THE NEXT DAY I woke up with my head unusually clear. Much to my surprise, I was in my stateroom. No doubt my companions had been put back in their cabin without noticing it any more than I had. Like me, they would have no idea what took place during the night, and to unravel1 this mystery I could count only on some future happenstance.
I then considered leaving my stateroom. Was I free or still a prisoner? Perfectly2 free. I opened my door, headed down the gangways, and climbed the central companionway. Hatches that had been closed the day before were now open. I arrived on the platform.
Ned Land and Conseil were there waiting for me. I questioned them. They knew nothing. Lost in a heavy sleep of which they had no memory, they were quite startled to be back in their cabin.
As for the Nautilus, it seemed as tranquil3 and mysterious as ever. It was cruising on the surface of the waves at a moderate speed. Nothing seemed to have changed on board.
Ned Land observed the sea with his penetrating4 eyes. It was deserted5. The Canadian sighted nothing new on the horizon, neither sail nor shore. A breeze was blowing noisily from the west, and disheveled by the wind, long billows made the submersible roll very noticeably.
After renewing its air, the Nautilus stayed at an average depth of fifteen meters, enabling it to return quickly to the surface of the waves. And, contrary to custom, it executed such a maneuver6 several times during that day of January 19. The chief officer would then climb onto the platform, and his usual phrase would ring through the ship's interior.
As for Captain Nemo, he didn't appear. Of the other men on board, I saw only my emotionless steward7, who served me with his usual mute efficiency.
Near two o'clock I was busy organizing my notes in the lounge, when the captain opened the door and appeared. I bowed to him. He gave me an almost imperceptible bow in return, without saying a word to me. I resumed my work, hoping he might give me some explanation of the previous afternoon's events. He did nothing of the sort. I stared at him. His face looked exhausted8; his reddened eyes hadn't been refreshed by sleep; his facial features expressed profound sadness, real chagrin9. He walked up and down, sat and stood, picked up a book at random10, discarded it immediately, consulted his instruments without taking his customary notes, and seemed unable to rest easy for an instant.
Finally he came over to me and said:
"Are you a physician, Professor Aronnax?"
This inquiry11 was so unexpected that I stared at him a good while without replying.
"Are you a physician?" he repeated. "Several of your scientific colleagues took their degrees in medicine, such as Gratiolet, Moquin-Tandon, and others."
"That's right," I said, "I am a doctor, I used to be on call at the hospitals. I was in practice for several years before joining the museum."
"Excellent, sir."
My reply obviously pleased Captain Nemo. But not knowing what he was driving at, I waited for further questions, ready to reply as circumstances dictated13.
"Professor Aronnax," the captain said to me, "would you consent to give your medical attentions to one of my men?"
"Someone is sick?"
"Yes."
"I'm ready to go with you."
"Come."
I admit that my heart was pounding. Lord knows why, but I saw a definite connection between this sick crewman and yesterday's happenings, and the mystery of those events concerned me at least as much as the man's sickness.
Captain Nemo led me to the Nautilus's stern and invited me into a cabin located next to the sailors' quarters.
On a bed there lay a man some forty years old, with strongly molded features, the very image of an Anglo-Saxon.
I bent14 over him. Not only was he sick, he was wounded. Swathed in blood-soaked linen15, his head was resting on a folded pillow. I undid16 the linen bandages, while the wounded man gazed with great staring eyes and let me proceed without making a single complaint.
It was a horrible wound. The cranium had been smashed open by some blunt instrument, leaving the naked brains exposed, and the cerebral17 matter had suffered deep abrasions18. Blood clots19 had formed in this dissolving mass, taking on the color of wine dregs. Both contusion and concussion20 of the brain had occurred. The sick man's breathing was labored21, and muscle spasms22 quivered in his face. Cerebral inflammation was complete and had brought on a paralysis23 of movement and sensation.
I took the wounded man's pulse. It was intermittent24. The body's extremities25 were already growing cold, and I saw that death was approaching without any possibility of my holding it in check. After dressing26 the poor man's wound, I redid the linen bandages around his head, and I turned to Captain Nemo.
"How did he get this wound?" I asked him.
"That's not important," the captain replied evasively. "The Nautilus suffered a collision that cracked one of the engine levers, and it struck this man. My chief officer was standing27 beside him. This man leaped forward to intercept28 the blow. A brother lays down his life for his brother, a friend for his friend, what could be simpler? That's the law for everyone on board the Nautilus. But what's your diagnosis29 of his condition?"
I hesitated to speak my mind.
"You may talk freely," the captain told me. "This man doesn't understand French."
I took a last look at the wounded man, then I replied:
"This man will be dead in two hours."
"Nothing can save him?"
"Nothing."
Captain Nemo clenched30 his fists, and tears slid from his eyes, which I had thought incapable31 of weeping.
For a few moments more I observed the dying man, whose life was ebbing32 little by little. He grew still more pale under the electric light that bathed his deathbed. I looked at his intelligent head, furrowed33 with premature34 wrinkles that misfortune, perhaps misery35, had etched long before. I was hoping to detect the secret of his life in the last words that might escape from his lips!
"You may go, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo told me.
I left the captain in the dying man's cabin and I repaired to my stateroom, very moved by this scene. All day long I was aquiver with gruesome forebodings. That night I slept poorly, and between my fitful dreams, I thought I heard a distant moaning, like a funeral dirge36. Was it a prayer for the dead, murmured in that language I couldn't understand?
The next morning I climbed on deck. Captain Nemo was already there. As soon as he saw me, he came over.
"Professor," he said to me, "would it be convenient for you to make an underwater excursion today?"
"With my companions?" I asked.
"If they're agreeable."
"We're yours to command, captain."
"Then kindly37 put on your diving suits."
As for the dead or dying man, he hadn't come into the picture. I rejoined Ned Land and Conseil. I informed them of Captain Nemo's proposition. Conseil was eager to accept, and this time the Canadian proved perfectly amenable38 to going with us.
It was eight o'clock in the morning. By 8:30 we were suited up for this new stroll and equipped with our two devices for lighting39 and breathing. The double door opened, and accompanied by Captain Nemo with a dozen crewmen following, we set foot on the firm seafloor where the Nautilus was resting, ten meters down.
A gentle slope gravitated to an uneven40 bottom whose depth was about fifteen fathoms41. This bottom was completely different from the one I had visited during my first excursion under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here I saw no fine-grained sand, no underwater prairies, not one open-sea forest. I immediately recognized the wondrous42 region in which Captain Nemo did the honors that day. It was the coral realm.
In the zoophyte branch, class Alcyonaria, one finds the order Gorgonaria, which contains three groups: sea fans, isidian polyps, and coral polyps. It's in this last that precious coral belongs, an unusual substance that, at different times, has been classified in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. Medicine to the ancients, jewelry43 to the moderns, it wasn't decisively placed in the animal kingdom until 1694, by Peysonnel of Marseilles.
A coral is a unit of tiny animals assembled over a polypary that's brittle44 and stony45 in nature. These polyps have a unique generating mechanism46 that reproduces them via the budding process, and they have an individual existence while also participating in a communal47 life. Hence they embody48 a sort of natural socialism. I was familiar with the latest research on this bizarre zoophyte-- which turns to stone while taking on a tree form, as some naturalists49 have very aptly observed--and nothing could have been more fascinating to me than to visit one of these petrified50 forests that nature has planted on the bottom of the sea.
We turned on our Ruhmkorff devices and went along a coral shoal in the process of forming, which, given time, will someday close off this whole part of the Indian Ocean. Our path was bordered by hopelessly tangled51 bushes, formed from snarls52 of shrubs53 all covered with little star-shaped, white-streaked flowers. Only, contrary to plants on shore, these tree forms become attached to rocks on the seafloor by heading from top to bottom.
Our lights produced a thousand delightful54 effects while playing over these brightly colored boughs55. I fancied I saw these cylindrical56, membrane-filled tubes trembling beneath the water's undulations. I was tempted57 to gather their fresh petals58, which were adorned59 with delicate tentacles60, some newly in bloom, others barely opened, while nimble fish with fluttering fins61 brushed past them like flocks of birds. But if my hands came near the moving flowers of these sensitive, lively creatures, an alarm would instantly sound throughout the colony. The white petals retracted62 into their red sheaths, the flowers vanished before my eyes, and the bush changed into a chunk63 of stony nipples.
Sheer chance had placed me in the presence of the most valuable specimens64 of this zoophyte. This coral was the equal of those fished up from the Mediterranean65 off the Barbary Coast or the shores of France and Italy. With its bright colors, it lived up to those poetic66 names of blood flower and blood foam67 that the industry confers on its finest exhibits. Coral sells for as much as 500 francs per kilogram, and in this locality the liquid strata68 hid enough to make the fortunes of a whole host of coral fishermen. This valuable substance often merges69 with other polyparies, forming compact, hopelessly tangled units known as "macciota," and I noted70 some wonderful pink samples of this coral.
But as the bushes shrank, the tree forms magnified. Actual petrified thickets71 and long alcoves72 from some fantastic school of architecture kept opening up before our steps. Captain Nemo entered beneath a dark gallery whose gentle slope took us to a depth of 100 meters. The light from our glass coils produced magical effects at times, lingering on the wrinkled roughness of some natural arch, or some overhang suspended like a chandelier, which our lamps flecked with fiery73 sparks. Amid these shrubs of precious coral, I observed other polyps no less unusual: melita coral, rainbow coral with jointed74 outgrowths, then a few tufts of genus Corallina, some green and others red, actually a type of seaweed encrusted with limestone75 salts, which, after long disputes, naturalists have finally placed in the vegetable kingdom. But as one intellectual has remarked, "Here, perhaps, is the actual point where life rises humbly76 out of slumbering77 stone, but without breaking away from its crude starting point."
Finally, after two hours of walking, we reached a depth of about 300 meters, in other words, the lowermost limit at which coral can begin to form. But here it was no longer some isolated78 bush or a modest grove79 of low timber. It was an immense forest, huge mineral vegetation, enormous petrified trees linked by garlands of elegant hydras from the genus Plumularia, those tropical creepers of the sea, all decked out in shades and gleams. We passed freely under their lofty boughs, lost up in the shadows of the waves, while at our feet organ-pipe coral, stony coral, star coral, fungus80 coral, and sea anemone81 from the genus Caryophylia formed a carpet of flowers all strewn with dazzling gems82.
What an indescribable sight! Oh, if only we could share our feelings! Why were we imprisoned83 behind these masks of metal and glass! Why were we forbidden to talk with each other! At least let us lead the lives of the fish that populate this liquid element, or better yet, the lives of amphibians84, which can spend long hours either at sea or on shore, traveling through their double domain85 as their whims86 dictate12!
Meanwhile Captain Nemo had called a halt. My companions and I stopped walking, and turning around, I saw the crewmen form a semicircle around their leader. Looking with greater care, I observed that four of them were carrying on their shoulders an object that was oblong in shape.
At this locality we stood in the center of a huge clearing surrounded by the tall tree forms of this underwater forest. Our lamps cast a sort of brilliant twilight87 over the area, making inordinately88 long shadows on the seafloor. Past the boundaries of the clearing, the darkness deepened again, relieved only by little sparkles given off by the sharp crests89 of coral.
Ned Land and Conseil stood next to me. We stared, and it dawned on me that I was about to witness a strange scene. Observing the seafloor, I saw that it swelled90 at certain points from low bulges91 that were encrusted with limestone deposits and arranged with a symmetry that betrayed the hand of man.
In the middle of the clearing, on a pedestal of roughly piled rocks, there stood a cross of coral, extending long arms you would have thought were made of petrified blood.
At a signal from Captain Nemo, one of his men stepped forward and, a few feet from this cross, detached a mattock from his belt and began to dig a hole.
I finally understood! This clearing was a cemetery92, this hole a grave, that oblong object the body of the man who must have died during the night! Captain Nemo and his men had come to bury their companion in this communal resting place on the inaccessible93 ocean floor!
No! My mind was reeling as never before! Never had ideas of such impact raced through my brain! I didn't want to see what my eyes saw!
Meanwhile the grave digging went slowly. Fish fled here and there as their retreat was disturbed. I heard the pick ringing on the limestone soil, its iron tip sometimes giving off sparks when it hit a stray piece of flint on the sea bottom. The hole grew longer, wider, and soon was deep enough to receive the body.
Then the pallbearers approached. Wrapped in white fabric94 made from filaments95 of the fan mussel, the body was lowered into its watery96 grave. Captain Nemo, arms crossed over his chest, knelt in a posture97 of prayer, as did all the friends of him who had loved them. . . . My two companions and I bowed reverently98.
The grave was then covered over with the rubble99 dug from the seafloor, and it formed a low mound100.
When this was done, Captain Nemo and his men stood up; then they all approached the grave, sank again on bended knee, and extended their hands in a sign of final farewell. . . .
Then the funeral party went back up the path to the Nautilus, returning beneath the arches of the forest, through the thickets, along the coral bushes, going steadily101 higher.
Finally the ship's rays appeared. Their luminous102 trail guided us to the Nautilus. By one o'clock we had returned.
After changing clothes, I climbed onto the platform, and in the grip of dreadfully obsessive103 thoughts, I sat next to the beacon104.
Captain Nemo rejoined me. I stood up and said to him:
"So, as I predicted, that man died during the night?"
"Yes, Professor Aronnax," Captain Nemo replied.
"And now he rests beside his companions in that coral cemetery?"
"Yes, forgotten by the world but not by us! We dig the graves, then entrust105 the polyps with sealing away our dead for eternity106!"
And with a sudden gesture, the captain hid his face in his clenched fists, vainly trying to hold back a sob107. Then he added:
"There lies our peaceful cemetery, hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the waves!"
"At least, captain, your dead can sleep serenely108 there, out of the reach of sharks!"
"Yes, sir," Captain Nemo replied solemnly, "of sharks and men!"
END OF THE FIRST PART
第二天，我醒来，头脑特别清爽。令我十分吃惊的是，我竟在我的房中。我的同伴一定也回到他们舱房中去了，可能他们跟我一样，一点没有觉得。夜间所有的经过他们也一点不知道，像我完全不知道一样，要想揭开这个神秘，我只有依靠将来的偶然机会了。
我心里盘算着走出这个房间。心想我已经恢复了自由？或者仍旧是囚人？其实，我又完全自由了。我打开门，走人过道，上了中央铁梯。嵌板昨天是关闭的，现在开了。我到了平台上。
尼德·兰和康塞尔在那里等着我。我问他们，他们什么都不知道。昏沉沉的睡眠没有给他们留下任何记忆，他们只是心中惊怪，看见自己不知道在什么时候又回到自己的舱房中了。＝至于诺第留斯号，我们看来还是跟往常一样，很安静，很神秘。它行动很缓慢，浮在海波上面。船上好像一点也没有什么变化。
尼德·兰睁开他锐利的眼睛，观察大海。海上什么都没有。加拿大人见天边什么也没有，没有船只，没有陆地。西风呼呼地吹来，凤掀起壮阔的波浪打到船上，船显著地摆动起来。
诺第留斯号换过新鲜空气后，行驶在深度平均为十五米的水底下面，这样它可以很快地回到水面上来： 这种方式跟往常不同，在1月19日这一天做了好几次。船副这时又到了平台上，他习惯说的那句话又在船里面听到了。
至于尼摩船长，他并没有出来。船上人员，我只看见那冷冰冰的管事人，他跟平常一样，准时地，默不作声地给我开饭。
两点左右，我在客厅中，正在整理我的笔记，尼摩船长打开门进来了。我向他行个礼。他回答我一个礼，这是一种差不多看不出来的礼，一句话也没有说。我继续做我的工作，心中希望他对于昨夜的特殊事件可能给我解释一下。但他一声不响。我注视他看来他的面容好像很疲乏的样子：他的眼睛发红，睡眠没有让它们恢复过来：他的脸色表示深深的忧愁，真实的苦痛。他走来走去，坐下去，站起来，随意拿起一本书，立即又放下，看看他的各种器械，但不作经常要作的记录，好像一刻都不能安静下来的样子。后来他向我这边走来了，他问我：
“阿龙纳斯先生，您是医生吗？”
我真没想到他忽然提出这一问题，我看他一下，没有立刻答复他。
“您是医生吗？”他又说，“您的好些同事，像格拉地奥列①，摩甘一唐东②，以及其他的人都曾经学过医。”
“不错，”我说，“我是大夫和住院医生。我到博物馆当教授之前，曾经行医好凡年。”
“很好，先生."
我的答复显然使尼摩船长满意。但是，我不知道他为什么说到这事，我等他提出新问题来，自己可以随机应变地答复。
“阿龙纳斯先生，”船长对我说，“您愿意来治疗我的一个船员吗？”
“您这儿有病人吗？”
“是的."
“我就跟您看去。”
“请跟我来吧。”
我得承认，我这时心很跳动。我不知道为什么，在这个船员的疾病和昨晚的事件之间我觉得有某一种关联，这个秘密至少跟那个病人一样，盘踞在我心中。
尼摩船长带我到诺第留斯号的后部，让我走进挨着水手住所的一间舱房。
房中床上，躺着一个四十岁左右的人,外貌坚强有力,是真正盎格鲁一萨克逊③人的典型。
我弯下身去看他。他不仅是有病，而且受了伤。他的头部包裹着血淋淋的纱布，躺在两个枕头上。我把包布解开，病人睁大眼睛看我，让我解开，一声也不说痛。
伤处看来很是怕人。头盖骨被冲击的器械打碎，脑子露出来，脑上受到了很厉害的摩擦。在有伤的脑子上面凝结着一块一块的血痕，颜色像酒槽。脑子同时被打伤又受震动。伤员的呼吸很缓慢。肌肉痉挛着，使他的脸孔抖动。大脑完全发炎了，因此思想和动作都麻木不灵了。
病人的脉搏，我按了按，已经时有时无。身体各处，手·指脚趾的尖端已经冰冷，我看出死已临头，没法救治了。我包扎好这个不幸的病人，又把他头上的纱布弄好，转过身来对着尼摩船长；我问他：
“哪来的这伤痕呢？”
“那没关系！”船长掩饰地回答，“诺第留斯号受到一次仲撞，弄断了机器上的一条杠杆，打中了这个人。般副正在他旁边。他奋身前去，顶受了这打击……兄弟为自己的兄弟牺牲，朋友为自己的朋友牺牲，再没有更简单的享！这是诺第留斯号船上全体船员共同遵守的规律！您对于他的病精的意见究竟怎样？”
我迟疑不敢说。
“您可以说，”船长对我说，“这人不懂得法语。，
我最后看一下伤员，然后回答：
“这人在两小时内就要死了."
“没有什么办法可以救他吗？”
“没有。，尼摩船长的手抖起来，几滴眼泪从他的眼中流出来了，从前我以为他的眼睛是不会哭的。霎时间，我再看一下这垂死的人，他的生命一点一点消失了。他苍白的面色，由于有明亮的电光照在他临死的床上，更显得惨白。我看他的聪明头额有很多过早的皱纹，那是生活中的不幸或多年的贫苦给他造成的。我要从他嘴里偶然吐出的一些话，明白他生平的秘密！“您可以退出了，阿龙纳斯先生。”尼摩船长这时对我说。
我出来，让船长一人留在危急病人的房里，我回到我的房中，为了刚才的场面情绪很激动。那一整天，我心中有种种不祥的预感，十分不安。夜间睡得不好，睡梦中时常惊醒，觉得听到了远远传来的悲叹和好像唱丧歌的声音。这是对死者的祷词，用那种我不能懂得语言说出来的祷词吗？第二天早晨，我又到了平台上，尼摩船长已经在那里了。他一看见我，就走到我面前来。
“教授，”他对我说，“您愿意今天去作一次海底散步吗？”
“我的同伴可以一同去吗？”我问。
"如果他们愿意，他们可以一同去。”
“我们一定跟您去，船长。”
“请你们就去穿潜水衣。”
关于那个危急病人或死人的消息，他再也不提。我到尼德。兰和康塞尔那儿，把尼摩船长的提议告诉他们。康塞尔立刻就答应去，这一次加拿大人也表示很乐意跟我们一道去.
时间是早上八点。到八点半，我们穿好了这次散步穿的潜水衣，并带上探照灯和呼吸器。那座双重的门打开了，尼摩船长和跟在他后面的十来个船员一齐出来，我们到了水下十米的地方，我们的脚便踩在诺第留斯号停下来的海底地上）
一段轻微的斜坡路通到崎岖不平的地面，深度大约为二十五米左右。这地面跟我第一次在太平洋水底下散步时看见过的完全不一样。这里没有细沙，没有海底草地，没有海底树林，我立即认识这一天尼摩船长请我们来的这个神奇地方；这个地方是珊瑚王国。”
在植虫动物门、翡翠纲中，有矾花这一目，这一目包含矾花、木贼和珊瑚三科。珊瑚属于珊瑚科，是一种奇怪的东西，曾经先后被分人矿物、植物和动物类。在古代它是治病的药方，在近代是装饰的珍宝，一直封1694年：，马赛人皮桑尼尔才明确地把它们作为动物分类。
珊瑚是一群聚集在易碎的和石质伪珊瑚树上的微生物的总体. 这些珊瑚虫有一种独特的繁殖力，像枝芽滋生一样，它们有自己本身的生命，同时又有共同的生命，所以这种情形好像是一种自然的社会主义；我知道最近关于这种奇怪的植虫动物的研究结果，照生物学家的很正确的观察，珊瑚虫在分支繁殖中就起矿化作用，对我来说，去参观大自然种植在海底下的一处石质森林，实在是最有兴趣不过的了。
兰可夫探照器使用起来，我们沿着正在形戌的珊瑚层走去，这些珊瑚脉经过相当的时间，有一夭将要把印度洋的这一部分海面封闭起来。路旁尽是错杂的小珊瑚树所形成的混乱的珊瑚树丛，枝权上遮满白光闪闪的星状小花。不过，跟陆地上的植物正相反，固定在海底岩石上的珊瑚树的枝权，全是从上到下发展的。
灯光在色彩很鲜艳的枝叶中间照来照去，发生无穷的美丽迷人的景象。我好像是看见薄膜一般的和圆筒形样的细管在海波下颤动。我要去采它们的带有纤维触须的新鲜花瓣（有的刚开，有的刚露头）的时候，有些身子轻快、鳍迅速摆动的鱼走来，像鸟飞过一样触动了它们。但是，一当我的手挨近这些活花朵，这些有生命的含羞草的时候，花丛中立即发出警报来了。于是雪白的花瓣缩人它们的朱红匣中去了，花朵在我眼前消失了，珊瑚丛随即转变为一大团的石圆丘。
偶然的机会把这种植虫动物的一些最宝贵的品种摆在我面前。这种珊瑚跟在地中海、在法国、意大利和巴巴利①海岸打到的，一样有价值。商业上对于其中最美的几种给了“血花”和“血沫”这样诗意的名字，它们的鲜艳颜色证明这是有道理的。这种珊瑚一直卖到五百法郎一公斤；在这一带的海水里面实在是蕴藏有无数打捞珊瑚人的财富呢。 这种宝贵的物质时常杂有其他种类的珊瑚树， 因此构成名为“马西奥达”的密集和混杂的整块珊瑚，在这些整块珊瑚上面，我看到很美丽的玫瑰珊瑚品种。～不久，珊瑚树丛就紧密连攀起来，树枝分布增长起来，。好像是真正的石质丛林和奇矮建筑的长槽在我们脚步面前摆开了。
尼摩船长走人一条长廊般的黑暗过道，从这条倾斜的、过道，我们到了一百米深的地方。我们的蛇形玻璃管中的光学，照在这些天然的凹凸不平的拱形建筑物上面，照在像水晶烛台一般安排着的、火星点缀起来的下垂花板上，时时。发生魔术般迷人的力量，在珊瑚的丛枝中间，我又看到一样新奇古怪的珊瑚树，海虱形珊瑚，节肢蝶形珊瑚，又有些团聚成堆的珊瑚，有的是青，有的是红，真的像是铺在石灰地上的海藻，这些珊瑚堆，生物学家经过长久的讨论后，才明确地把它们列入植物中。但根据一位思想家所指出，“它：们或者就是生命刚从无知觉的沉睡中挣扎起来，又还没有完全脱离矿物的物性.
走了两个钟头，我们到了t9百米深的地方，那地方就是珊瑚在上面开始形成的最后边界。但在这里的，不是孤立隔开的珊瑚丛，不是低树林的丛木，而是，广大的森林，巨大的矿物草木，粗大的石树，由那些海葛藤，漂亮好看的羽毛草花圈坏结合起来，受到各样色彩和反光的点缀，非常好看。它们的高大树枝深入海水阴暗中不见了，我们就在下面自由自在地走过，我们脚下有管状珊瑚，脑形贝，星状贝，菌状贝，石竹形珊瑚，形成一条花卉织成的地毯，现出光辉夺目的各种颜色。
实在是难以形容，难以描绘的景象！啊！为什么我们不能交换彼此所感到的印象！为什么我们关禁在这金属玻、璃的圆盔中！为什么我们被阻止，彼此不能说话！至少，希望我们生活能跟繁殖在海水中的鱼类一样，或更进一步，能跟那些两栖动物一样，它们可以在长期间内，随它们的意思，往来地上，游泳水中！一
可是尼摩船长站住了。我的同伴和我也停止前进，我回过头来，看见船员们作半圆形围绕着他们伪首领。我更细心地看，看到其中有四人肩上抬着一件长方形的东西。
我们站的是一块宽大空地的中心地方，围绕四周的是海底森林的高大突出的枝权。我们的照明灯在这广阔的空间中射出模糊的光线，把地上阴影拉得特别长。空地的尽处，更是漆黑，只有珊瑚的尖刺留住了一些稀疏的亮光。
尼德·兰和康塞尔站在我身边。我们留心看着，我心里想，我是要参加一个很离奇的场面了。我观察地面，看到好几处，由于石灰质的堆积，由于人手的规律性的安排，有微微隆起的瘤子，地面显得鼓起来的样子。
在空地中间，随便堆起来的石头基础上，竖起一副珊瑚的十字架，这十字架两边横出的两条长胳膊，简直使人要认为是石质的血制成的呢。
尼摩船长做个手势，一个船员走上前来，他在距十字架几英尺远的地方，从腰间取下铁锨，开始挖坑。
我完全明白了！这空地是墓地，这坑是坟穴，这长形的东西是昨夜死去的人的尸体！尼摩船长和他的船员们来到这隔绝人世的海洋底下，这所公共的墓地，埋葬他们的同伴。
不！我的心从来没有过这样的激动，这样的紧张！从来没有过更动人的思想像现在这样侵到我的脑中来！我简直不想看我的眼睛所看见的东西了！
不过坟穴挖得很慢。鱼类被惊动，到处乱跑。我听到石灰质的地上铁锨叮叮作响，铁锨有时碰到丢在水底下的火石，发出星星的火光。坟穴渐渐加长，渐渐加大，不久便相当深，可以容受尸体了。
这时抬尸体的便走近前来，尸体用白色的麻布裹着，放到湿润的坑中去。尼摩船长两手交叉在胸前，死者曾经爱过的所有的朋友们，都跪下来，作祈祷的姿态。我的两个同伴和我也很虔诚地鞠躬敬礼。
坟穴于是被那地上挖出的土石掩盖起来，地面形成微微的隆起。
当坟穴填好了，尼摩船长和他的船员都站起来，然后走到坟前，大家屈膝，伸手，作最后告别的姿势。燃后这队送葬的队伍沿着原路，在森林的拱形建筑物下，一堆一堆的丛林中间，走过了很长的珊瑚丛，总是往上走，向着诺第留斯号回来。最后，船上的灯光露出了，有一道长长的光线，把我俯一直引到诺第留斯号。我们回到船上的时候，正是一点钟。我换了衣服，走上平台，心中正受着可怕思想的缠绕。就走到探照灯旁边坐下。尼摩船长走到我面前；我站起来，对他说：“就是跟我预料的一般， 那人在夜间死了吗？ ，“是的，阿龙纳斯先生。”尼摩船长答。“他现在长眠在他的同伴身边，在那珊瑚墓地中吗？"
船长突然用他痉挛的手、 粑脸孔遮住，他没法抑制他发出的更吟, 随后他说:“、“那里、、海波下面几百英尺深的地方，就是我们的安静得墓地!"
“至少，船长，您的死去的同伴们可以在那里很安静地长眠，不受鲨鱼的欺负！”
“是的，先生，”尼摩船长很严肃地回答，“不受鲨鱼和人物欺负。”
收听单词发音 |
1
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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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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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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maneuver
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| n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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cerebral
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| adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的 | |
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abrasions
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| n.磨损( abrasion的名词复数 )；擦伤处；摩擦；磨蚀（作用） | |
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clots
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| n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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spasms
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| n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作 | |
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paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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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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intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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diagnosis
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| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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dirge
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| n.哀乐，挽歌，庄重悲哀的乐曲 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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communal
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| adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的 | |
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embody
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| vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录 | |
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naturalists
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| n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者 | |
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50
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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51
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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52
snarls
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| n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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cylindrical
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| adj.圆筒形的 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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tentacles
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| n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛 | |
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fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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retracted
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| v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
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chunk
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| n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量） | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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merges
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| （使）混合( merge的第三人称单数 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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alcoves
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| n.凹室( alcove的名词复数 )；（花园）凉亭；僻静处；壁龛 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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jointed
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| 有接缝的 | |
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limestone
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| n.石灰石 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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fungus
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| n.真菌，真菌类植物 | |
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anemone
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| n.海葵 | |
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gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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amphibians
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| 两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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inordinately
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| adv.无度地，非常地 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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bulges
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| 膨胀( bulge的名词复数 )； 鼓起； （身体的）肥胖部位； 暂时的激增 | |
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cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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filaments
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| n.（电灯泡的）灯丝( filament的名词复数 )；丝极；细丝；丝状物 | |
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watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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rubble
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| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
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100
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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102
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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103
obsessive
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| adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的 | |
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104
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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105
entrust
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| v.信赖，信托，交托 | |
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106
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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107
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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108
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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