海底兩萬里 第48期 第5章 冒險活動(3)

Eyes and spyglasses didn't remain at rest for an instant. Day and night we observed the surface of the ocean,

真的，眼睛和望遠鏡好象被二千美元獎金的遠景所?；?，一刻也不愿休息。

and those with nyctalopic eyes, whose ability to see in the dark increased their chances by fifty percent, had an excellent shot at winning the prize.

白天黑夜，人人都留心洋面，患晝盲癥的人因在黑暗中能看得清。比別人要多百分之五十的機會獲得這筆獎金。

As for me, I was hardly drawn by the lure of money and yet was far from the leastattentive on board.

我個人是不受金錢引誘的，但我在船上也同樣注意觀察海面。

Snatching only a few minutes for meals and a few hours for sleep, come rain or come shine, I no longer left the ship's deck.

除了用餐的幾分鐘，睡眠的幾小時，不管日曬也好，雨淋也好，我總不離開甲板。

Sometimes bending over the forecastle railings, sometimes leaning against the sternrail,

有時伏在船頭圍板上，有時扶著船尾的欄桿，我目不轉晴，

I eagerly scoured that cotton-colored wake that whitened the ocean as far as the eye could see!

死盯著一望無際、白練般的浪濤!

And how many times I shared the excitement of general staff and crew when some unpredictable whale lifted its blackish back above the waves.

有好幾次，一條任性的鯨魚把灰黑的脊背露在波濤上的時候，我跟船上全體職工人員一樣馬上就激動起來。