The Nautilus adopted an average speed of twenty-six miles per hour, the speed of an express train.

诺第留斯号这时的速度是每小时二十六海里的中常速度，即特别快车的速度。

If it kept up this pace, forty hours would do it for reaching the pole.

如果它保持这个速度行驶，那么四十小时就足够它驶到南极了。

For part of the night, the novelty of our circumstances kept Conseil and me at the lounge window.

夜间一部分时间，由于所在环境的新奇，使康塞尔和我留在客厅的玻璃边，

The sea was lit by our beacon's electric rays.

大海受探照灯电光的照耀，晶莹雪亮，

But the depths were deserted.

但水中荒凉，看不见什么踪影。

Fish didn't linger in these imprisoned waters.

鱼类不居留在这种监牢般的海水中；

Here they found merely a passageway for going from the Antarctic Ocean to open sea at the pole.

它们要从南冰洋到南极那个自由通行的海，这里只有一条通路。

Our progress was swift.

我们的船行驶很迅速；

You could feel it in the vibrations of the long steel hull.

我们从长形钢铁船壳的振动可以感觉出来。

Near two o'clock in the morning, I went to snatch a few hours of sleep. Conseil did likewise.

早晨两点左右，我要回房中休息几小时。康塞尔也和我一样，

I didn't encounter Captain Nemo while going down the gangways.

要回房休息，穿行过道的时候，

I assumed that he was keeping to the pilothouse.

我没有碰见尼摩船长，我想他一定在那领航人的笼间中了。

The next day, March 19, at five o'clock in the morning, I was back at my post in the lounge.

第二天，3月19日，早晨五点的时候，我又在客厅中。

The electric log indicated that the Nautilus had reduced speed.

电力侧程器给我指出，诺第留斯号的速度慢了一些，

By then it was rising to the surface, but cautiously, while slowly emptying its ballast tanks.

这时，它是很小心的，慢慢排出储水池中的水，往水而上升。

My heart was pounding. Would we emerge into the open and find the polar air again?

我的心在跳动。我们是要浮起来，找到南极的自由空气吗？

No. A jolt told me that the Nautilus had bumped the underbelly of the Ice Bank, still quite thick to judge from the hollowness of the accompanying noise.

不。一次冲击，从发出了不爽朗的声音来判断，使我知道诺第留斯号碰上了冰山的下层冰面，这冰面还是很厚，

Indeed, we had "struck bottom," to use nautical terminology, but in the opposite direction and at a depth of 3,000 feet.

的确，用航海的语言来说，我们是撞上了，不过现在是方向倒转过来，在三千英尺的深处撞上了。

That gave us 4,000 feet of ice overhead, of which 1,000 feet emerged above water.

这就是，在我们头上有四千英尺的冰层，有一千英尺是浮出在水面。