南极(5)
In the air there passed sooty albatross with four-meter wingspans, birds aptly dubbed vultures of the ocean,
空中又有煤黑色的信天翁飞过，翼幅四米宽，它们也叫海鸳，
also gigantic petrels including several with arching wings, enthusiastic eaters of seal that are known as quebrantahuesos,
名称是很适当的，有巨大的海燕类，其中有弓形海燕，翼作拱形，最喜欢吃海豹。
and cape pigeons, a sort of small duck, the tops of their bodies black and white--in short, a whole series of petrels, some whitish with wings trimmed in brown, others blue and exclusive to these Antarctic seas, the former so oily,
有海棋鸟，是一种小鸭；身上带白色和黑色。最后，有一组海燕类，有的是灰白色，两翼边缘是栗子色，有的是蓝色，是南冰洋的特产。
I told Conseil, that inhabitants of the Faroe Islands simply fit the bird with a wick, then light it up.
我对康塞尔说：灰白色的一种油脂很多。在费罗哀群岛，人们在它们的腹部放上灯芯，就可以点燃起来。
With that minor addition, Conseil replied, these fowl would make perfect lamps! After this, we should insist that nature equip them with wicks in advance!
差一点儿，康塞尔回答，它们就完全是一盏灯了这样看来，我们只有再要求大自然预先在它们身上准备一个灯芯好了！
Half a mile farther on, the ground was completely riddled with penguin nests, egg-laying burrows from which numerous birds emerged.
走过半海里后，地上现出许多短翼潜水鸟的鸟巢，这些巢是一种筑好来产卵的洞窟，从洞窟中飞出很多的潜水鸟。
Later Captain Nemo had hundreds of them hunted because their black flesh is highly edible.
尼摩船长在后来，打了好几百只这种鸟，因为它们的黑色的肉很可以吃。
They brayed like donkeys.
它们发出像驴叫的声音。
The size of a goose with slate-colored bodies, white undersides, and lemon-colored neck bands, these animals let themselves be stoned to death without making any effort to get away.
这些鸟像我；一般的身材，身上是石板色，下面白色，颈上带柠檬色的花缘，就那样让人拿石子打死，并不想法逃走。
Meanwhile the mists didn't clear, and by eleven o'clock the sun still hadn't made an appearance.
可是，云雾并不散开，到十一点，太陽还不出来。
Its absence disturbed me. Without it, no sights were possible.
太陽不出，使我心中焦急，没有太陽，不可能做各种观察。
Then how could we tell whether we had reached the pole?
那么，怎样决定我们是到了南极呢？
When I rejoined Captain Nemo, I found him leaning silently against a piece of rock and staring at the sky.
当我回到尼摩船长那边的时候，我看他胳膊肘靠在一块岩石上，默不作声，眼盯着天空。
He seemed impatient, baffled. But what could we do?
看来他有些不耐烦，心中在生气。但有什么办法？
This daring and powerful man couldn't control the sun as he did the sea.
这个胆大又强有力的人不能照他命令海洋那样指挥太陽。
南极(6)
Noon arrived without the orb of day appearing for a single instant.
中午到了，日光仍是一瞬也没有现出。
You couldn't even find its hiding place behind the curtain of mist.
人们甚至不可能认出它在这雾幕后面所在的位置。
And soon this mist began to condense into snow.
不久，雾又溶为雪花了。
"Until tomorrow," the captain said simply; and we went back to the Nautilus, amid flurries in the air.
“明天再来。”船长干脆对我说，同时我们看一下在那大气淋流中间的诺第留斯号。
During our absence the nets had been spread, and I observed with fascination the fish just hauled on board.
当我们不在船上的时候，鱼网放下海中去了，我很感兴趣地观察人们刚拉上船来的鱼类。
The Antarctic seas serve as a refuge for an extremely large number of migratory fish that flee from storms in the subpolar zones, in truth only to slide down the gullets of porpoises and seals.
南极海水是大多数候鱼的藏身处，它们躲避纬度较低水层的风暴，转移到这边来。可是它们往往又掉到海豚和海豹的嘴里去了。
I noted some one-decimeter southern bullhead, a species of whitish cartilaginous fish overrun with bluish gray stripes and armed with stings, then some Antarctic rabbitfish three feet long,
我看见有些南极的刺鳍鱼，长十厘米，是一种灰白色的软骨鱼，身上有斜横的淡白条带，并且生有尖刺，其次，见有南冰洋的软骨奇鱼，
the body very slender, the skin a smooth silver white, the head rounded, the topside furnished with three fins, the snout ending in a trunk that curved back toward the mouth.
长三英尺，身子拉得很长，银白色和光滑的表皮，圆突的头，脊背上有三支鳍，嘴脸最前端是一支向嘴边弯过去的喇叭管。
I sampled its flesh but found it tasteless, despite Conseil's views, which were largely approving.
我尝过这种鱼的肉，我觉得平淡无味，但康塞尔的意见不同，他很喜欢吃。
The blizzard lasted until the next day. It was impossible to stay on the platform.
暴风雪一直延长到第二天，站在平台上，简直不可能。
From the lounge, where I was writing up the incidents of this excursion to the polar continent, I could hear the calls of petrel and albatross cavorting in the midst of the turmoil.
我在客厅中写我这次到南极大陆来旅行的事件，从厅中听到在大风雪中间飞翔上下的海燕和信天翁的号叫。
The Nautilus didn't stay idle, and cruising along the coast, it advanced some ten miles farther south amid the half light left by the sun as it skimmed the edge of the horizon.
诺第留斯号并不是停止不动，它沿着海岸驶去，在太陽掠过天际的时候所留下的曙光中间，再向南前进十海里左右。
7
The next day, March 20, it stopped snowing.
第二天，3月20日，风雪停了。
The cold was a little more brisk.
天气比较寒冷一些，
The thermometer marked -2 degrees centigrade.
温度表是零下二度。
The mist had cleared, and on that day I hoped our noon sights could be accomplished.
浓雾散开，我希望今天我们的方位观察可以做出来。
Since Captain Nemo hadn't yet appeared, only Conseil and I were taken ashore by the skiff.
尼摩船长还没有出来，小艇先载了康塞尔和我，把我们送到陆地上去。
The soil's nature was still the same: volcanic.
地上的土质跟前面一样，是火山形成的。
Traces of lava, slag, and basaltic rock were everywhere, but I couldn't find the crater that had vomited them up.
到处都是火山喷发物，火山岩，玄武岩的遗迹，但我没有看见喷出这些岩石来的火口。
There as yonder, myriads of birds enlivened this part of the polar continent.
这里跟前面一样，有无数的鸟类给南极大陆这一部分添了生动活泼的气象。
But they had to share their dominion with huge herds of marine mammals that looked at us with gentle eyes.
但同时跟亡们一齐领有这块土地的，还有一大群海中哺乳类动物，这些动物拿它们的温和眼光盯着我们。
These were seals of various species, some stretched out on the ground, others lying on drifting ice floes, several leaving or reentering the sea.
那是各种不同的海豹。有的躺在地上，有的睡在倾斜的冰块上，有些又从海中上来，或回到海中去。
Having never dealt with man, they didn't run off at our approach, and I counted enough of them thereabouts to provision a couple hundred ships.
它们看见我们近前，并不逃走，因为它们从没有跟人打过交道，我看这里的海豹很多，可以装载好几百艘船。
