英语听书《海底两万里》第431期 第26章 大头鲸和长须鲸(12)

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Thanks to certain heavy mists, we couldn't see from one end of the platform to the other.  由于有浓厚的云雾，乎台的这一端到那一端都不可能看清楚。

The wind shifted abruptly¹ to every point on the compass.  暴风从罗盘针指的各个方向突然刮起。

The snow was piling up in such packed layers, it had to be chipped loose with blows from picks.  白雪堆成十分坚硬的冰层，简直要用尖利铁锨来弄开它。

Even in a temperature of merely -5 degrees centigrade, every outside part of the Nautilus was covered with ice.  仅仅在零下五度的温变，诺第留斯号外部全被冰层封住了。

A ship's rigging would have been unusable, because all its tackle would have jammed in the grooves² of the pulleys.  一只平常的船可能是没有法子行驶，因为所有的绞辅绳索都冰在滑车沟中了。

Only a craft without sails, driven by an electric motor that needed no coal, could face such high latitudes⁴. 只有这艘没有帆而装有可以不用煤的电动机的船才能冒险跑到这样高的纬度中来。

Under these conditions the barometer⁵ generally stayed quite low.  在这种情形下，风雨表大体上是很低的，

It fell as far as 73.5 centimeters.  有时且降低到七十三度五分。

Our compass indications no longer offered any guarantees.  罗盘的指示也没有准确的保证。

The deranged⁶ needles would mark contradictory⁷ directions as we approached the southern magnetic pole, which doesn't coincide with the South Pole proper.  它那乱摇乱晃的针，当船上近不能跟地球的南方相混同的南磁极圈的时候，指出矛盾相反的方向。

In fact, according to the astronomer⁸ Hansteen, this magnetic pole is located fairly close to latitude³ 70 degrees and longitude⁹ 130 degrees, or abiding¹⁰ by the observations of Louis-Isidore Duperrey, in longitude 135 degrees and latitude 70 degrees 30'.  本来，根据汗斯敦的说法，这磁极圈差不多是位于南纬70度、东经130度，根据杜北未的观察，是在东经135度、南纬70度30分。

Hence we had to transport compasses to different parts of the ship, take many readings, and strike an average.  所以，这样就必要对于挪到船上各部分的罗盘做很多的观察，拿一个平均数作标准。

Often we could chart our course only by guesswork, a less than satisfactory method in the midst of these winding¹¹ passageways whose landmarks¹² change continuously. 不过拿这标准来估量走过水路的方位，在这些标志点不断变化的弯拆的水路中间，总是很难今人满意的方法，后来在3月18日，经过几十次无结果的冲击，诺第留斯号看来是完全没办法了。

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