海底两万里 第524期 第32章 海湾暖流(14)
Unshaken by these squalls, Captain Nemo stationed himself on the platform. He was lashed around the waist to withstand the monstrous breakers foaming over the deck. I hoisted and attached myself to the same place, dividing my wonderment between the storm and this incomparable man who faced it head-on.
尼摩船长站在平台上，迎风傲然不动。为了预防汹涌澎湃的巨浪，他的腰间系着一根缆绳。我也登上平台，系上绳子，欣赏这场暴风雨和这个昂首挺立的无可伦比的人。
The raging sea was swept with huge tattered clouds drenched by the waves. I saw no more of the small intervening billows that form in the troughs of the big crests. Just long, soot-colored undulations with crests so compact they didn't foam. They kept growing taller. They were spurring each other on. The Nautilus, sometimes lying on its side, sometimes standing on end like a mast, rolled and pitched frightfully.
浸在水波中的大块的乌云横扫过海涛翻滚的水面。我再也见不到那些大涡漩中的小浪花了，只见一阵阵煤烟色的低矮长浪头，一浪接一浪而来，慢慢地浪峰越来越高，相互推拥激荡。“鹦鹉螺号”，时而侧身卧倒，时而像桅杆一样屹立，发疯地翻转摇晃。
Near five o'clock a torrential rain fell, but it lulled neither wind nor sea. The hurricane was unleashed at a speed of forty-five meters per second, hence almost forty leagues per hour. Under these conditions houses topple, roof tiles puncture doors, iron railings snap in two, and twenty-four-pounder cannons relocate. And yet in the midst of this turmoil, the Nautilus lived up to that saying of an expert engineer: "A well-constructed hull can defy any sea!" This submersible was no resisting rock that waves could demolish; it was a steel spindle, obediently in motion, without rigging or masting, and able to brave their fury with impunity.
5点钟左右，一场暴雨降临了，但海浪和狂风并没因此平息。暴风以每秒45米，即接近每小时40里的速度脱缰而来。在这种情况下，它可以掀翻房屋，把屋瓦吹进门里，折断铁栏栅，让一架24厘米的大炮挪位。然而，在风暴中间，“鹦鹉螺号”船只证实了一个工程师学者的话：“没有不能纵横大海的构造完美的船体！”这不是一座海浪能够冲毁的坚石，而是一只驯良、活动的钢铁纺锤，它不用工具，不用桅墙，就能在狂风暴雨中丝毫不损。
Meanwhile I was carefully examining these unleashed breakers. They measured up to fifteen meters in height over a length of 150 to 175 meters, and the speed of their propagation (half that of the wind) was fifteen meters per second.
然而，我认真地观察起扑面而来的海涛。它们窜至5米高，宽幅是150至175米，推进的速度是风速的一半，即每秒15米。
