英语听书《海底两万里》第328期 第23章 珊瑚王国(25)

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　　I stared at my companions. They were armed in the same fashion, and Ned Land was also brandishing³ an enormous harpoon⁴ he had stowed in the skiff before leaving the Nautilus. 我看看我的同伴。他们跟我一样拿着短刀，此外，尼德·兰用手挥动一把鱼叉，这叉是他离开诺第留斯号之前放在小艇中的。

　　Then, following the captain's example, I let myself be crowned with my heavy copper⁵ sphere, and our air tanks immediately went into action. 然后，跟着船长，我也戴起那沉重的铜球，我们的空气储藏器立即活动起来。

　　An instant later, the longboat's sailors helped us overboard one after the other, and we set foot on level sand in a meter and a half of water.  一会儿，小艇上的水手们把我们一个一个扶人水中，在一米半的深处，我们的脚踩在平坦的沙上。

　　Captain Nemo gave us a hand signal. We followed him down a gentle slope and disappeared under the waves. 尼摩船长对我们做个手势，我们跟着他走，沿着逐渐下斜的坡道走，我们就没入到水底下了。

　　There the obsessive⁶ fears in my brain left me. I became surprisingly calm again.  在水底下，缠绕我脑际的鲛鱼的念头没有了，我心中变得十分安静。

　　The ease with which I could move increased my confidence, and the many strange sights captivated my imagination. 由于动作方便，我增加了信心，水底下奇异的景象完全吸住了我的想象力。

　　The sun was already sending sufficient light under these waves. The tiniest objects remained visible.  太阳已经把足够的光度照到水底下来，最微小的物体也可以看见。

　　After ten minutes of walking, we were in five meters of water, and the terrain⁷ had become almost flat. 走了10分钟后，我们到了五米水深处，底面差不多是平坦的。

　　Like a covey of snipe over a marsh⁸, there rose underfoot schools of unusual fish from the genus Monopterus, whose members have no fin⁹ but their tail.  在我们走的路上，一大群单鳍属的新奇鱼类，像沼泽地中的一群一群山鸡那样，飞一般地哄起；这种鱼没有其它的鳍，只有尾上的那一支。

　　I recognized the Javanese eel², a genuine eight-decimeter serpent with a bluish gray belly¹⁰, which, without the gold lines over its flanks, could easily be confused with the conger eel.  我认得其中的爪哇鳗，真正跟蛇一样，长八分米，肚腹苍白，很容易跟两测没有金线的海鳗相混，分辨不出来。

　　From the butterfish genus, whose oval bodies are very flat, I observed several adorned¹¹ in brilliant colors and sporting a dorsal¹² fin like a sickle¹³, edible¹⁴ fish that, when dried and marinated, make an excellent dish known by the name karawade;  至于躯体压缩作蛋形的硬鳍属中，我看到颜色鲜艳的燕雀鱼，脊鳍像镰刀一样，那是可以食用的鱼，晾干浸在盐水中，称为卡拉瓦的美味的好菜；

　　then some sea poachers, fish belonging to the genus Aspidophoroides, whose bodies are covered with scaly¹⁵ armor divided into eight lengthwise sections. 其次为属于长轴属的土兰格巴鱼、全身披着上面有八条纵带的鳞的甲冗。

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