I showed Conseil the position of this long reef on our chart of the Mediterranean.
我在地中海地圖上,指給康塞爾看那條很長的暗礁所占據的部位。
But with all due respect to master, Conseil ventured to observe, it's like an actual isthmus connecting Europe to Africa.
不過,請先生原諒,康塞爾說,那就真正是連結歐洲和非洲的一條地峽了。
Yes, my boy, I replied, it cuts across the whole Strait of Sicily, and Smith's soundings prove that in the past, these two continents were genuinely connected between Cape Boeo and Cape Farina.
對,老實人,我回答,它完全堵住了利比亞海峽,史密斯的測量也證明了這兩個大陸從前是在崩角和夫利那角、間連結起來的。
I can easily believe it, Conseil said.
我很相信是這樣。康塞爾說。
I might add, I went on, that there's a similar barrier between Gibraltar and Ceuta, and in prehistoric times it closed off the Mediterranean completely.
要知道,我立即又說,類似的一道柵欄也存在于直布羅陀和敘達之間,在地質學的紀元時期把地中海完全封鎖起來。
Gracious! Conseil put in. Suppose one day some volcanic upheaval raises these two barriers back above the waves!
康塞爾用心研究諾第留斯號緩慢地、挨近地面走過的那淺水海底。