After my fall I had lost a good deal of blood. I felt it flowing over me. Ah! how happy I should have been could I have died, and if death were not yet to be gone through. I would think no longer. I drove away every idea, and, conquered by my grief, I rolled myself to the foot of the opposite wall.
Already I was feeling the approach of another faint, and was hoping for complete annihilation, when a loud noise reached me. It was like the distant rumble4 of continuous thunder, and I could hear its sounding undulations rolling far away into the remote recesses5 of the abyss.
Whence could this noise proceed? It must be from some phenomenon proceeding6 in the great depths amidst which I lay helpless. Was it an explosion of gas? Was it the fall of some mighty7 pillar of the globe?
I listened still. I wanted to know if the noise would be repeated. A quarter of an hour passed away. Silence reigned8 in this gallery. I could not hear even the beating of my heart.
Suddenly my ear, resting by chance against the wall, caught, or seemed to catch, certain vague, indescribable, distant, articulate sounds, as of words.
"This is a delusion," I thought.
But it was not. Listening more attentively9, I heard in reality a murmuring of voices. But my weakness prevented me from understanding what the voices said. Yet it was language, I was sure of it.
For a moment I feared the words might be my own, brought back by the echo. Perhaps I had been crying out unknown to myself. I closed my lips firmly, and laid my ear against the wall again.
"Yes, truly, some one is speaking; those are words!"
Even a few feet from the wall I could hear distinctly. I succeeded in catching10 uncertain, strange, undistinguishable words. They came as if pronounced in low murmured whispers. The word 'forlorad' was several times repeated in a tone of sympathy and sorrow.
"Help!" I cried with all my might. "Help!"
I listened, I watched in the darkness for an answer, a cry, a mere11 breath of sound, but nothing came. Some minutes passed. A whole world of ideas had opened in my mind. I thought that my weakened voice could never penetrate12 to my companions.
"It is they," I repeated. "What other men can be thirty leagues under ground?"
I again began to listen. Passing my ear over the wall from one place to another, I found the point where the voices seemed to be best heard. The word 'forlorad' again returned; then the rolling of thunder which had roused me from my lethargy.
"No," I said, "no; it is not through such a mass that a voice can be heard. I am surrounded by granite13 walls, and the loudest explosion could never be heard here! This noise comes along the gallery. There must be here some remarkable14 exercise of acoustic15 laws!"
I listened again, and this time, yes this time, I did distinctly hear my name pronounced across the wide interval16.
It was my uncle's own voice! He was talking to the guide. And 'forlorad' is a Danish word.
Then I understood it all. To make myself heard, I must speak along this wall, which would conduct the sound of my voice just as wire conducts electricity.
But there was no time to lose. If my companions moved but a few steps away, the acoustic phenomenon would cease. I therefore approached the wall, and pronounced these words as clearly as possible:
"Uncle Liedenbrock!"
I waited with the deepest anxiety. Sound does not travel with great velocity17. Even increased density18 air has no effect upon its rate of travelling; it merely augments19 its intensity20. Seconds, which seemed ages, passed away, and at last these words reached me:
"Axel! Axel! is it you?"
. . . .
"Yes, yes," I replied.
. . . .
"My boy, where are you?"
. . . .
"Lost, in the deepest darkness."
. . . .
"Where is your lamp?"
. . . .
"It is out."
. . . .
"And the stream?"
. . . .
"Disappeared."
. . . .
"Axel, Axel, take courage!"
. . . .
. . . .
"Courage," resumed my uncle. "Don't speak. Listen to me. We have looked for you up the gallery and down the gallery. Could not find you. I wept for you, my poor boy. At last, supposing you were still on the Hansbach, we fired our guns. Our voices are audible to each other, but our hands cannot touch. But don't despair, Axel! It is a great thing that we can hear each other."
. . . .
During this time I had been reflecting. A vague hope was returning to my heart. There was one thing I must know to begin with. I placed my lips close to the wall, saying:
"My uncle!"
. . . .
"My boy!" came to me after a few seconds.
. . . .
"We must know how far we are apart."
. . . .
"That is easy."
. . . .
"You have your chronometer22?"
. . .
"Yes."
. . . .
"Well, take it. Pronounce my name, noting exactly the second when you speak. I will repeat it as soon as it shall come to me, and you will observe the exact moment when you get my answer."
"Yes; and half the time between my call and your answer will exactly indicate that which my voice will take in coming to you."
. . . .
"Just so, my uncle."
. . . .
"Are you ready?"
. . . .
"Yes."
. . . . . .
"Now, attention. I am going to call your name."
. . . .
I put my ear to the wall, and as soon as the name 'Axel' came I immediately replied "Axel," then waited.
. . . .
"Forty seconds," said my uncle. "Forty seconds between the two words; so the sound takes twenty seconds in coming. Now, at the rate of 1,120 feet in a second, this is 22,400 feet, or four miles and a quarter, nearly."
. . . .
"Four miles and a quarter!" I murmured.
. . . .
"It will soon be over, Axel."
. . . .
"Must I go up or down?"
. . . .
"Down—for this reason: We are in a vast chamber23, with endless galleries. Yours must lead into it, for it seems as if all the clefts24 and fractures of the globe radiated round this vast cavern25. So get up, and begin walking. Walk on, drag yourself along, if necessary slide down the steep places, and at the end you will find us ready to receive you. Now begin moving."
. . . .
These words cheered me up.
"Good bye, uncle." I cried. "I am going. There will be no more voices heard when once I have started. So good bye!"
. . . .
"Good bye, Axel, au revoir!"
. . . .
These were the last words I heard.
This wonderful underground conversation, carried on with a distance of four miles and a quarter between us, concluded with these words of hope. I thanked God from my heart, for it was He who had conducted me through those vast solitudes26 to the point where, alone of all others perhaps, the voices of my companions could have reached me.
This acoustic effect is easily explained on scientific grounds. It arose from the concave form of the gallery and the conducting power of the rock. There are many examples of this propagation of sounds which remain unheard in the intermediate space. I remember that a similar phenomenon has been observed in many places; amongst others on the internal surface of the gallery of the dome27 of St. Paul's in London, and especially in the midst of the curious caverns28 among the quarries29 near Syracuse, the most wonderful of which is called Dionysius' Ear.
These remembrances came into my mind, and I clearly saw that since my uncle's voice really reached me, there could be no obstacle between us. Following the direction by which the sound came, of course I should arrive in his presence, if my strength did not fail me.
I therefore rose; I rather dragged myself than walked. The slope was rapid, and I slid down.
Soon the swiftness of the descent increased horribly, and threatened to become a fall. I no longer had the strength to stop myself.
Suddenly there was no ground under me. I felt myself revolving30 in air, striking and rebounding31 against the craggy projections32 of a vertical33 gallery, quite a well; my head struck against a sharp corner of the rock, and I became unconscious.
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收听单词发音
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1
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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2
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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3
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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4
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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5
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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6
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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7
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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8
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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9
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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10
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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11
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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12
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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13
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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14
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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15
acoustic
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| adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的 | |
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16
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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17
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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18
density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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19
augments
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| 增加，提高，扩大( augment的名词复数 ) | |
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20
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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21
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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22
chronometer
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| n.精密的计时器 | |
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23
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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24
clefts
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| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
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25
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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26
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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27
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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28
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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29
quarries
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| n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
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30
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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31
rebounding
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| 蹦跳运动 | |
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32
projections
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| 预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物 | |
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33
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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