The Nautilus sank a few meters beneath the waves, and the panels opened. 诺第留斯号潜入海水下几米深，嵌板打开了。

　　I rushed to the window and saw crusts of coral: fungus coral, siphonula coral, alcyon coral, sea anemone from the genus Caryophylia,  我急急走到玻璃隔板面前观看，只见珊瑚礁石的基地盖满了菌生植物、

　　plus myriads of charming fish including greenfish, damselfish, sweepers, snappers, and squirrelfish;  管状植物、翡翠海草、石竹小草，

　　underneath this coral covering I detected some rubble the old dredges hadn't been able to tear free 在它下面，在成千成万物十分可爱的鱼类（鲍鱼、雕纹鱼、卿筒鱼、裂骨鱼、金鱼）中间，

　　iron stirrups, anchors, cannons, shells, tackle from a capstan, a stempost, all objects hailing from the wrecked ships and now carpeted in moving flowers. 我认出了打捞机无法打捞的一些残废物品，如铁马磴、锚、炮、炮弹、绞盘架、船头废料等等，全是遇难船只留下的东西，现在都披上活生生的花朵了。

　　And as I stared at this desolate wreckage, Captain Nemo told me in a solemn voice: 当我注视这些使人心中难受的遇难船只的残骸时，尼摩船长用很严肃的声音对我说：

　　"Commander La Perouse set out on December 7, 1785, with his ships, the Compass and the Astrolabe.  “拉白鲁斯船长于1785年12月7日率领了罗盘号和浑夭仪号两船出发。

　　He dropped anchor first at Botany Bay, visited the Tonga Islands and New Caledonia, headed toward the Santa Cruz Islands,  他最初停泊在植物湾，访问了友爱群岛，新喀里多尼亚，向圣克鲁斯群岛出发，

　　and put in at Nomuka, one of the islands in the Ha'apai group.  停在哈巴衣群岛的奈摩加岛面前。

　　Then his ships arrived at the unknown reefs of Vanikoro.  然后，到了以前不知道的万尼科罗群岛的礁石上面。

　　Traveling in the lead, the Compass ran afoul of breakers on the southerly coast.  走在前头的罗盘号撞在南边海岸的礁石上。

　　The Astrolabe went to its rescue and also ran aground.  浑天仪号前来援救，但也碰上暗礁。

　　The first ship was destroyed almost immediately.  第一只船罗盘号立即撞破沉下去。