Then our ship went along at a distance of six miles from the Arabic coasts of Mahra and Hadhramaut, their undulating lines of mountains relieved by a few ancient ruins.
這一帶海岸線上有起伏不平的山嶺,間有一些古代遺跡。
On February 5 we finally put into the Gulf of Aden, a genuine funnel stuck into the neck of Bab el Mandeb and bottling these Indian waters in the Red Sea.
2月5月,我們進(jìn)人亞丁灣,這灣是巴布厄爾曼特長(zhǎng)頸形海峽的真正漏斗,把印度洋的水倒流入紅海中。
On February 6 the Nautilus cruised in sight of the city of Aden, perched on a promontory connected to the continent by a narrow isthmus, a sort of inaccessible Gibraltar whose fortifications the English rebuilt after capturing it in 1839.
2月6日,諾第留斯號(hào)浮出水面,遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)看見亞丁港,港筑在海呷上,一條很窄的地峽把它跟大陸連接起來(lái)。
I was convinced that when Captain Nemo reached this point, he would back out again; but I was mistaken, and much to my surprise, he did nothing of the sort.
我認(rèn)為尼摩船長(zhǎng)到了這個(gè)地方,一定要退回來(lái),可是我錯(cuò)了,我很驚異,他并不這樣做。
The next day, February 7, we entered the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, whose name means "Gate of Tears" in the Arabic language.
第二天,2月7日,我們走進(jìn)巴布厄爾曼特海峽,這個(gè)名字照阿拉伯語(yǔ)是“淚門”的意思。
Twenty miles wide, it's only fifty-two kilometers long, and with the Nautilus launched at full speed, clearing it was the work of barely an hour.
海峽二十海里寬,只有五十二公里長(zhǎng),對(duì)諾底留斯號(hào)來(lái)說(shuō)。開足馬力走過去,不過是1小時(shí)的事,
But I didn't see a thing, not even Perim Island where the British government built fortifications to strengthen Aden's position.
但是我看不見什么,就是丕林島也沒有看到這島是英國(guó)政府拿來(lái)使亞丁港的防衛(wèi)更加鞏固的。
There were many English and French steamers plowing this narrow passageway, liners going from Suez to Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne, Réunion Island, and Mauritius; far too much traffic for the Nautilus to make an appearance on the surface. So it wisely stayed in midwater
過多的英國(guó)船和法國(guó)船,從蘇伊士到孟買、到加爾各答、到墨爾本到波旁、到毛利斯,都經(jīng)過這狹窄的海峽,使諾第留斯號(hào)不慈浮出來(lái)。所以它很小心地只在水底下行駛。