On the following day Barbicane, fearing that indiscreet questions might be put to Michel Ardan, was desirous of reducing the number of the audience to a few of the initiated1, his own colleagues for instance. He might as well have tried to check the Falls of Niagara! he was compelled, therefore, to give up the idea, and let his new friend run the chances of a public conference. The place chosen for this monster meeting was a vast plain situated2 in the rear of the town. In a few hours, thanks to the help of the shipping3 in port, an immense roofing of canvas was stretched over the parched4 prairie, and protected it from the burning rays of the sun. There three hundred thousand people braved for many hours the stifling5 heat while awaiting the arrival of the Frenchman. Of this crowd of spectators a first set could both see and hear; a second set saw badly and heard nothing at all; and as for the third, it could neither see nor hear anything at all. At three o’clock Michel Ardan made his appearance, accompanied by the principal members of the Gun Club. He was supported on his right by President Barbicane, and on his left by J. T. Maston, more radiant than the midday sun, and nearly as ruddy. Ardan mounted a platform, from the top of which his view extended over a sea of black hats.
He exhibited not the slightest embarrassment6; he was just as gay, familiar, and pleasant as if he were at home. To the hurrahs which greeted him he replied by a graceful7 bow; then, waving his hands to request silence, he spoke8 in perfectly9 correct English as follows:
“Gentlemen, despite the very hot weather I request your patience for a short time while I offer some explanations regarding the projects which seem to have so interested you. I am neither an orator10 nor a man of science, and I had no idea of addressing you in public; but my friend Barbicane has told me that you would like to hear me, and I am quite at your service. Listen to me, therefore, with your six hundred thousand ears, and please excuse the faults of the speaker. Now pray do not forget that you see before you a perfect ignoramus whose ignorance goes so far that he cannot even understand the difficulties! It seemed to him that it was a matter quite simple, natural, and easy to take one’s place in a projectile11 and start for the moon! That journey must be undertaken sooner or later; and, as for the mode of locomotion12 adopted, it follows simply the law of progress. Man began by walking on all-fours; then, one fine day, on two feet; then in a carriage; then in a stage-coach; and lastly by railway. Well, the projectile is the vehicle of the future, and the planets themselves are nothing else! Now some of you, gentlemen, may imagine that the velocity13 we propose to impart to it is extravagant14. It is nothing of the kind. All the stars exceed it in rapidity, and the earth herself is at this moment carrying us round the sun at three times as rapid a rate, and yet she is a mere15 lounger on the way compared with many others of the planets! And her velocity is constantly decreasing. Is it not evident, then, I ask you, that there will some day appear velocities16 far greater than these, of which light or electricity will probably be the mechanical agent?
“Yes, gentlemen,” continued the orator, “in spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the same facility, rapidity, and certainty as we now make the voyage from Liverpool to New York! Distance is but a relative expression, and must end by being reduced to zero.”
The assembly, strongly predisposed as they were in favor of the French hero, were slightly staggered at this bold theory. Michel Ardan perceived the fact.
“Gentlemen,” he continued with a pleasant smile, “you do not seem quite convinced. Very good! Let us reason the matter out. Do you know how long it would take for an express train to reach the moon? Three hundred days; no more! And what is that? The distance is no more than nine times the circumference17 of the earth; and there are no sailors or travelers, of even moderate activity, who have not made longer journeys than that in their lifetime. And now consider that I shall be only ninety- seven hours on my journey. Ah! I see you are reckoning that the moon is a long way off from the earth, and that one must think twice before making the experiment. What would you say, then, if we were talking of going to Neptune18, which revolves19 at a distance of more than two thousand seven hundred and twenty millions of miles from the sun! And yet what is that compared with the distance of the fixed20 stars, some of which, such as Arcturus, are billions of miles distant from us? And then you talk of the distance which separates the planets from the sun! And there are people who affirm that such a thing as distance exists. Absurdity21, folly22, idiotic23 nonsense! Would you know what I think of our own solar universe? Shall I tell you my theory? It is very simple! In my opinion the solar system is a solid homogeneous body; the planets which compose it are in actual contact with each other; and whatever space exists between them is nothing more than the space which separates the molecules24 of the densest25 metal, such as silver, iron, or platinum26! I have the right, therefore, to affirm, and I repeat, with the conviction which must penetrate27 all your minds, ‘Distance is but an empty name; distance does not really exist!’”
“Hurrah!” cried one voice (need it be said it was that of J. T. Maston). “Distance does not exist!” And overcome by the energy of his movements, he nearly fell from the platform to the ground. He just escaped a severe fall, which would have proved to him that distance was by no means an empty name.
“Gentlemen,” resumed the orator, “I repeat that the distance between the earth and her satellite is a mere trifle, and undeserving of serious consideration. I am convinced that before twenty years are over one-half of our earth will have paid a visit to the moon. Now, my worthy28 friends, if you have any question to put to me, you will, I fear, sadly embarrass a poor man like myself; still I will do my best to answer you.”
Up to this point the president of the Gun Club had been satisfied with the turn which the discussion had assumed. It became now, however, desirable to divert Ardan from questions of a practical nature, with which he was doubtless far less conversant29. Barbicane, therefore, hastened to get in a word, and began by asking his new friend whether he thought that the moon and the planets were inhabited.
“You put before me a great problem, my worthy president,” replied the orator, smiling. “Still, men of great intelligence, such as Plutarch, Swedenborg, Bernardin de St. Pierre, and others have, if I mistake not, pronounced in the affirmative. Looking at the question from the natural philosopher’s point of view, I should say that nothing useless existed in the world; and, replying to your question by another, I should venture to assert, that if these worlds are habitable, they either are, have been, or will be inhabited.”
“No one could answer more logically or fairly,” replied the president. “The question then reverts30 to this: Are these worlds habitable? For my own part I believe they are.”
“For myself, I feel certain of it,” said Michel Ardan.
“Nevertheless,” retorted one of the audience, “there are many arguments against the habitability of the worlds. The conditions of life must evidently be greatly modified upon the majority of them. To mention only the planets, we should be either broiled31 alive in some, or frozen to death in others, according as they are more or less removed from the sun.”
“I regret,” replied Michel Ardan, “that I have not the honor of personally knowing my contradictor, for I would have attempted to answer him. His objection has its merits, I admit; but I think we may successfully combat it, as well as all others which affect the habitability of other worlds. If I were a natural philosopher, I would tell him that if less of caloric were set in motion upon the planets which are nearest to the sun, and more, on the contrary, upon those which are farthest removed from it, this simple fact would alone suffice to equalize the heat, and to render the temperature of those worlds supportable by beings organized like ourselves. If I were a naturalist32, I would tell him that, according to some illustrious men of science, nature has furnished us with instances upon the earth of animals existing under very varying conditions of life; that fish respire in a medium fatal to other animals; that amphibious creatures possess a double existence very difficult of explanation; that certain denizens33 of the seas maintain life at enormous depths, and there support a pressure equal to that of fifty or sixty atmospheres without being crushed; that several aquatic34 insects, insensible to temperature, are met with equally among boiling springs and in the frozen plains of the Polar Sea; in fine, that we cannot help recognizing in nature a diversity of means of operation oftentimes incomprehensible, but not the less real. If I were a chemist, I would tell him that the aerolites, bodies evidently formed exteriorly35 of our terrestrial globe, have, upon analysis, revealed indisputable traces of carbon, a substance which owes its origin solely36 to organized beings, and which, according to the experiments of Reichenbach, must necessarily itself have been endued37 with animation38. And lastly, were I a theologian, I would tell him that the scheme of the Divine Redemption, according to St. Paul, seems to be applicable, not merely to the earth, but to all the celestial39 worlds. But, unfortunately, I am neither theologian, nor chemist, nor naturalist, nor philosopher; therefore, in my absolute ignorance of the great laws which govern the universe, I confine myself to saying in reply, ‘I do not know whether the worlds are inhabited or not: and since I do not know, I am going to see!’”
Whether Michel Ardan’s antagonist40 hazarded any further arguments or not it is impossible to say, for the uproarious shouts of the crowd would not allow any expression of opinion to gain a hearing. On silence being restored, the triumphant41 orator contented42 himself with adding the following remarks:
“Gentlemen, you will observe that I have but slightly touched upon this great question. There is another altogether different line of argument in favor of the habitability of the stars, which I omit for the present. I only desire to call attention to one point. To those who maintain that the planets are not inhabited one may reply: You might be perfectly in the right, if you could only show that the earth is the best possible world, in spite of what Voltaire has said. She has but one satellite, while Jupiter, Uranus43, Saturn44, Neptune have each several, an advantage by no means to be despised. But that which renders our own globe so uncomfortable is the inclination45 of its axis46 to the plane of its orbit. Hence the inequality of days and nights; hence the disagreeable diversity of the seasons. On the surface of our unhappy spheroid we are always either too hot or too cold; we are frozen in winter, broiled in summer; it is the planet of rheumatism47, coughs, bronchitis; while on the surface of Jupiter, for example, where the axis is but slightly inclined, the inhabitants may enjoy uniform temperatures. It possesses zones of perpetual springs, summers, autumns, and winters; every Jovian may choose for himself what climate he likes, and there spend the whole of his life in security from all variations of temperature. You will, I am sure, readily admit this superiority of Jupiter over our own planet, to say nothing of his years, which each equal twelve of ours! Under such auspices48 and such marvelous conditions of existence, it appears to me that the inhabitants of so fortunate a world must be in every respect superior to ourselves. All we require, in order to attain49 such perfection, is the mere trifle of having an axis of rotation50 less inclined to the plane of its orbit!”
“Hurrah!” roared an energetic voice, “let us unite our efforts, invent the necessary machines, and rectify51 the earth’s axis!”
A thunder of applause followed this proposal, the author of which was, of course, no other than J. T. Maston. And, in all probability, if the truth must be told, if the Yankees could only have found a point of application for it, they would have constructed a lever capable of raising the earth and rectifying52 its axis. It was just this deficiency which baffled these daring mechanicians.
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1
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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8
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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projectile
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| n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的 | |
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locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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velocities
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| n.速度( velocity的名词复数 )；高速，快速 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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revolves
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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molecules
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| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
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densest
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| 密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的 | |
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platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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reverts
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| 恢复( revert的第三人称单数 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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broiled
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| a.烤过的 | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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denizens
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| n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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aquatic
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| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
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exteriorly
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| adv.从外部，表面上 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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endued
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| v.授予，赋予（特性、才能等）( endue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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42
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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43
Uranus
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| n.天王星 | |
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Saturn
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| n.农神，土星 | |
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45
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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46
axis
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| n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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49
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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51
rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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52
rectifying
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| 改正，矫正( rectify的现在分词 )； 精馏； 蒸流； 整流 | |
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