海底兩萬里 第14期 第2章 正與反(3)

The Chassepot rifle led to the torpedo, and the torpedo has led to this underwaterbattering ram,

機(jī)槍之后有水雷，水雷之后有潛水沖擊機(jī)，

which in turn will lead to the world putting its foot down. At least I hope it will.

然后一又是各種互相克制的武器，至少我自己心中是這樣想的。

But this hypothesis of a war machine collapsed in the face of formal denials from the various governments.

但是這個(gè)“潛水艇”的假設(shè)，由于各國(guó)歐府的聲明又站不住了、

Since the public interest was at stake and transoceanic travel was suffering, the sincerityof these governments could not be doubted.

因?yàn)檫@是有關(guān)公共利益的問題，既然海洋交通受到了破壞，各國(guó)政府的真誠(chéng)，當(dāng)然不容有所懷疑。

Besides, how could the assembly of this underwater boat have escaped public notice?

并且，怎么能說這只“潛水艇”的建造竟可以逃避公眾的耳目呢?

Keeping a secret under such circumstances would be difficult enough for an individual,

在這種情形下，就是拿個(gè)人來說，要想保守秘密，也十分困難，

and certainly impossible for a nation whose every move is under constant surveillance by rival powers.

對(duì)于一國(guó)政府，它的行動(dòng)經(jīng)常受到敵對(duì)國(guó)家的注意，那當(dāng)然更是不可能的了。

So, after inquiries conducted in England, France, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Italy, America, and even Turkey,

所以，根據(jù)在英國(guó)，在法國(guó)，在俄國(guó)，在普魯士,在西班吁，在意大利，在美國(guó)，甚至于在土耳其

the hypothesis of an underwater Monitor was ultimately rejected.

所做的調(diào)查，“潛水艇”的假設(shè)，也終于不能不放棄。

And so the monster surfaced again, despite the endless witticisms heaped on it by the popular press,

這個(gè)怪物盡管當(dāng)時(shí)一些報(bào)刊對(duì)它不斷加以嘲笑，

and the human imagination soon got caught up in the most ridiculous ichthyological fantasies.

但它又出現(xiàn)在波濤上了，于是人們的想象就從魚類這一方面打主意而造出種種最荒誕不經(jīng)的傳說來。