一些数字(4)

That's all?

仅仅这个数目吗?

That's all, Professor Aronnax, and the calculation is easy to check.

仅仅这个数目，阿龙纳斯先生。并且，很容易用计算来证实。

Now then, I have supplementary ballast tanks capable of shipping 100 metric tons of water.

本来我有不少的补充储水池，能容百吨的水量。

So I can descend to considerable depths.

所以我可以下降至海底很深的地方。

When I want to rise again and lie flush with the surface, all I have to do is expel that water; and if I desire that the Nautilus emerge above the waves to one-tenth of its total capacity, I empty all the ballast tanks completely.

当我要上升，跟洋面相齐时，放出这些水就成，当我要诺第留斯号全身十分之一浮出水面时，把全部储水池的水排出去就可以了。

This logic, backed up by figures, left me without a single objection.

对于根据数字的这些推理，我当然不能提出反对意见。

I accept your calculations, captain, I replied, and I'd be ill-mannered to dispute them, since your daily experience bears them out.

船长，我回答，我承认您计算的精确，如果我还要争执，那就显得是无理取闹了，因为经验每天都说明您是对的。

But at this juncture, I have a hunch that we're still left with one real difficulty.

但目前我感到有一种实际困难的存在。

What's that, sir?

先生，什么困难呢?

When you're at a depth of 1,000 meters, the Nautilus's plating bears a pressure of 100 atmospheres.

当您到一千米深的时候，诺第留斯号的外层受着一百大气压的压力。

If at this point you want to empty the supplementary ballast tanks in order to lighten your boat and rise to the surface, your pumps must overcome that pressure of 100 atmospheres, which is 100 kilograms per each square centimeter.

如果在这个时候;您想排出各补充储水池伪水量，使船轻快，上升到水面，那一定要船上抽水机的力量能超过这一百大气压的压力，这压力每平方厘米是一百公斤。

This demands a strength.

因此，这一种力…

That electricity alone can give me, Captain Nemo said swiftly. Sir, I repeat: the dynamic power of my engines is nearly infinite.

单单电就可以给我这一种力量!尼摩船长急着说，先生，我一再同您说，我的机器的动力差不多是无限的。

The Nautilus's pumps have prodigious strength, as you must have noticed when their waterspouts swept like a torrent over the Abraham Lincoln.

诺第留斯号的抽水机有异乎寻常的力量，您应当看见过了，上次对林肯号喷出的水柱，像强大的激流一样，猛烈地冲去。

Besides, I use my supplementary ballast tanks only to reach an average depth of 1,500 to 2,000 meters, and that with a view to conserving my machinery.

另外，只是要到一千五百和二千米的中等深度时，我才使用那些补充储水池，这是为了爱护我的机器，小心使用它。

Accordingly, when I have a mind to visit the ocean depths two or three vertical leagues beneath the surface, I use maneuvers that are more time-consuming but no less infallible.

所以，当我忽然想到水面下二、三里深的海洋底下时，我还使用别的驾驶法，虽然时间较长久，但也一样有效。

一些数字(5)

What are they, captain? I asked.

船长，什么方法呢?我问。

Here I'm naturally led into telling you how the Nautilus is maneuvered.

这样一来，我自然得告诉你我是怎样驾驶诺第留斯号的。

I can't wait to find out.

我很想知道。

In order to steer this boat to port or starboard, in short, to make turns on a horizontal plane, I use an ordinary, wide-bladed rudder that's fastened to the rear of the sternpost and worked by a wheel and tackle.

驾驶这船，要它向左向右，简单说，要它在水平面上走时，我使用普通的舵，舵上还有宽阔的副舵，装在船尾，用机轮和滑车转动。

But I can also move the Nautilus upward and downward on a vertical plane by the simple method of slanting its two fins, which are attached to its sides at its center of flotation; these fins are flexible, able to assume any position, and can be operated from inside by means of powerful levers.

但我又可以使诺第留斯号在水中上升、，下降，这时我就使用两个纵斜机板，机板装在船的两侧浮标线的中央，它们是活动的，可以随便变换位置，使用动力强大的杠杆，从船内部来操纵它们。

If these fins stay parallel with the boat, the latter moves horizontally.

纵斜机板的位置如果与船身平行，船便在水平面上行驶，

If they slant, the Nautilus follows the angle of that slant and, under its propeller's thrust, either sinks on a diagonal as steep as it suits me, or rises on that diagonal.

如果它们的位置倾斜了，诺第留斯号在推进器的推动下，就沿着倾斜方向或沿着我所要的对角线沉下去，或沿着这对角线浮上来。

And similarly, if I want to return more swiftly to the surface, I throw the propeller in gear, and the water's pressure makes the Nautilus rise vertically, as an air balloon inflated with hydrogen lifts swiftly into the skies.

并且，我想更快地浮上水面来时，我就催动推进器，水的压力使诺第留斯号直线地浮上来，像一只氢气球迅速升人空中一样。

Bravo, captain! I exclaimed. But in the midst of the waters, how can your helmsman follow the course you've given him?

真了不得!船长，我喊道，但是，领航人怎样能看见您在水底下指示船所应走的路线呢?

My helmsman is stationed behind the windows of a pilothouse, which protrudes from the topside of the Nautilus's hull and is fitted with biconvex glass.

领航人是守在一个装有玻璃的笼间里，这笼间在诺第留斯号船身的上部突出部分，装有各种凹凸玻璃片，保证他可以清楚地看见航路。

Is glass capable of resisting such pressures?

玻璃片能抵抗这样强大的压力吗?

Perfectly capable. Though fragile on impact, crystal can still offer considerable resistance.

能抵抗。玻璃虽然经不起冲击，很脆，但有强大的耐压力。

In 1864, during experiments on fishing by electric light in the middle of the North Sea, glasspanes less than seven millimeters thick were seen to resist a pressure of sixteen atmospheres, all the while letting through strong, heat-generating rays whose warmth wasunevenly distributed.

1864年在北方海中利用电光做打鱼的实验，我们知道，当时使用的玻璃片只有七毫米厚，可以抵抗十六大气压的压力，同时又可以让强烈发热的光线通过，使它获得不平均的热力的配给。

Now then, I use glass windows measuring no less than twenty-one centimeters at their centers; in other words, they've thirty times the thickness.

何况我们使用的玻璃片， 中央的厚度至少是二十一厘米，就是说，比上面打鱼用的玻璃片厚三十倍。