錘，它不用工具，不用桅墻，就能在狂風(fēng)暴雨中絲毫不損。
Meanwhile I was carefully examining these unleashed breakers. They measured up to fifteen meters in height over a length of 150 to 175 meters, and the speed of their propagation (half that of the wind) was fifteen meters per second.
然而，我認(rèn)真地觀察起撲面而來(lái)的海濤。它們竄至5米高，寬幅是150至175米，推進(jìn)的速度是風(fēng)速的一半，即每秒15米。
