If you don't mind, professor, Captain Nemo told me, we'll determine our exact position and fix the starting point of our voyage. It's fifteen minutes before noon. I'm going to rise to the surface of the water.

教授，尼摩船长对我说，如果您高兴，我们先明确地记下我们现在的方位，决定这次旅行的出发点。现在时间是正午差一刻我现在叫船浮上水面来。

The captain pressed an electric bell three times. The pumps began to expel water from the ballast tanks; on the pressure gauge, a needle marked the decreasing pressures that indicated the Nautilus's upward progress; then the needle stopped.

船长按了三次电铃;抽水机开始把储水他的水排出，气压表上的针从不同的气压度数，指出诺第留斯号的上升运动，后来船停住了。

Here we are, the captain said.

船长说：我们到了。

I made my way to the central companionway, which led to the platform. I climbed its metal steps, passed through the open hatches, and arrived topside on the Nautilus.

我走上通到平台去的中央梯子;我踏上一层一层的钢铁梯级，从打开的铁盖板，到了诺第雷斯号的上面部分。

The platform emerged only eighty centimeters above the waves. The Nautilus's bow and stern boasted that spindle-shaped outline that had caused the ship to be compared appropriately to a long cigar. I noted the slight overlap of its sheet-iron plates, which resembled the scales covering the bodies of our big land reptiles. So I had a perfectly natural explanation for why, despite the best spyglasses, this boat had always been mistaken for a marine animal.

平台仅仅浮出水面八十厘米。诺第留斯号前头和后部现出象纺锤形状，正好比一根长雪茄烟。我看到船身上的钢板，彼此稍微的鳞次着，很像地上大爬虫类动物身上所有的鳞甲。所以我很自然地明白了，即使有最好的望远镜，这船总会被认为是一只海中动物。

Near the middle of the platform, the skiff was half set in the ship's hull, making a slightbulge. Fore and aft stood two cupolas of moderate height, their sides slanting and partly inset with heavy biconvex glass, one reserved for the helmsman steering the Nautilus, the other for the brilliance of the powerful electric beacon lighting his way.

约在平台中间,有那只半藏在船壳中的小艇,好象是一个微微突出的瘤。在平台前后，各装上一个不很高的笼间、向侧边倾斜，一部分装着很厚的凹凸玻璃镜：这两个笼间卜一个作为诺第留斯号领航人之用，另一个装着强力的电灯，光芒四射，探照航路。

The sea was magnificent, the skies clear. This long aquatic vehicle could barely feel the broad undulations of the ocean. A mild breeze out of the east rippled the surface of the water. Free of all mist, the horizon was ideal for taking sights.

海上风平浪静，天空清朗无云。长长的船身差不多感不到海洋的阔大波动。一阵轻微的东风吹皱了洋面。夭惭全无烟雾，可以望得很远。