海底两万里 第4期 第1章 飞走的暗礁(4)

　　One after another, reports arrived that would profoundly affect public opinion: new observations taken by the transatlantic liner Pereire,

　　接连不断地传来的消息，横渡大西洋的贝雷尔号所做的种种观察，

　　the Inman line's Etna running afoul of the monster, an official report drawn up by officers on the French frigate Normandy,

　　茵曼轮船公司的越提那号跟这个怪物的一次相碰，法国二级军舰诺曼第号军官们所写的记录，

　　dead-earnest reckonings obtained by the general staff of Commodore Fitz-James aboard the Lord Clyde.

　　海军高级参谋弗兹一詹姆斯在克利德爵士号上所做的很精密的测算，这一切在当时的确曾经哄动一时。

　　In lighthearted countries, people joked about this phenomenon, but such serious, practical countries as England, America, and Germany were deeply concerned.

　　在民族性比较浮躁的国家里，大家都拿这件事作为谈笑资料，但在严肃和踏实的国家里，像英国、美国和德国就不同，它们对这事就非常关心。

　　In every big city the monster was the latest rage; they sang about it in the coffee houses, they ridiculed it in the newspapers,

　　在各大城市里，这怪物变成了家喻户晓的事件。咖啡馆里歌唱它，报刊上嘲笑它，

　　they dramatized it in the theaters. The tabloids found it a fine opportunity for hatching all sorts of hoaxes.

　　舞台上扮演它。谣言正好有了机会，从这怪物身上捏造出各种各样的奇闻。

　　In those newspapers short of copy, you saw the reappearance of every gigantic imaginary creature, from "Moby Dick,"

　　在一些发行量不多的报刊上，出现了关于各种离奇的巨大动物的报道，从白鲸、北极海中可怕的莫比·狄克,

　　that dreadful white whale from the High Arctic regions, to the stupendous kraken whosetentacles could entwine a 500-ton craft and drag it into the ocean depths.

　　一直到庞大的克拉肯这种怪鱼的触须可以缠住一只载重五百吨的船而把它拖到海底下去都应有尽有。

　　They even reprinted reports from ancient times: the views of Aristotle and Pliny accepting the existence of such monsters,

　　有些人甚至不惜引经据典，或者搬出古代的传说如亚里士多德和蒲林尼的见解：

　　then the Norwegian stories of Bishop Pontoppidan, the narratives of Paul Egede, and finally the reports of Captain Harrington whose good faith is above suspicion

　　或者搬出彭土皮丹主教的挪威童话，保罗·埃纪德的记述，以及哈林顿的报告;这报告是不容怀疑的，

　　in which he claims he saw, while aboard the Castilian in 1857,

　　他说，1857年，他在嘉斯第兰号上看见过一种大蛇，

　　one of those enormous serpents that, until then, had frequented only the seas of France's old extremist newspaper, The Constitutionalist.

　　那种蛇以前只在那立宪号到过的海面上才能看见。