海底两万里 第320期 第23章 珊瑚王国(19)
Yes! It will be a really unusual experience!
对了！这事很新奇，十分新奇。
And possibly dangerous! I added in an insinuating tone.
或者很危险呢！我用暗示的语气又加上一句。
Dangerous? Ned Land replied. A simple trip to an oysterbank?
很危险！尼德·兰回答，到珍珠贝礁石上走一走！
Assuredly, Captain Nemo hadn't seen fit to plant the idea of sharks in the minds of my companions.
一定是尼摩船长认为没有必要让我的同伴想到鲛鱼，所以他不对他们说。
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.
我眼光有些慌张地注视他们，好像他们的肢体已经被咬走了一部分似的。我应该事先通知他们吗？当然应该的，不过我不知道怎样跟他们说才好。
Would master, Conseil said to me, give us some background on pearl fishing?
先生，康塞尔对我说，先生愿意给我们讲一些关于采珍珠的情形吗？
On the fishing itself? I asked. Or on the occupational hazards that--
是讲采珍珠这事情本身呢，我问，还是讲有关的故事呢？
On the fishing, the Canadian replied. Before we tackle the terrain, it helps to be familiar with it.
讲采珍珠的事情，加拿大人回答，到实地去看之前，先知道一点是好的。
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，朋友们，你们坐下，我从英国人西尔写的书中所知道的一切，都讲给你们听吧。
Ned and Conseil took seats on a couch, and right off the Canadian said to me:
尼德·兰和康塞尔在长沙发上坐下，加拿大人首先对我说：
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;
老实的尼德，我回答；对诗人来说，珍珠是大海的眼泪；
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;
对东方人来说，它是一滴固体化的露水；对妇女们来说，它是她们带在手指上。脖子上或耳朵上的，长圆形，透明色，螺铀质的饰物；
for chemists it's a mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate with a little gelatin protein;
对化学家来说，它是带了些胶质的磷酸盐和碳酸钙的混合物；
and finally, for naturalists it's a simple festering secretion from the organ that produces mother-of-pearl in certain bivalves.
最后，对生物学家来说，它不过是某种双壳类动物产生螺钢质的器官的病态分泌物。
