英语听书《海底两万里》第351期 第23章 珊瑚王国(48)

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No, sir. 不是第一次，先生。

Then, since you've already mentioned the crossing of the Israelites and the catastrophe¹ that befell the Egyptians, I would ask if you've ever discovered any traces under the waters of that great historic event? 那么，您上面说过以色列人走过这海和埃及军队淹没水中的事，我要问问您，您在海底下曾经看到这件历史大事的一些痕迹吗？

No, professor, and for an excellent reason. 没看见，教授，因为有一个显明的理由。

What's that? 什么理由呢？

It's because that same locality where Moses crossed with all his people is now so clogged² with sand, camels can barely get their legs wet.  就是赐西带领他的人民走过的地方，现在完全是沙土了，差不多骆驼的腿也泡不湿了。

You can understand that my Nautilus wouldn't have enough water for itself. 您很明白，我的诺第留斯号没有足够的水，是不可能驶过那里。

And that locality is...? I asked. 这地方在哪儿？…我问。

That locality lies a little above Suez in a sound that used to form a deep estuary³ when the Red Sea stretched as far as the Bitter Lakes.  这地方在苏伊士上面一点，在从前是很深的河口的海汉里面，因为当时红海的水面还一直伸到这些咸水湖中。

Now, whether or not their crossing was literally⁴ miraculous⁵, the Israelites did cross there in returning to the Promised Land, and the Pharaoh's army did perish at precisely⁶ that locality.  现在这条水道是不是能发生奇迹，暂且不管，但从前以色列人就是通过这里走到巴勒斯但去的，法老的军队也就是在这里被水淹没的。

So I think that excavating⁷ those sands would bring to light a great many weapons and tools of Egyptian origin. 所以我想，在这些沙土中间来做发掘工作，一定可以发现埃及制造的大量武器和用具。

Obviously, I replied. And for the sake of archaeology⁸, let's hope that sooner or later such excavations⁹ do take place, once new towns are settled on the isthmus¹⁰ after the Suez Canal has been cut through-a canal, by the way, of little use to a ship such as the Nautilus! 那很显然，我回答，同时希望考古学家有一天要把这种发掘工作赶快进行，因为苏伊士运flpffi穿后，许多新的城市就要在这地峡上建设起来了。对于诺第留斯号这样的一只船来说，这条运河实在没有什么用处！

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