海底兩萬裡 #第5章 Adventure（7）

帕摩圖群島在地圖哪裡

Chapter 5 Adventure（7） 第5章 冒險活動 (7)

原文賞析：

Commander Farragut felt， and with good reason， that it was best to stay in deep waters and keep his distance from continents or islands，

whose neighborhoods the animal always seemed to avoid “No doubt，” our bosun said， “because there isn‘t enough water for him！”

So the frigate kept well out when passing the Tuamotu， Marquesas， and Hawaiian Islands，

then cut the Tropic of Cancer at longitude 132 degrees and headed for the seas of China。

We were finally in the area of the monster’s latest antics！ And in all honesty， shipboard conditions became life-threatening。

Hearts were pounding hideously， gearing up for futures full of incurable aneurysms。 The entire crew suffered from a nervous excitement that it‘s beyond me to describe。

Nobody ate， nobody slept。 Twenty times a day some error in perception， or the optical illusions of some sailor perched in the crosstrees，

would cause intolerable anguish， and this emotion， repeated twenty times over， kept us in a state of irritability so intense that a reaction was bound to follow。

中文譯文：

法拉古艦長想得對，駛到深水的地方，

離開這個怪物好像不願意挨近的大陸和海島。

這樣也許好些，機會也許多些；可能因為接近陸地的海，對於這個怪物，還不夠深！水手長這樣說。

戰艦添了煤後，穿過帕摩圖群島、馬貴斯群島，夏威夷群島，在東經：32度越過了北迴歸線，向中國海開去。

我們終於到了這個怪物最近活動的地方了！老實說。我們在船上簡直不是過生活了。

心跳動得太厲害了，說不定將來會得不可治療的血瘤症。全體船員，神經都極度緊張，那種程度，我簡直不能形容。

大家不吃飯、不睡覺。由於瞭望的水手估計錯了或看錯了而引起的騷動，每天總有一二十次。

這種連續不斷的騷動，更加強了人們的緊張，以致不能不產生反響。

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