The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, “the great sea” of the Hebrews, “the sea” of the Greeks, the “mare nostrum” of the Romans, bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines;
地中海是典型的蓝色海洋，是希伯来人心目中的“大海”，古希腊人的“海洋”，罗马人的“我们的海洋”，周围有橘树、芦荟、仙人掌和海岸松树。 —

embalmed with the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires;
它充满了没药的芳香，被陡峭的山脉环绕，充满了纯净透明的空气，但地下火山却不停地活跃着。 —

a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the empire of the world!
这里是海神和冥王争夺世界霸权的完美战场！

It is upon these banks, and on these waters, says Michelet, that man is renewed in one of the most powerful climates of the globe.
正如米歇尔所说，人们可以在这片水域和沿岸的土地上，在全球最宜居的气候之一中得到重生。 —

But, beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin whose superficial area is two million of square yards.
然而，尽管它美丽绝伦，我只能匆匆瞥一眼这个表面积达两百万平方码的水池。 —

Even Captain Nemo’s knowledge was lost to me, for this puzzling person did not appear once during our passage at full speed.
连船长尼莫的知识对我来说也是未知的，因为这个令人费解的人在我们全速通过的旅程中没有露面。 —

I estimated the course which the Nautilus took under the waves of the sea at about six hundred leagues, and it was accomplished in forty-eight hours.
我估计Nautilus号在海底所行进的路程约为六百海里，而且这仅用了四十八个小时就完成了。 —

Starting on the morning of the 16th of February from the shores of Greece, we had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.
2月16日的早晨，我们从希腊海岸出发，到18日的日出之前就已经穿过了直布罗陀海峡。

It was plain to me that this Mediterranean, enclosed in the midst of those countries which he wished to avoid, was distasteful to Captain Nemo. Those waves and those breezes brought back too many remembrances, if not too many regrets.
很明显，地中海对于尼摩船长来说是讨厌的，毕竟它被那些他想避免的国家包围着。那些波浪和微风带回了太多的回忆，如果不是太多的遗憾的话。 —

Here he had no longer that independence and that liberty of gait which he had when in the open seas, and his Nautilus felt itself cramped between the close shores of Africa and Europe.
在这里，他不再拥有在开阔海域中的独立和自由，他的Nautilus号感到受限于非洲和欧洲之间狭窄的海岸之间。

Our speed was now twenty-five miles an hour.
我们的速度现在是每小时二十五英里。 —

It may be well understood that Ned Land, to his great disgust, was obliged to renounce his intended flight.
可以理解的是，为了他的巨大不满，内德·兰德被迫放弃了他原本计划的逃离。 —

He could not launch the pinnace, going at the rate of twelve or thirteen yards every second.
在每秒钟十二到十三码的速度下，他无法发射救生艇。 —

To quit the Nautilus under such conditions would be as bad as jumping from a train going at full speed—an imprudent thing, to say the least of it. Besides, our vessel only mounted to the surface of the waves at night to renew its stock of air;
在这样的情况下离开鹦鹉螺号将是一种不明智的举动，就像从一辆以最高速度行驶的火车上跳下来一样，至少可以说是轻率的。此外，我们的船只只在夜间上升到海面上来获取新的空气。 —

it was steered entirely by the compass and the log.
它完全是依靠指南针和日志来驾驶的。

I saw no more of the interior of this Mediterranean than a traveller by express train perceives of the landscape which flies before his eyes;
我对这片地中海的内部了解有限，就像乘坐快车的旅行者看到的飞逝的景色一样，也只是远处的地平线，而不是像电光火石般想起的近处物体。 —

that is to say, the distant horizon, and not the nearer objects which pass like a flash of lightning.
当时我们正经过西西里岛和突尼斯海岸之间的狭窄空间。在邦角和西西里海峡之间，海底几乎突然上升。

We were then passing between Sicily and the coast of Tunis. In the narrow space between Cape Bon and the Straits of Messina the bottom of the sea rose almost suddenly.
有一个完美的海床，水深不超过九浪，而两侧的深度为九十浪。 —

There was a perfect bank, on which there was not more than nine fathoms of water, whilst on either side the depth was ninety fathoms.
鹦鹉螺号必须非常小心地操纵，以免撞到这个水下障碍物。

The Nautilus had to manœuvre very carefully so as not to strike against this submarine barrier.
我们正在穿越西西里岛和突尼斯海岸之间的海域。在邦角和西西里海峡之间的狭窄空间，大海的底部几乎猛然上升。

I showed Conseil, on the map of the Mediterranean, the spot occupied by this reef.
我给康赛尔看了地中海地图上这个礁石所在的位置。

“But if you please, sir,” observed Conseil, “it is like a real isthmus joining Europe to Africa.”
“但是，先生，请恕我直言，”康赛尔观察道，“它就像是一条实实在在的陆地连接欧洲和非洲。”

“Yes, my boy, it forms a perfect bar to the Straits of Lybia, and the soundings of Smith have proved that in former times the continents between Cape Boco and Cape Furina were joined.”
“是的，我的孩子，它在利比亚海峡上形成了一个完美的障碍，史密斯的声深测量证明，在以前的时代，博科角和弗利纳角之间的大陆是相连接的。”

“I can well believe it,” said Conseil.
“我完全相信，”康赛尔说道。

“I will add,” I continued, “that a similar barrier exists between Gibraltar and Ceuta, which in geological times formed the entire Mediterranean.”
“我还要补充，”我接着说道，“在直布罗陀和休达之间也存在着类似的障碍，这在地质时期曾构成整个地中海。”

“What if some volcanic burst should one day raise these two barriers above the waves?”
“如果有一天，某种火山爆发使这两个障碍物突出海面会怎样？”

“It is not probable, Conseil.”
“这不太可能，康赛尔。”

“Well, but allow me to finish, please, sir;
“好吧，但请允许我把话说完，先生； —

if this phenomenon should take place, it will be troublesome for M. Lesseps, who has taken so much pains to pierce the isthmus.”
如果这种现象发生，对于费尔南德·戈台斯先生来说会很麻烦，他已经费了那么多心思来穿越这个地峡。”

“I agree with you; but I repeat, Conseil, this phenomenon will never happen.
“我同意你的观点；但是我要重申，康塞尔，这种现象永远不会发生。 —

The violence of subterranean force is ever diminishing.
地下力量的暴力正在逐渐减弱。 —

Volcanoes, so plentiful in the first days of the world, are being extinguished by degrees;
火山，在世界初期非常丰富，正在逐渐熄灭； —

the internal heat is weakened, the temperature of the lower strata of the globe is lowered by a perceptible quantity every century to the detriment of our globe, for its heat is its life.”
内部热量减弱，地球下层的温度每个世纪都会明显降低，对我们的地球来说这是不利的，因为热量就是它的生命。”

“But the sun?”
“但是太阳呢？”

“The sun is not sufficient, Conseil.
“太阳是不够的，康塞尔。 —

Can it give heat to a dead body?”
它可以给一个死尸提供热量吗？”

“Not that I know of.”
“我不知道。”

“Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse;
“好吧，我的朋友，这个地球终有一天会成为那个冰冷的尸体； —

it will become uninhabitable and uninhabited like the moon, which has long since lost all its vital heat.”
它将变得无法居住，像月亮一样失去了所有的生命热量。”

“In how many centuries?”
“需要多少个世纪？”

“In some hundreds of thousands of years, my boy.”
“几十万年，我的孩子。”

“Then,” said Conseil, “we shall have time to finish our journey—that is, if Ned Land does not interfere with it.”
“那么，”康塞尔说，“我们将有时间完成我们的旅程，只要尼德·兰不干扰。”

And Conseil, reassured, returned to the study of the bank, which the Nautilus was skirting at a moderate speed.
康塞伊尔心安理得地回到了银行的研究中, 这时的”鹦鹉螺号”以适度的速度绕行着银行。

During the night of the 16th and 17th February we had entered the second Mediterranean basin, the greatest depth of which was 1, 450 fathoms.
在2月16日和17日的夜晚,我们已经进入了第二个地中海盆地, 其中最大的深度是1, 450英寻。 —

The Nautilus, by the action of its crew, slid down the inclined planes and buried itself in the lowest depths of the sea.
“鹦鹉螺号”凭借船员的操作, 滑下斜坡并埋入了海底的最低深处。

On the 18th of February, about three o’clock in the morning, we were at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. There once existed two currents:
在2月18日的凌晨三点左右, 我们已经到达直布罗陀海峡的入口。曾经存在着两股水流： —

an upper one, long since recognised, which conveys the waters of the ocean into the basin of the Mediterranean;
一股上部水流早已被认识到, 将大西洋的水流引入地中海盆地； —

and a lower counter-current, which reasoning has now shown to exist.
还有一股下部逆流, 现在已经被推理证明存在。 —

Indeed, the volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year raise the level of this sea, for its evaporation is not sufficient to restore the equilibrium.
实际上，地中海中的水量每年都会因大西洋的波浪和注入其中的河流而不断增加，如果不进行蒸发，地中海的水位将会上升，以此来恢复平衡。 —

As it is not so, we must necessarily admit the existence of an under-current, which empties into the basin of the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar the surplus waters of the Mediterranean.
由于实际情况并非如此，我们必须必然承认地中海多余的水通过直布罗陀海峡流入大西洋的存在。 —

A fact indeed; and it was this counter-current by which the Nautilus profited.
的确如此，正是利用这股逆流，鹦鹉螺号才能快速前进穿过这个狭窄的通道。 —

It advanced rapidly by the narrow pass.
—

For one instant I caught a glimpse of the beautiful ruins of the temple of Hercules, buried in the ground, according to Pliny, and with the low island which supports it;
有一瞬间，我瞥见了埋在地下的美丽的大力神庙遗迹，正如普林尼所说的，它依赖于支撑着它的低洼岛屿。 —

and a few minutes later we were floating on the Atlantic.
几分钟后，我们就漂浮在大西洋上了。