THE MEDITERRANEAN, your ideal blue sea: to Greeks simply "the sea," to Hebrews "the great sea," to Romans mare nostrum.* Bordered by orange trees, aloes, cactus, and maritime pine trees, perfumed with the scent of myrtle, framed by rugged mountains, saturated with clean, transparent air but continuously under construction by fires in the earth, this sea is a genuine battlefield where Neptune and Pluto still struggle for world domination. Here on these beaches and waters, says the French historian Michelet, a man is revived by one of the most invigorating climates in the world.

地中海，是最碧蓝的海，希伯来人的“大海”，希腊人酌“海”，罗马人的“我们的海”，周围广植橘树、芦卉、仙人掌、海松树，喷出番石榴花的芳香，四周峻峭的群山坏抱，空气纯洁清新，可是被地下烈火不停地熬煎，这海正是海王涅豆尼和阎王蒲留敦争夺世界霸权一直到现在还没停止的战常米歇列说，就是在地中海，在它的岸上，在它的水中，是人类在地球上锻炼自己的最强大有力的一个场所。

But as beautiful as it was, I could get only a quick look at this basin whose surface area comprises 2,000,000 square kilometers. Even Captain Nemo's personal insights were denied me, because that mystifying inpidual didn't appear one single time during our high-speed crossing. I estimate that the Nautilus covered a track of some 600 leagues under the waves of this sea, and this voyage was accomplished in just twenty-four hours times two. Departing from the waterways of Greece on the morning of February 16, we cleared the Strait of Gibraltar by sunrise on the 18th.

虽然这侮很美，但我只能很约略地瞳望一下。地中海面积共二百万平方公里。就是尼摩船长本人关于这海的知帜，我也得不到，因为这个神秘人物在这次快速度的航海中，一次也没有出来。我估计诺第留斯号在这海底下所走过的路程约有六百里，而这次旅行，他用四十八小时的时间就完成了。2月16日早晨从希腊一带海面出发，18日太陽从东方升起的时候，我们就通过直布罗陀海峡了。

It was obvious to me that this Mediterranean, pinned in the middle of those shores he wanted to avoid, gave Captain Nemo no pleasure. Its waves and breezes brought back too many memories, if not too many regrets. Here he no longer had the ease of movement and freedom of maneuver that the oceans allowed him, and his Nautilus felt cramped so close to the coasts of both Africa and Europe.

对我来说，事情很明显，这地中海正处在尼摩船长要逃避的人所居住的陆地中间，他不喜欢这海。这海水和这海风给他带来了纵然不是过多的悔恨，也一定是过多的回忆。在这海里，海洋赋予他的那种自由自在的神情姿态，那种独来独往的行动，他现在没有了；他的诺第留斯号在这些非洲和欧洲相接近的海岸中间，也感到气闷。