英语听书《海底两万里》第332期 第23章 珊瑚王国(29)

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　　For my part, I was no longer worried about those dangers my imagination had so ridiculously exaggerated.  至于我自己，我已经不把那件由于空想所引起的十分可笑的事放在心上了。

　　The shallows drew noticeably closer to the surface of the sea, and soon, walking in only a meter of water, my head passed well above the level of the ocean.  海底这时显然接近海面，不久，我的头离水面只有一米了。

　　Conseil rejoined me, and gluing his huge copper² capsule to mine, his eyes gave me a friendly greeting.  康塞尔走近我身边，把他的铜球帽贴着我的铜球帽，他挤弄眼睛，向我作个友谊的敬礼。

　　But this lofty plateau measured only a few fathoms³, and soon we reentered Our Element. I think I've now earned the right to dub⁴ it that. 不过这水底高原只有几米长，不久我们又回到我们的深水中。我想现在我有权利可以这样讲。

　　Ten minutes later, Captain Nemo stopped suddenly. I thought he'd called a halt so that we could turn and start back.  十分钟后，尼摩船长忽然停住了。我以为他是停一下就要转回去。

　　No. With a gesture he ordered us to crouch⁵ beside him at the foot of a wide crevice⁶. His hand motioned toward a spot within the liquid mass, and I looked carefully. 然而不是。他做个手势，要我们在一个宽大的窝里面，挨近他身边蹲下来。他用手指着水中的一点，我很注意地观察。

　　Five meters away a shadow appeared and dropped to the seafloor. The alarming idea of sharks crossed my mind.  离我们五米的地方，出现一个黑影，下沉到底。使我害怕的鲛鱼的念头又涌现在我心中了。

　　But I was mistaken, and once again we didn't have to deal with monsters of the deep. 可是，这一次我又错了，在我们面前的并不是海洋中的怪物。

　　It was a man, a living man, a black Indian fisherman, a poor devil who no doubt had come to gather what he could before harvest time.  那是一个人，一个活人，一个印度人，一个黑人，当然是一个采珠人，一个可怜人，他未到采珠期就前来采珠了。

　　I saw the bottom of his dinghy, moored⁷ a few feet above his head. He would dive and go back up in quick succession.  我看见他的艇底。停泊在距他头上只有几英尺的水面上。他潜入水中，随即又浮上来。

　　A stone cut in the shape of a sugar loaf, which he gripped between his feet while a rope connected it to his boat, served to lower him more quickly to the ocean floor.  一块砸成像小面包一般的石头夹在两脚中间，一根绳索缚着石头，系在他的艇子上，使他可以很快地到海底下来。

　　This was the extent of his equipment.  以上就是他所有的采珠工具。

　　Arriving on the seafloor at a depth of about five meters, he fell to his knees and stuffed his sack with shellfish gathered at random⁸.  到了海底，约五米深左右，他立即跪下，把顺手拿到的小纹珠：贝塞人他的口袋中。

　　Then he went back up, emptied his sack, pulled up his stone, and started all over again, the whole process lasting⁹ only thirty seconds. 然后，他上去，倒净口袋，拉出石头，又开始下水采珠，一上一下，只不过是三十秒钟。

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