I showed Conseil the position of this long reef on our chart of the Mediterranean.

我在地中海地图上，指给康塞尔看那条很长的暗礁所占据的部位。

But with all due respect to master, Conseil ventured to observe, it's like an actual isthmus connecting Europe to Africa.

不过，请先生原谅，康塞尔说，那就真正是连结欧洲和非洲的一条地峡了。

Yes, my boy, I replied, it cuts across the whole Strait of Sicily, and Smith's soundings prove that in the past, these two continents were genuinely connected between Cape Boeo and Cape Farina.

对，老实人，我回答，它完全堵住了利比亚海峡，史密斯的测量也证明了这两个大陆从前是在崩角和夫利那角、间连结起来的。

I can easily believe it, Conseil said.

我很相信是这样。康塞尔说。

I might add, I went on, that there's a similar barrier between Gibraltar and Ceuta, and in prehistoric times it closed off the Mediterranean completely.

要知道，我立即又说，类似的一道栅栏也存在于直布罗陀和叙达之间，在地质学的纪元时期把地中海完全封锁起来。

Gracious! Conseil put in. Suppose one day some volcanic upheaval raises these two barriers back above the waves!

康塞尔用心研究诺第留斯号缓慢地、挨近地面走过的那浅水海底。