By then the thermometer gave -7 degrees centigrade outside. Captain Nemo led me to the galley where a huge distilling mechanism was at work, supplying drinking water via evaporation. The mechanism was loaded with water, and the full electric heat of our batteries was thrown into coils awash in liquid. In a few minutes the water reached 100 degrees centigrade. It was sent to the pumps while new water replaced it in the process. The heat generated by our batteries was so intense that after simply going through the mechanism, water drawn cold from the sea arrived boiling hot at the body of the pump.那時在外面的溫度表指著零下七度。尼摩船長領(lǐng)我到廚房中,那里有許多復雜的蒸餾器,由蒸發(fā)作用供應(yīng)我們可以喝的開水。機器裝滿了水,電池所有的電熱都投到浸在水中的螺旋管中去。幾分鐘后,這水就達到沸點。把開水送入抽氣機中,同時就有冷水進來,補充流出去的開水。電池發(fā)出的熱力達到很高的程度,從海中吸進的涼水,單單經(jīng)過機器,一到抽氣機中就滾開了。
The steaming water was injected into the icy water outside, and after three hours had passed, the thermometer gave the exterior temperature as -6 degrees centigrade. That was one degree gained. Two hours later the thermometer gave only -4 degrees.開水的放射開始,三小時后,在外面的溫度表指著零下六度;溫度提高一度。兩小時后,溫度表只指在零下四度了。
After I monitored the operation's progress, double-checking it with many inspections, I told the captain, "It's working.""I think so," he answered me. "We've escaped being crushed. Now we have only asphyxiation to fear."我看了這種工作的進展,同時從許多地方加以檢查,我對船長說:“我們一定可以成功。"“我想可以成功,”船長回答我說,“我們不至被壓扁了。我們所怕的只有被窒息了?!?/p>
During the night the water temperature rose to -1 degrees centigrade. The injections couldn't get it to go asingle degree higher. But since salt water freezes only at -2 degrees, I was finally assured that there was no danger of it solidifying.在夜間,水的溫度又提高了一度。開水的放射力量不能使溫度再提高了??墒呛K谋鶅鲎饔靡傧聝啥炔拍馨l(fā)生,因此我們得到保證,不至有凝固的危險了。
By the next day, March 27, six meters of ice had been torn from the socket. Only four meters were left to beremoved. That still meant forty-eight hours of work. The air couldn't be renewed in the Nautilus's interior.Accordingly, that day it kept getting worse.第二天,3月27日,六米厚的冰從這冰窩中挖去了。還剩下四米厚的冰需要挖去。還要四十八小時的工作。在諾第留斯號內(nèi)部,空氣不可能調(diào)換。因此這一天的情形是更壞了。
An unbearable heaviness weighed me down. Near three o'clock in the afternoon, this agonizing sensation affected me to an intense degree. Yawns dislocated my jaws. My lungs were gasping in their quest for that enkindling elastic fluid required for breathing, now growing scarcer and scarcer. My mind was in a daze. I lay outstretched, strength gone, nearly unconscious. My gallant Conseil felt the same symptoms, suffered the same sufferings, yet never left my side. He held my hand, he kept encouraging me, and I even heard him mutter:"Oh, if only I didn't have to breathe, to leave more air for master!"一種不可忍受的重濁空氣使我難過。下午三點左右,這種痛苦感覺到了猛烈的程度。呵欠喘氣把我的上下鄂都弄歪了。我的肺葉迫切尋求有活力的氧是呼吸所必不可少的東西,現(xiàn)在愈來愈稀薄了。我的精神完全在昏沉沉的狀態(tài)中。我沒有氣力地躺下來,差不多失去了知覺。我的忠實的康塞爾有了同樣的病征,受著同樣的苦痛,他在我身邊,再不離開我。他拉著我的手,他鼓勵我,我還聽到他低聲說:“??!如果我可以不呼吸,讓先生可以多有些空氣!”
It brought tears to my eyes to hear him say these words.我聽到他說這話,不覺眼中滿是淚水。