I led the Canadian to the room where the Nautilus's men were putting on their diving suits. I informed the captain of Ned's proposition, which was promptly accepted. The Canadian got into his underwater costume and was ready as soon as his fellow workers. Each of them carried on his back a Rouquayrol device that the air tanks had supplied with a generous allowance of fresh oxygen. A considerable but necessary drain on the Nautilus's reserves. As for the Ruhmkorff lamps, they were unnecessary in the midst of these brilliant waters saturated with our electric rays.
我?guī)Ъ幽么笕说街Z第留斯號的船員穿潛水衣的房子中。我把尼德·蘭的提議告訴船長,船長接受了。加拿大人穿上他的海中衣服,不久就跟他的工作同伴們一樣準備好了。每人背上一個盧格羅爾的空氣箱,由儲藏庫供應了大量的純空氣。對諾第留斯號的空氣儲藏庫來說,這是大量的,然而是必要的支出。至于蘭可夫燈,在這滿是電光的明亮海水中間是沒有用的。
After Ned was dressed, I reentered the lounge, whose windows had been uncovered; stationed next to Conseil, I examined the strata surrounding and supporting the Nautilus.
當尼德裝備好了,我回到客廳,廳中的嵌板都開了,我站在康塞爾旁邊,細看那頂住諾第留斯號的周圍冰層。
Some moments later, we saw a dozen crewmen set foot on the shelf of ice, among them Ned Land, easily recognized by his tall figure. Captain Nemo was with them.
幾分鐘后,我們看見十多個船員下到冰地上,其中有尼德·蘭,由于他的身材高大,很容易認出。尼摩船長跟他門在一起。
Before digging into the ice, the captain had to obtain borings, to insure working in the best direction. Long bores were driven into the side walls; but after fifteen meters, the instruments were still impeded by the thickness of those walls. It was futile to attack the ceiling since that surface was the Ice Bank itself, more than 400 meters high. Captain Nemo then bored into the lower surface. There we were separated from the sea by a ten-meter barrier. That's how thick the iceberg was. From this point on, it was an issue of cutting out a piece equal in surface area to the Nautilus's waterline. This meant detaching about 6,500 cubic meters, to dig a hole through which the ship could descend below this tract of ice.
在進行穿鑿冰墻之前,他讓人先做種種探測,保證工作是向順利方面進行。很長的探測繩放人上下兩面的冰墻。上面到了十五米,仍然被厚冰墻擋住,所以從上層冰板來廠鑿是不成的,因為那就是四百米高的冰山本身。尼摩船長于是使人探測下部冰層的厚度。下部有十米厚的冰板把我們跟海水隔開。就是這片冰場有十米厚。自后就是要把冰場鑿開一片,大小等于諾第留斯號從浮標線上來計算的面積。要鑿開這么一個大孔,我們可以從這孔下到這冰地的下面去,那大約需挖掘六千五百立方米的冰。
Work began immediately and was carried on with tireless tenacity. Instead of digging all around the Nautilus, which would have entailed even greater difficulties, Captain Nemo had an immense trench outlined on the ice, eight meters from our port quarter. Then his men simultaneously staked it off at several points around its circumference. Soon their picks were vigorously attacking this compact matter, and huge chunks were loosened from its mass. These chunks weighed less than the water, and by an unusual effect of specific gravity, each chunk took wing, as it were, to the roof of the tunnel, which thickened above by as much as it diminished below. But this hardly mattered so long as the lower surface kept growing thinner.
工作立即開始,以十分堅持的頑強力氣來進行。不是在諾第留斯號周圍挖掘,這樣可能帶來更大的困難,尼摩船長是另外在距船左舷八米遠的地方畫了一個巨大的圓圈他的人員就在這圓圈的周圍數(shù)處同時挖掘,不久,鐵锨很有勁的打進了堅硬的冰,一塊一塊的冰從冰場鑿開來。由于體重的新奇作用,這些冰塊沒有水重,它們于是飛跑到冰們頂上去了,這樣一來,下面是減薄,上面就增厚了。但沒關系,下層的冰總是削薄了。