海底兩萬(wàn)里 第51期 第5章 冒險(xiǎn)活動(dòng)(6)

Now, professor, you know even better than I that nature doesn't violate good sense,

并且，教授，您比我更了解，自然造物，決不自相矛盾，

and she wouldn't give some naturally slow animal the ability to move swiftly if it hadn't a need to use that talent.

它決不使天性遲緩的動(dòng)物，有快速走動(dòng)的能力，因?yàn)檫@種能力對(duì)它并無(wú)必要。

So if the beast does exist, it's already long gone!

所以，這種動(dòng)物如果存在的話(huà)，它早就跑遠(yuǎn)了!

I had no reply to this. Obviously we were just groping blindly.

聽(tīng)了他這話(huà)，我沒(méi)法回答。很明顯，我們確實(shí)是盲目地行動(dòng)著。

But how else could we go about it? All the same, our chances were automatically pretty limited.

可是，又有什么辦法呢?我們的機(jī)會(huì)很有限，

Yet everyone still felt confident of success, and not a sailor on board would have bet against the narwhale appearing, and soon.

不過(guò)，對(duì)于事情的成功，還沒(méi)有人加以懷疑，船上沒(méi)有一名水手敢打賭，說(shuō)沒(méi)有獨(dú)角鯨，說(shuō)它不會(huì)出現(xiàn)。

On July 20 we cut the Tropic of Capricorn at longitude 105 degrees, and by the 27th of the same month, we had cleared the equator on the 110th meridian.

7月20日南回歸線(xiàn)正交在經(jīng)度105度，同月27日我們穿過(guò)了在西經(jīng)110度上的赤道線(xiàn)。

These bearings determined, the frigate took a more decisive westward heading and tackled the seas of the central Pacific.

此后，船便一直向西行駛，駛進(jìn)太平洋的中部海中。