海底兩萬里 第451期 第27章 南極(8)
It was eight o'clock in the morning. We had four hours to ourselves before the sun could be productively observed.
時間是早晨八點。太陽可以供我們觀察利用的時間只剩下四小時了。
I guided our steps toward a huge bay that made a crescent-shaped incision in the granite cliffs along the beach.
我向一處寬大的港灣一步步走去，灣作斬月形，在花崗石的懸崖中間。
There, all about us, I swear that the shores and ice floes were crowded with marine mammals as far as the eye could see, and I involuntarily looked around for old Proteus, that mythological shepherd who guarded King Neptune's immense flocks.
在那里，我簡直可以說，我們周圍，陸地上和冰層上，一望無際都是被海中哺乳動物擠滿了，我眼光不期然而然地找那老頭蒲羅德，他是神話中給海神涅豆尼看守家畜群的老收人。
To be specific, these were seals.
海豹特別多。
They formed distinct male-and-female groups, the father watching over his family, the mother suckling her little ones, the stronger youngsters emancipated a few paces away.
它們形成個別分開的隊伍，雄的和雌的一起，父海豹關心它的家族，母海豹給它的小海豹喂奶，有些已經壯大的年輕海豹隨意走開；在遠一些的地方。
When these mammals wanted to relocate, they moved in little jumps made by contracting their bodies, clumsily helped by their imperfectly developed flippers, which, as with their manatee relatives, form actual forearms.
當這些哺乳動物要走動的時候，它們由于軀體的伸縮，一跳一跳地走，同時它們相當笨，拿它們的不發(fā)達的鰭來幫助走動，但這鰭在它們的同類海牛身上，就成為真正的前臂了。
