海底兩萬里 第218期 第16章 在海底平原散步(9)

These algae are a genuine prodigy of creation, one of the wonders of world flora. This family produces both the biggest and smallest vegetables in the world. Because, just as 40,000 near-invisible buds have been counted in one five-square-millimeter space, so also have fucus plants been gathered that were over 500 meters long!

這些海藻類實在是造化的奇跡，宇宙植物界的一個奇跡。地球上最小和最大的植物都產(chǎn)生在海藻類中。因為五平方毫米的地方，可以有四萬條這類肉眼不可見的微生植物，同時人們又采過長一直超過五百米的海帶。

We had been gone from the Nautilus for about an hour and a half. It was almost noon. I spotted this fact in the perpendicularity of the sun's rays, which were no longer refracted. The magic of these solar colors disappeared little by little, with emerald and sapphire shades vanishing from our surroundings altogether. We walked with steady steps that rang on the seafloor with astonishing intensity. The tiniest sounds were transmitted with a speed to which the ear is unaccustomed on shore. In fact, water is a better conductor of sound than air, and under the waves noises carry four times as fast.

我們離開諾第留斯號有一小時半左右了。正是快到中午的時候，我看見太陽光垂直地照下來，再沒有曲折作用了。顏色變幻的花樣漸漸沒有了，翠玉和青玉的各種色度也從我們的頭頂上消失了。我們步伐很規(guī)律地走著，踩夜地上發(fā)出異常響亮的聲音。很輕微的聲晌也很快地傳出去。這是在陸地上時的耳朵所不熟悉的。本來，對于聲音，水比空氣是更好的傳音體，它傳播聲音比空氣快四倍。

Just then the seafloor began to slope sharply downward. The light took on a uniform hue. We reached a depth of 100 meters, by which point we were undergoing a pressure of ten atmospheres. But my ping clothes were built along such lines that I never suffered from this pressure.

這時候，海底地面由于有明顯的斜坡，漸漸低下去。光線的色澤是一致的。我們到了百米的深度，受到十大氣醫(yī)的壓力。但我的潛水衣是為適應這些情況制成的，所以我沒有感到這種壓力的難受。