After clearing the outer belt of rocks via a narrow passageway, the Nautilus lay inside the breakers where the sea had a depth of thirty to forty fathoms. Under the green shade of some tropical evergreens, I spotted a few savages who looked extremely startled at our approach. In this long, blackish object advancing flush with the water, didn't they see some fearsome cetacean that they were obliged to view with distrust?
諾第留斯號從窄狹的水道,穿過外圍的一道石帶,走在暗礁巖石里面了,這里的海水深度為五十米至六十五米左右。我看見紅樹蔭下有十二三個土人,他們看見我們的船開來,表示極端驚怪。看見這長長的灰黑東西在水面上行走,他們可能認(rèn)為是他們應(yīng)當(dāng)警戒的一條很厲害的鯨科動物呢?
Just then Captain Nemo asked me what I knew about the shipwreck of the Count de La Perouse.
這個時候,尼摩船長向我打聽拉?白魯斯失事遇難的情形,這事我是知道的。
"What everybody knows, captain," I answered him.
“船長,我所知道的不過是大家都知道的罷了。”我回答他。
"And could you kindly tell me what everybody knows?" he asked me in a gently ironic tone.
“您可以把大家知道的情形告訴我嗎?”他帶些譏諷的神氣說。
"Very easily."
“那很容易。”
I related to him what the final deeds of Captain Dumont d'Urville had brought to light, deeds described here in this heavily condensed summary of the whole matter.
我把杜蒙?居維爾關(guān)于這事的最后著作中所談到的情形告訴了他,下面就是簡單的概述。
In 1785 the Count de La Perouse and his subordinate, Captain de Langle, were sent by King Louis XVI of France on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe. They boarded two sloops of war, the Compass and the Astrolabe, which were never seen again.
拉?白魯斯和他的副手郎格爾船長于1785年受路易十六的派遣,作環(huán)游地球的航行。他們乘羅盤號和渾天儀號兩艘三級艦出發(fā),以后就再沒有聽見他們的消息了。
In 1791, justly concerned about the fate of these two sloops of war, the French government fitted out two large cargo boats, the Search and the Hope, which left Brest on September 28 under orders from Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
1791年,法國政府很關(guān)心這兩艘戰(zhàn)艦的命運(yùn),裝備了兩艘大運(yùn)輸艦,搜索號和希望號, 準(zhǔn)備出發(fā),做尋找的工作。,這兩艘大運(yùn)輸艦于9月28日離開布勒斯特海港,由當(dāng)上爾加斯朵指揮。