At the period when these events took place, I had just returned from a scientific research in the disagreeable territory of Nebraska, in the United States.
在这些事件发生的时候，我刚刚从美国内布拉斯加州这个讨厌的领土的科学研究中回来。 —

In virtue of my office as Assistant Professor in the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French Government had attached me to that expedition.
由于我在巴黎自然历史博物馆的助理教授职位，法国政府将我派驻到那个考察队。 —

After six months in Nebraska, I arrived in New York towards the end of March, laden with a precious collection.
在内布拉斯加州待了六个月后，我在三月底抵达纽约，带着一批珍贵的收藏品。 —

My departure for France was fixed for the first days in May. Meanwhile, I was occupying myself in classifying my mineralogical, botanical, and zoological riches, when the accident happened to the Scotia.
我的返回法国的日期定在五月的头几天。与此同时，我正在对我的矿物学、植物学和动物学收获进行分类，这时发生了苏格兰号的事故。

I was perfectly up in the subject which was the question of the day.
对于当时的问题，我非常了解。 —

How could I be otherwise?
否则我怎么能不知道呢？ —

I had read and re-read all the American and European papers without being any nearer a conclusion.
我读了又读所有的美国和欧洲的报纸，却没有进一步的结论。 —

This mystery puzzled me.
这个谜团让我困惑不解。 —

Under the impossibility of forming an opinion, I jumped from one extreme to the other.
在无法形成一个意见的情况下，我跳来跳去，始终不能确定下来。 —

That there really was something could not be doubted, and the incredulous were invited to put their finger on the wound of the Scotia.
那里确实有些东西无法被怀疑，怀疑者被邀请去揭示”Scotia”号的伤口。

On my arrival at New York the question was at its height.
在我到达纽约时，这个问题正达到了高潮。 —

The hypothesis of the floating island, and the unapproachable sandbank, supported by minds little competent to form a judgment, was abandoned.
关于漂浮岛和无法接近的沙洲的假设，得到了一些能力有限的人的支持，但现在已被放弃。 —

And, indeed, unless this shoal had a machine in its stomach, how could it change its position with such astonishing rapidity?
实际上，除非这个浅滩的胃里有一个机器，否则它怎么可能以惊人的速度改变位置呢？

From the same cause, the idea of a floating hull of an enormous wreck was given up.
由于同一个原因，关于一个巨大残骸的漂浮体的想法被放弃了。

There remained then only two possible solutions of the question, which created two distinct parties:
那么问题只剩下两个可能的解决方案，形成了两个不同的派别： —

on one side, those who were for a monster of colossal strength;
一方面，支持一个巨大力量的怪物的人; —

on the other, those who were for a submarine vessel of enormous motive power.
另一方面，支持一个拥有巨大动力的潜水艇的人。

But this last hypothesis, plausible as it was, could not stand against inquiries made in both worlds.
但是，尽管这个最后的假设很有道理，它无法经受两个世界的询问。 —

That a private gentleman should have such a machine at his command was not likely.
一个私人绅士能够拥有这样一台机器是不太可能的。那么， —

Where, when, and how was it built?
它是在哪里、何时以及如何建造的呢？ —

and how could its construction have been kept secret?
它的建造是如何保密的？ —

Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine.
政府可能拥有这样一台毁灭性的机器。 —

And in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of others, a state might try to work such a formidable engine.
在这个灾难时期，当人类的聪明才智使得战争武器的威力得以倍增时，一个国家试图制造如此可怕的装置而其他人对此毫不知情是有可能的。 —

After the chassepots came the torpedoes, after the torpedoes the submarine rams, then—the reaction. At least, I hope so.
从射鹿枪到鱼雷，从鱼雷到潜艇撞击，然后——回应。至少，我希望是这样。

But the hypothesis of a war machine fell before the declaration of Governments.
但是，战争机器的假设在政府的声明面前被否定了。 —

As public interest was in question, and transatlantic communications suffered, their veracity could not be doubted.
由于涉及公众利益，跨大西洋通信受到了影响，对其真实性并无疑问。 —

But, how admit that the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the public eye?
但是，如何承认这艘潜艇艇的建造在公众眼中毫无踪影呢？ —

For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such circumstances would be very difficult, and for a state whose every act is persistently watched by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.
对于一个私人绅士来说，在这种情况下保守这个秘密将会非常困难，对于一个每一举动都被强大的竞争对手持续关注的国家来说，无疑是不可能的。

After inquiries made in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, and America, even in Turkey, the hypothesis of a submarine monitor was definitely rejected.
在英国、法国、俄罗斯、普鲁士、西班牙、意大利和美国，甚至在土耳其进行了调查后，潜艇监视器的假设被明确否定了。

Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of consulting me on the phenomenon in question.
在我到达纽约后，有几个人很荣幸向我咨询了这个问题。 —

I had published in France a work in quarto, in two volumes, entitled “Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds.
我在法国出版了一本尺寸为四开，两卷的作品，名为《大海洋秘境的奥秘》。这本书在学术界备受好评，在这个相对晦涩的自然历史领域为我赢得了特别的声誉。 —

” This book, highly approved of in the learned world, gained for me a special reputation in this rather obscure branch of Natural History.
他们向我征求了建议。只要我能否认这个事实的存在，我就坚决否定。 —

My advice was asked. As long as I could deny the reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative.
但是很快，发现自己被逼到了绝路，我不得不明确地表态。 —

But soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to explain myself categorically.
我不得不承认我从没有尝试否认这些事件的真实性。 —

And even “the Honourable Pierre Aronnax, Professor in the Museum of Paris, ” was called upon by the New York Herald to express a definite opinion of some sort.
“多年从事巴黎博物馆的尊贵的皮埃尔·阿洛纳克斯教授”受到《纽约先驱报》的邀请，被要求表达一种明确的观点。 —

I did something. I spoke, for want of power to hold my tongue.
我做了某事。出于无法控制自己的口舌之力的原因， —

I discussed the question in all its forms, politically and scientifically;
我对这个问题进行了讨论。我从政治和科学的角度讨论了这个问题； —

and I give here an extract from a carefully-studied article which I published in the number of the 30th of April. It ran as follows:—
并且我在4月30日的一篇经过认真研究的文章中发表了一篇摘录。它如下所示：

“After examining one by one the different hypotheses, rejecting all other suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a marine animal of enormous power.
“在逐一检查各种假设并排除所有其他建议之后，我们不得不承认存在一种具有巨大力量的海洋动物。

“The great depths of the ocean are entirely unknown to us.
我们对海洋的深处一无所知。 —

Soundings cannot reach them.
声纳无法到达这些深处。 —

What passes in those remote depths—what beings live, or can live, twelve or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters—what is the organisation of these animals, we can scarcely conjecture.
那些遥远深处发生的事情，那些在水面以下十二到十五英里处生活或可能生活的生物——这些动物的结构，我们几乎无法揣测。 —

However, the solution of the problem submitted to me may modify the form of the dilemma.
然而，提交给我的问题的解决方案可能会改变困境的形式。 —

Either we do know all the varieties of beings which people our planet, or we do not.
要么我们知道人们在地球上的所有种类，要么我们不知道。 —

If we do not know them all—if Nature has still secrets in ichthyology for us, nothing is more conformable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or cetaceans of other kinds, or even of new species, of an organisation formed to inhabit the strata inaccessible to soundings, and which an accident of some sort, either fatastical or capricious, has brought at long intervals to the upper level of the ocean.
如果我们不知道它们全部——如果自然界在鱼类学中还有秘密，那么认可存在鱼类或其他种类的鲸类，甚至是一种适合生活在无法测量的地层的有组织结构的新物种，以及某种偶然的或奇怪的事件，会使它们长时间间隔地浮现到海洋的上层，是符合理性的。

“If, on the contrary, we do know all living kinds, we must necessarily seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already classed;
“相反，如果我们已经了解了所有的生物种类，我们必然要在已经分类的海洋生物中寻找这种动物； —

and, in that case, I should be disposed to admit the existence of a gigantic narwhal.
在那种情况下，我倾向于承认存在一种巨大的独角鲸。

“The common narwhal, or unicorn of the sea, often attains a length of sixty feet.
“普通的独角鲸，或者说海洋中的独角兽，通常能达到六十英尺的长度。 —

Increase its size fivefold or tenfold, give it strength proportionate to its size, lengthen its destructive weapons, and you obtain the animal required.
将它的体积增加五倍或十倍，并赋予与其大小相称的强度，延长其破坏性武器，就可以得到所需的动物。 —

It will have the proportions determined by the officers of the Shannon, the instrument required by the perforation of the Scotia, and the power necessary to pierce the hull of the steamer.
它将具有由“香农”号船员确定的比例，用于穿透“苏格兰尼亚”号的仪器，以及穿透汽船船体所需的动力。

“Indeed, the narwhal is armed with a sort of ivory sword, a halberd, according to the expression of certain naturalists.
“事实上，海独角兽配备了一种象牙剑，一种半斧头，按照某些自然学家的说法。 —

The principal tusk has the hardness of steel.
主要的长牙坚硬如钢。 —

Some of these tusks have been found buried in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn always attacks with success.
有些长牙被发现埋在鲸鱼的身体内，独角兽总能成功攻击鲸鱼。 —

Others have been drawn out, not without trouble, from the bottoms of ships, which they had pierced through and through, as a gimlet pierces a barrel.
有些则不得不费力从船底拔出，它们穿透船体如同螺丝钻穿桶一般。 —

The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris possesses one of these defensive weapons, two yards and a quarter in length, and fifteen inches in diameter at the base.
巴黎医学系的博物馆拥有一把这样的防御武器，长两码一刻，底径十五英寸。

“Very well! suppose this weapon to be six times stronger and the animal ten times more powerful;
“非常好！假设这个武器强了六倍，动物的力量增强了十倍； —

launch it at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and you obtain a shock capable of producing the catastrophe required.
以每小时二十英里的速度发射，你就得到了一个能够产生所需灾难的冲击。 —

Until further information, therefore, I shall maintain it to be a sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armoured frigates, or the ‘rams’ of war, whose massiveness and motive power it would possess at the same time.
因此，在进一步的信息出来之前，我坚称它是一个巨大尺寸的海独角兽，不是拿着戟，而是拿着一个真正的刺，就像装甲舰或战争中的”触角”那样，它会同时拥有巨大的质量和动力。 —

Thus may this puzzling phenomenon be explained, unless there be something over and above all that one has ever conjectured, seen, perceived, or experienced;
因此，除非有比我们所推测、看到、察觉或经历的所有事物都更多的东西； —

which is just within the bounds of possibility.”
才有可能解释这个令人费解的现象。”

These last words were cowardly on my part; but, up to a certain point, I wished to shelter my dignity as Professor, and not give too much cause for laughter to the Americans, who laugh well when they do laugh.
我说的最后这句话是懦弱的；但在某种程度上，我希望保护我作为一位教授的尊严，不给美国人太多笑料，他们笑起来可是很厉害的。

I reserved for myself a way of escape. In effect, however, I admitted the existence of the “monster.
我为自己保留了一种逃离的方式。然而，事实上，我承认了“怪物”的存在。 —

” My article was warmly discussed, which procured it a high reputation.
我的文章引起了热烈的讨论，赢得了很高的声誉。 —

It rallied round it a certain number of partisans.
它吸引了一些支持者。 —

The solution it proposed gave, at least, full liberty to the imagination.
它提出的解决方案至少给了想象力充分的自由。人类的思维喜欢产生关于超自然生物的宏大概念。 —

The human mind delights in grand conceptions of supernatural beings.
—

And the sea is precisely their best vehicle, the only medium through which these giants (against which terrestrial animals, such as elephants or rhinoceroses, are as nothing) can be produced or developed.
而海洋恰好是它们最好的载体，也是这些巨人（对于陆地上的动物，如大象或犀牛，它们微不足道）可以产生或发展的唯一介质。

The industrial and commercial papers treated the question chiefly from this point of view.
工业和商业报纸主要从这个角度来讨论这个问题。 —

The Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, the Lloyd’s List, the Packet-Boat, and the Maritime and Colonial Review, all papers devoted to insurance companies which threatened to raise their rates of premium, were unanimous on this point.
《航运与商业公报》、《劳埃德航运纪事报》，《邮船报》，以及《海洋与殖民地评论》等专门为保险公司服务的报纸都在这一点上达成了一致意见。 —

Public opinion had been pronounced.
民意已经表达出来了。 —

The United States were the first in the field;
美国在这个领域是第一位的； —

and in New York they made preparations for an expedition destined to pursue this narwhal.
在纽约，他们开始准备一次追踪这只独角鲸的探险。 —

A frigate of great speed, the Abraham Lincoln, was put in commission as soon as possible.
一艘速度很快的护卫舰“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号尽快投入使用。 —

The arsenals were opened to Commander Farragut, who hastened the arming of his frigate;
军械库被打开给指挥官法拉格特，他急忙为自己的护卫舰武装； —

but, as it always happens, the moment it was decided to pursue the monster, the monster did not appear.
但是，正如通常发生的那样，一旦决定追踪这个怪物，怪物就不会出现。 —

For two months no one heard it spoken of.
两个月没有人再提起它。 —

No ship met with it. It seemed as if this unicorn knew of the plots weaving around it.
没有船只遇到过它。似乎这只独角鲸知道围绕它的阴谋。 —

It had been so much talked of, even through the Atlantic cable, that jesters pretended that this slender fly had stopped a telegram on its passage and was making the most of it.
它已经被如此广泛地讨论，甚至通过大西洋电缆传播，以至于笑话人假装这只纤细的苍蝇在传递途中截获了一条电报并充分利用它。

So when the frigate had been armed for a long campaign, and provided with formidable fishing apparatus, no one could tell what course to pursue.
所以，当这艘军舰为一次漫长的行动武装并配备了可怕的捕鱼设备时，没有人能说出该采取什么行动。 —

Impatience grew apace, when, on the 2nd of July, they learned that a steamer of the line of San Francisco, from California to Shanghai, had seen the animal three weeks before in the North Pacific Ocean. The excitement caused by this news was extreme.
当他们得知7月2日那艘从加利福尼亚到上海的旧金山航行线的轮船在三周前在北太平洋看见那个动物时，耐心迅速消磨殆尽。由此引发的兴奋非常剧烈。 —

The ship was revictualled and well stocked with coal.
船只再次补充了食品和煤炭。

Three hours before the Abraham Lincoln left Brooklyn pier, I received a letter worded as follows:—
在“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号离开布鲁克林码头前三个小时，我收到了以下内容的信件：

“To M. ARONNAX, Professor in the Museum of Paris, Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
“致巴黎博物馆教授阿罗纳克斯先生，美国纽约第五大道饭店。

“SIR,—If you will consent to join the Abraham Lincoln in this expedition, the Government of the United States will with pleasure see France represented in the enterprise.
“尊敬的先生，请问您是否愿意加入这次远征，美国政府将很高兴看到法国在此次企业中有所代表。 —

Commander Farragut has a cabin at your disposal.
法拉格特指挥官已为您预留了一间舱室。

“Very cordially yours, “J.B. HOBSON, “Secretary of Marine.”
“最诚挚地致以问候，美国海军部秘书J.B.霍布森。”