After all, they were but making a voyage — a strange, yet a transient, excursion through solar regions hitherto untraversed; but if the professor’s calculations were correct — and why should they be doubted? — their little vessel5 was destined6, after a two years’ absence, once more to return “to port.” The landing, indeed, might be a matter of difficulty; but with the good prospect7 before them of once again standing8 on terrestrial shores, they had nothing to do at present except to make themselves as comfortable as they could in their present quarters.
Thus confident in their anticipations9, neither the captain, the count, nor the lieutenant10 felt under any serious obligation to make any extensive provisions for the future; they saw no necessity for expending11 the strength of the people, during the short summer that would intervene upon the long severity of winter, in the cultivation12 or the preservation13 of their agricultural resources. Nevertheless, they often found themselves talking over the measures they would have been driven to adopt, if they had found themselves permanently14 attached to their present home.
Even after the turning-point in their career, they knew that at least nine months would have to elapse before the sea would be open to navigation; but at the very first arrival of summer they would be bound to arrange for the Dobryna and the Hansa to retransport themselves and all their animals to the shores of Gourbi Island, where they would have to commence their agricultural labors15 to secure the crops that must form their winter store. During four months or thereabouts, they would lead the lives of farmers and of sportsmen; but no sooner would their haymaking and their corn harvest have been accomplished16, than they would be compelled again, like a swarm17 of bees, to retire to their semi-troglodyte existence in the cells of Nina’s Hive.
Now and then the captain and his friends found themselves speculating whether, in the event of their having to spend another winter upon Gallia, some means could not be devised by which the dreariness18 of a second residence in the recesses19 of the volcano might be escaped. Would not another exploring expedition possibly result in the discovery of a vein20 of coal or other combustible21 matter, which could be turned to account in warming some erection which they might hope to put up? A prolonged existence in their underground quarters was felt to be monotonous22 and depressing, and although it might be all very well for a man like Professor Rosette, absorbed in astronomical23 studies, it was ill suited to the temperaments24 of any of themselves for any longer period than was absolutely indispensable.
One contingency25 there was, almost too terrible to be taken into account. Was it not to be expected that the time might come when the internal fires of Gallia would lose their activity, and the stream of lava26 would consequently cease to flow? Why should Gallia be exempt27 from the destiny that seemed to await every other heavenly body? Why should it not roll onwards, like the moon, a dark cold mass in space?
In the event of such a cessation of the volcanic28 eruption29, whilst the comet was still at so great a distance from the sun, they would indeed be at a loss to find a substitute for what alone had served to render life endurable at a temperature of 60 degrees below zero. Happily, however, there was at present no symptom of the subsidence of the lava’s stream; the volcano continued its regular and unchanging discharge, and Servadac, ever sanguine30, declared that it was useless to give themselves any anxiety upon the matter.
On the l5th of December, Gallia was 276,000,000 leagues from the sun, and, as it was approximately to the extremity31 of its axis32 major, would travel only some 11,000,000 or 12,000,000 leagues during the month. Another world was now becoming a conspicuous33 object in the heavens, and Palmyrin Rosette, after rejoicing in an approach nearer to Jupiter than any other mortal man had ever attained34, was now to be privileged to enjoy a similar opportunity of contemplating35 the planet Saturn36. Not that the circumstances were altogether so favorable. Scarcely 31,000,000 miles had separated Gallia from Jupiter; the minimum distance of Saturn would not be less than 415,000,000 miles; but even this distance, although too great to affect the comet’s progress more than had been duly reckoned on, was considerably37 shorter than what had ever separated Saturn from the earth.
To get any information about the planet from Rosette appeared quite impossible. Although equally by night and by day he never seemed to quit his telescope, he did not evince the slightest inclination38 to impart the result of his observations. It was only from the few astronomical works that happened to be included in the Dobryna’s library that any details could be gathered, but these were sufficient to give a large amount of interesting information.
Ben Zoof, when he was made aware that the earth would be invisible to the naked eye from the surface of Saturn, declared that he then, for his part, did not care to learn any more about such a planet; to him it was indispensable that the earth should remain in sight, and it was his great consolation39 that hitherto his native sphere had never vanished from his gaze.
At this date Saturn was revolving40 at a distance of 420,000,000 miles from Gallia, and consequently 874,440,000 miles from the sun, receiving only a hundredth part of the light and heat which that luminary41 bestows42 upon the earth. On consulting their books of reference, the colonists43 found that Saturn completes his revolution round the sun in a period of 29 years and 167 days, traveling at the rate of more than 21,000 miles an hour along an orbit measuring 5,490 millions of miles in length. His circumference44 is about 220,000 miles; his superficies, 144,000 millions of square miles; his volume, 143,846 millions of cubic miles. Saturn is 735 times larger than the earth, consequently he is smaller than Jupiter; in mass he is only 90 times greater than the earth, which gives him a density45 less than that of water. He revolves46 on his axis in 10 hours 29 minutes, causing his own year to consist of 86,630 days; and his seasons, on account of the great inclination of his axis to the plane of his orbit, are each of the length of seven terrestrial years.
Although the light received from the sun is comparatively feeble, the nights upon Saturn must be splendid. Eight satellites — Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, and Japetus — accompany the planet; Mimas, the nearest to its primary, rotating on its axis in 2212 hours, and revolving at a distance of only 120,800 miles, whilst Japetus, the most remote, occupies 79 days in its rotation47, and revolves at a distance of 2,314,000 miles.
Another most important contribution to the magnificence of the nights upon Saturn is the triple ring with which, as a brilliant setting, the planet is encompassed48. To an observer at the equator, this ring, which has been estimated by Sir William Herschel as scarcely 100 miles in thickness, must have the appearance of a narrow band of light passing through the zenith 12,000 miles above his head. As the observer, however, increases his latitude49 either north or south, the band will gradually widen out into three detached and concentric rings, of which the innermost, dark though transparent50, is 9,625 miles in breadth; the intermediate one, which is brighter than the planet itself, being 17,605 miles broad; and the outer, of a dusky hue51, being 8,660 miles broad.
Such, they read, is the general outline of this strange appendage52, which revolves in its own plane in 10 hours 32 minutes. Of what matter it is composed, and how it resists disintegration53, is still an unsettled question; but it might almost seem that the Designer of the universe, in permitting its existence, had been willing to impart to His intelligent creatures the manner in which celestial54 bodies are evolved, and that this remarkable55 ring-system is a remnant of the nebula56 from which Saturn was himself developed, and which, from some unknown cause, has become solidified57. If at any time it should disperse58, it would either fall into fragments upon the surface of Saturn, or the fragments, mutually coalescing59, would form additional satellites to circle round the planet in its path.
To any observer stationed on the planet, between the extremes of lat. 45 degrees on either side of the equator, these wonderful rings would present various strange phenomena60. Sometimes they would appear as an illuminated61 arch, with the shadow of Saturn passing over it like the hour-hand over a dial; at other times they would be like a semi-aureole of light. Very often, too, for periods of several years, daily eclipses of the sun must occur through the interposition of this triple ring.
Truly, with the constant rising and setting of the satellites, some with bright discs at their full, others like silver crescents, in quadrature, as well as by the encircling rings, the aspect of the heavens from the surface of Saturn must be as impressive as it is gorgeous.
Unable, indeed, the Gallians were to realize all the marvels62 of this strange world. After all, they were practically a thousand times further off than the great astronomers63 have been able to approach by means of their giant telescopes. But they did not complain; their little comet, they knew, was far safer where it was; far better out of the reach of an attraction which, by affecting their path, might have annihilated64 their best hopes.
The distances of several of the brightest of the fixed65 stars have been estimated. Amongst others, Vega in the constellation66 Lyra is 100 millions of millions of miles away; Sirius in Canis Major, 123 millions of millions; the Pole-star, 282 millions of millions; and Capella, 340 millions of millions of miles, a figure represented by no less than fifteen digits67.
The hard numerical statement of these enormous figures, however, fails altogether in any adequate way to convey a due impression of the magnitude of these distances. Astronomers, in their ingenuity68, have endeavored to use some other basis, and have found “the velocity69 of light” to be convenient for their purpose. They have made their representations something in this way:
“Suppose,” they say, “an observer endowed with an infinite length of vision: suppose him stationed on the surface of Capella; looking thence towards the earth, he would be a spectator of events that had happened seventy years previously70; transport him to a star ten times distant, and he will be reviewing the terrestrial sphere of 720 years back; carry him away further still, to a star so remote that it requires something less than nineteen centuries for light to reach it, and he would be a witness of the birth and death of Christ; convey him further again, and he shall be looking upon the dread71 desolation of the Deluge72; take him away further yet (for space is infinite), and he shall be a spectator of the Creation of the spheres. History is thus stereotyped73 in space; nothing once accomplished can ever be effaced74.”
Who can altogether be astonished that Palmyrin Rosette, with his burning thirst for astronomical research, should have been conscious of a longing75 for yet wider travel through the sidereal76 universe? With his comet now under the influence of one star, now of another, what various systems might he not have explored! what undreamed-of marvels might not have revealed themselves before his gaze! The stars, fixed and immovable in name, are all of them in motion, and Gallia might have followed them in their un-tracked way.
But Gallia had a narrow destiny. She was not to be allowed to wander away into the range of attraction of another center; nor to mingle77 with the star clusters, some of which have been entirely78, others partially79 resolved; nor was she to lose herself amongst the 5,000 nebulae which have resisted hitherto the grasp of the most powerful reflectors. No; Gallia was neither to pass beyond the limits of the solar system, nor to travel out of sight of the terrestrial sphere. Her orbit was circumscribed80 to little over 1,500 millions of miles; and, in comparison with the infinite space beyond, this was a mere81 nothing.
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1
ostensible
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| adj.(指理由)表面的，假装的 | |
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2
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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3
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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4
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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5
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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7
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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9
anticipations
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| 预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物 | |
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10
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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11
expending
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| v.花费( expend的现在分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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12
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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13
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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14
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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15
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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16
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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17
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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18
dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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19
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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21
combustible
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| a. 易燃的,可燃的; n. 易燃物,可燃物 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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24
temperaments
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| 性格( temperament的名词复数 )； （人或动物的）气质； 易冲动； （性情）暴躁 | |
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contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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27
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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31
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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axis
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| n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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35
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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Saturn
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| n.农神，土星 | |
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37
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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38
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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40
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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41
luminary
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| n.名人，天体 | |
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42
bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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43
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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44
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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45
density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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46
revolves
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想 | |
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47
rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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48
encompassed
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| v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括 | |
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49
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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50
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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51
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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52
appendage
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| n.附加物 | |
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53
disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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54
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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55
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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56
nebula
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| n.星云，喷雾剂 | |
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57
solidified
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| （使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化 | |
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58
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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59
coalescing
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| v.联合，合并( coalesce的现在分词 ) | |
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60
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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61
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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62
marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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63
astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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64
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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65
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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66
constellation
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| n.星座n.灿烂的一群 | |
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67
digits
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| n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾 | |
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68
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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69
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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70
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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71
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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72
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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73
stereotyped
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| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
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74
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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75
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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sidereal
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| adj.恒星的 | |
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mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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78
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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79
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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80
circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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81
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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