英语听书《海底两万里》第308期 第23章 珊瑚王国(5)

 　　You may go, Professor Aronnax, Captain Nemo told me. 你可以走了，教授，船长对我说。

　　I left the captain in the dying man's cabin and I repaired to my stateroom, very moved by this scene.  我出来，让船长一人留在危急病人的房里，我回到我的房中，为了刚才的场面情绪很激动。

　　All day long I was aquiver with gruesome forebodings.  那一整天，我心中有种种不祥的预感，十分不安。

　　That night I slept poorly, and between my fitful dreams, I thought I heard a distant moaning, like a funeral dirge¹.  夜间睡得不好，睡梦中时常惊醒，觉得听到了远远传来的悲叹和好像唱丧歌的声音。

　　Was it a prayer for the dead, murmured in that language I couldn't understand? 这是对死者的祷词，用那种我不能懂得语言说出来的祷词吗？

　　The next morning I climbed on deck. Captain Nemo was already there. As soon as he saw me, he came over. 第二天早晨，我又到了平台上，尼摩船长已经在那里了。他一看见我，就走到我面前来。

　　Professor, he said to me, would it be convenient for you to make an underwater excursion today? 教授，他对我说，您愿意今天去作一次海底散步吗？

　　With my companions? I asked. 我的同伴可以一同去吗？我问。

　　If they're agreeable. 如果他们愿意，他们可以一同去。

　　We're yours to command, captain. 我们一定跟您去，船长。

　　Then kindly² put on your diving suits. 请你们就去穿潜水衣。

　　As for the dead or dying man, he hadn't come into the picture. I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil.  关于那个危急病人或死人的消息，他再也不提。我到尼德兰和康塞尔那儿，

　　I informed them of Captain Nemo's proposition. Conseil was eager to accept, and this time the Canadian proved perfectly³ amenable⁴ to going with us. 把尼摩船长的提议告诉他们。康塞尔立刻就答应去，这一次加拿大人也表示很乐意跟我们一道去。

　　It was eight o'clock in the morning. By 8:30 we were suited up for this new stroll and equipped with our two devices for lighting⁵ and breathing.  时间是早上八点。到八点半，我们穿好了这次散步穿的潜水衣，并带上探照灯和呼吸器。

　　The double door opened, and accompanied by Captain Nemo with a dozen crewmen following, we set foot on the firm seafloor where the Nautilus was resting, ten meters down. 那座双重的门打开了，尼摩船长和跟在他后面的十来个船员一齐出来，我们到了水下十米的地方，我们的脚便踩在诺第留斯号停下来的海底地上。

　　A gentle slope gravitated to an uneven⁶ bottom whose depth was about fifteen fathoms⁷.  一段轻微的斜坡路通到崎岖不平的地面，深度大约为二十五米左右。

　　This bottom was completely different from the one I had visited during my first excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  这地面跟我第一次在太平洋水底下散步时看见过的完全不一样。

　　Here I saw no fine-grained sand, no underwater prairies, not one open-sea forest.  这里没有细沙，没有海底草地，没有海底树林，

　　I immediately recognized the wondrous⁸ region in which Captain Nemo did the honors that day.  我立即认识这一天尼摩船长请我们来的这个神奇地方；

　　It was the coral realm. 这个地方是珊瑚王国。

1 dirge   

n.哀乐，挽歌，庄重悲哀的乐曲

参考例句：

• She threw down her basket and intoned a peasant dirge.她撂下菜篮，唱起庄稼人的哀歌。
• The stranger,after listening for a moment,joined in the mournful dirge.听了一会儿后这个陌生人也跟著唱起了悲哀的挽歌。

2 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 amenable   

adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的

参考例句：

• His scientific discoveries are amenable to the laws of physics.他在科学上的发现经得起物理定律的检验。
• He is amenable to counsel.他这人听劝。

5 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

6 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

7 fathoms   

英寻( fathom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The harbour is four fathoms deep. 港深为四英寻。
• One bait was down forty fathoms. 有个鱼饵下沉到四十英寻的深处。

8 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。