Seated on the afterdeck, Ned Land and I chatted about one thing and another, staring at that mysterious sea whose depths to this day are beyond the reach of human eyes. 尼德。兰跟我一同坐在尾楼甲板上，一边看着这神秘的大海—它的深处到今天为止人们还无法到达：

Quite naturally, I led our conversation around to the giant unicorn, and I weighed our expedition's various chances for success or failure.

一边谈谈这个，说说那个，这时候，很自然地，我把话头转到巨大的海麒麟上面了，我又谈到我们这次远征成功或失败的各种可能。

Then, seeing that Ned just let me talk without saying much himself, I pressed him more closely.

后来，我看见尼德.兰一声不响，只让我说，就直截了当地要他发言。

Ned, I asked him, how can you still doubt the reality of this cetacean we're after? Do you have any particular reasons for being so skeptical?

尼德。兰，我问他您怎么能怀疑我们追逐着的鲸鱼类动物的存在呢?您这样怀疑，有什么特别理由吗?

The harpooner stared at me awhile before replying, slapped his broad forehead in one of his standard gestures, closed his eyes as if to collect himself, and finally said:Just maybe, Professor Aronnax.

这位鱼叉手在回答之前，看了我一会儿，照他惯常的姿势，拿手拍拍他宽大的前额，闭闭眼睛，好像在沉思。他说：阿龙纳斯先生，我有理由。

But Ned, you're a professional whaler, a man familiar with all the great marine mammals-your mind should easily accept this hypothesis of an enormous cetacean, and you ought to be the last one to doubt it under these circumstances!

尼德·兰，您是一位职业的捕鲸专家，您很熟悉海中的巨大哺乳类动物，照理您应当容易承认这个巨大的鲸鱼类动物的存在，可是您竟要来做最后一个怀疑这事的人!