For three months, during which each day seemed like a century, the Abraham Lincolnplowed all the northerly seas of the Pacific, 三个月来，林肯号跑遍了太平洋北部所有的海面，

racing after whales sighted, abruptly veering off course, swerving sharply from one tack to another, stopping suddenly,

有时向着看到的鲸鱼冲去，有时忽然离开航线，有时突然掉转船头，有时一下子停住…

putting on steam and reversing engines in quick succession, at the risk of stripping its gears,

它不惜弄坏机器，不惜浪费动力，

and it didn't leave a single point unexplored from the beaches of Japan to the coasts of America.

从日本海岸到美洲海岸，没有一处不曾搜索过。

And we found nothing! Nothing except an immenseness of deserted waves!

但是，什么也没有看见!看见的只是那浩瀚无边的大海!

Nothing remotely resembling a gigantic narwhale, or an underwater islet, or a derelictshipwreck, or a runaway reef, or anything the least bit unearthly!

至于什么巨大的独角鲸、潜在水中的海岛，沉没的破船、飞走的暗礁，以及什么神秘的东西，却都没有看见!

So the reaction set in.

因此，反响发生了。

At first, discouragement took hold of people's minds, opening the door to disbelief.

首先是人心失望，给怀疑的心理打开一个缺口。

A new feeling appeared on board, made up of three-tenths shame and seven-tenths fury.

船上产生了另一种情绪，造成这情绪的因素是三分羞愧，七分恼怒。

The crew called themselves out-and-out fools for being hoodwinked by a fairy tale, then grewsteadily more furious!

死盯住一个空想，自然是愚蠢,但更多的是恼怒!