海底兩萬里 第320期 第23章 珊瑚王國(19)

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Yes! It will be a really unusual experience!

對了！這事很新奇，十分新奇。

And possibly dangerous! I added in an insinuating tone.

或者很危險呢！我用暗示的語氣又加上一句。

Dangerous? Ned Land replied. A simple trip to an oysterbank?

很危險！尼德·蘭回答，到珍珠貝礁石上走一走！

Assuredly, Captain Nemo hadn't seen fit to plant the idea of sharks in the minds of my companions.

一定是尼摩船長認為沒有必要讓我的同伴想到鮫魚，所以他不對他們說。

For my part, I stared at them with anxious eyes, as if they were already missing a limb or two. Should I alert them? Yes, surely, but I hardly knew how to go about it.

我眼光有些慌張地注視他們，好像他們的肢體已經(jīng)被咬走了一部分似的。我應該事先通知他們嗎？當然應該的，不過我不知道怎樣跟他們說才好。

Would master, Conseil said to me, give us some background on pearl fishing?

先生，康塞爾對我說，先生愿意給我們講一些關于采珍珠的情形嗎？

On the fishing itself? I asked. Or on the occupational hazards that--

是講采珍珠這事情本身呢，我問，還是講有關的故事呢？

On the fishing, the Canadian replied. Before we tackle the terrain, it helps to be familiar with it.

講采珍珠的事情，加拿大人回答，到實地去看之前，先知道一點是好的。

All right, sit down, my friends, and I'll teach you everything I myself have just been taught by the Englishman H. C. Sirr!

好吧，朋友們，你們坐下，我從英國人西爾寫的書中所知道的一切，都講給你們聽吧。

Ned and Conseil took seats on a couch, and right off the Canadian said to me:

尼德·蘭和康塞爾在長沙發(fā)上坐下，加拿大人首先對我說：

Sir, just what is a pearl exactly?

先生，珍珠是什么呢？

My gallant Ned, I replied, for poets a pearl is a tear from the sea;

老實的尼德，我回答；對詩人來說，珍珠是大海的眼淚；

for Orientals it's a drop of solidified dew; for the ladies it's a jewel they can wear on their fingers, necks, and ears that's oblong in shape, glassy in luster, and formed from mother-of-pearl;

對東方人來說，它是一滴固體化的露水；對婦女們來說，它是她們帶在手指上。脖子上或耳朵上的，長圓形，透明色，螺鈾質的飾物；

for chemists it's a mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate with a little gelatin protein;

對化學家來說，它是帶了些膠質的磷酸鹽和碳酸鈣的混合物；

and finally, for naturalists it's a simple festering secretion from the organ that produces mother-of-pearl in certain bivalves.

最后，對生物學家來說，它不過是某種雙殼類動物產(chǎn)生螺鋼質的器官的病態(tài)分泌物。