海底兩萬里 第4期 第1章 飛走的暗礁(4)

　　One after another, reports arrived that would profoundly affect public opinion: new observations taken by the transatlantic liner Pereire,

　　接連不斷地傳來的消息，橫渡大西洋的貝雷爾號所做的種種觀察，

　　the Inman line's Etna running afoul of the monster, an official report drawn up by officers on the French frigate Normandy,

　　茵曼輪船公司的越提那號跟這個怪物的一次相碰，法國二級軍艦諾曼第號軍官們所寫的記錄，

　　dead-earnest reckonings obtained by the general staff of Commodore Fitz-James aboard the Lord Clyde.

　　海軍高級參謀弗茲一詹姆斯在克利德爵士號上所做的很精密的測算，這一切在當(dāng)時的確曾經(jīng)哄動一時。

　　In lighthearted countries, people joked about this phenomenon, but such serious, practical countries as England, America, and Germany were deeply concerned.

　　在民族性比較浮躁的國家里，大家都拿這件事作為談笑資料，但在嚴肅和踏實的國家里，像英國、美國和德國就不同，它們對這事就非常關(guān)心。

　　In every big city the monster was the latest rage; they sang about it in the coffee houses, they ridiculed it in the newspapers,

　　在各大城市里，這怪物變成了家喻戶曉的事件。咖啡館里歌唱它，報刊上嘲笑它，

　　they dramatized it in the theaters. The tabloids found it a fine opportunity for hatching all sorts of hoaxes.

　　舞臺上扮演它。謠言正好有了機會，從這怪物身上捏造出各種各樣的奇聞。

　　In those newspapers short of copy, you saw the reappearance of every gigantic imaginary creature, from "Moby Dick,"

　　在一些發(fā)行量不多的報刊上，出現(xiàn)了關(guān)于各種離奇的巨大動物的報道，從白鯨、北極海中可怕的莫比·狄克,

　　that dreadful white whale from the High Arctic regions, to the stupendous kraken whosetentacles could entwine a 500-ton craft and drag it into the ocean depths.

　　一直到龐大的克拉肯這種怪魚的觸須可以纏住一只載重五百噸的船而把它拖到海底下去都應(yīng)有盡有。

　　They even reprinted reports from ancient times: the views of Aristotle and Pliny accepting the existence of such monsters,

　　有些人甚至不惜引經(jīng)據(jù)典，或者搬出古代的傳說如亞里士多德和蒲林尼的見解：

　　then the Norwegian stories of Bishop Pontoppidan, the narratives of Paul Egede, and finally the reports of Captain Harrington whose good faith is above suspicion

　　或者搬出彭土皮丹主教的挪威童話，保羅·埃紀德的記述，以及哈林頓的報告;這報告是不容懷疑的，

　　in which he claims he saw, while aboard the Castilian in 1857,

　　他說，1857年，他在嘉斯第蘭號上看見過一種大蛇，

　　one of those enormous serpents that, until then, had frequented only the seas of France's old extremist newspaper, The Constitutionalist.

　　那種蛇以前只在那立憲號到過的海面上才能看見。