地心游记(插图·中文导读英文版)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：(法)凡尔纳（Verne,J.）

出版社：清华大学出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

地心游记(插图·中文导读英文版)试读：

前言

儒勒·凡尔纳（Jules Verne，1828—1905），法国著名作家，现代科幻小说的奠基人，被誉为“科幻小说之父”。

1828年2月8日，儒勒·凡尔纳出生在法国西部海港南特。他自幼热爱海洋，向往远航探险。他的父亲是一位事业成功的律师，并希望凡尔纳日后也以律师作为职业。18岁时，他遵从父训到首都巴黎攻读法律。可是他对法律毫无兴趣，却爱上了文学和戏剧。1863年，他发表第一部科幻小说《气球上的五星期》，之后又出版了使他获得巨大声誉的科幻三部曲：《格兰特船长的儿女》、《海底两万里》和《神秘岛》。

他一生共创作了六十多部充满神奇与浪漫的科幻小说，其代表作有《气球上的五星期》、《地心游记》、《从地球到月球》、《海底两万里》、《八十天环游地球》、《格兰特船长的儿女》和《神秘岛》等，这些小说被译成世界上几十种文字，并多次被搬上银幕，在世界上广为流传。凡尔纳的科幻小说是真实性与大胆幻想的结合：奇幻的故事情节、鲜明的人物形象、丰富而奇妙的想象、浓郁的浪漫主义风格和生活情趣，使之产生了巨大的艺术魅力，赢得了全世界各国读者，特别是青少年读者的喜爱。他的作品中所表现的自然科学方面的许多预言和假设，在他去世之后得以印证和实现，至今仍然启发着人们的想象力和创造力。

总的说来，凡尔纳的小说有两大特点。第一，他的作品是丰富幻想和科学知识的结合。虽然凡尔纳笔下的幻想极为奇特、大胆，但其中有着坚实的科学基础，这些作品既是科学精神的幻想曲，也是富有幻想色彩的科学预言，他的许多科幻猜想最后都变成了现实。例如，他不仅在小说《从地球到月球》中用大炮将探月飞行器送上太空，甚至还将发射场安排在了美国佛罗里达州，这正是“阿波罗登月计划”的发射场，他在小说《海底两万里》中虚构了“鹦鹉螺号”潜水艇，在该小说出版10年后，第一艘真正的潜水艇才下水；在《征服者罗比尔》中有一个类似直升飞机的飞行器，数十年后，人类才将这一设想变成了现实。此外，他的小说中还出现了电视、霓虹灯、导弹、坦克和太空飞船等科学技术应用概念，而这些后来都变成了现实。第二，他的作品中的主人公是一些鲜明、生动而富有进取心和正义感的人物，他们或是地理发现者、探险家、科学家、发明家，具有超人的智慧、坚强的毅力和执着不懈的精神；或是反对民族歧视、民族压迫的战士，反对社会不公的抗争者，追求自由的旅行家，在他们身上具有反压迫、反强权、反传统的战斗精神，他们热爱自由、热爱平等，维护人的尊严。凡尔纳所塑造的这些人物形象，他们远大的理想、坚强的性格、优秀的品质和高尚的情操已赢得了亿万读者的喜爱和尊敬，并成为人们向往的偶像和学习的榜样。

1900年，儒勒·凡尔纳的第一部中译本小说《八十天环游地球》（当时的中文译名是《八十日环游记》）被介绍给中国的读者，直至新中国成立之前，陆续又有梁启超、鲁迅等文化名人将凡尔纳的作品翻译出版。20世纪50年代后期，凡尔纳的科幻小说又开始为国内翻译界和出版界所关注，并在新中国读者面前重新显示了科幻小说旺盛的生命力。20世纪80年代，凡尔纳的作品再次受到读者的青睐，国内许多出版社相继翻译出版了凡尔纳的科幻小说，一时形成了“凡尔纳热”。

目前，国内已出版的凡尔纳小说的形式主要有两种：一种是中文翻译版，另一种是中英文对照版。其中的中英文对照读本比较受读者的欢迎，这主要是得益于中国人热衷于学习英文的大环境。从英文学习的角度来看，直接使用纯英文的学习资料更有利于英语学习。考虑到对英文内容背景的了解有助于英文阅读，使用中文导读应该是一种比较好的方式，也可以说是该类型书的第三种版本形式。采用中文导读而非中英文对照的方式进行编排，这样有利于国内读者摆脱对英文阅读依赖中文注释的习惯。基于以上原因，我们决定编译凡尔纳系列科幻小说中的经典之作《地心游记》，并采用中文导读英文版的形式出版。在中文导读中，我们尽力使其贴近原作的精髓，也尽可能保留原作的风格。我们希望能够编出为当代中国读者所喜爱的经典读本。读者在阅读英文故事之前，可以先阅读中文导读内容，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。同时，为了读者更好地理解故事内容，书中加入了大量的插图。我们相信，这些经典著作的引进对加强当代中国读者，特别是青少年读者的科学素养和人文修养是非常有帮助的。

本书主要内容由王勋、纪飞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、左新杲、黄福成、冯洁、徐鑫、马启龙、王业伟、王旭敏、陈楠、王多多、邵舒丽、周丽萍、王晓旭、李永振、孟宪行、熊红华、胡国平、熊建国、徐平国、王小红等。限于我们的文学素养和英语水平，书中难免会有不当之处，衷心希望读者朋友批评指正。第一章　教授和他的家庭成员/Chapter Ⅰ The Professor and his Family

这是一八六三年五月二十四日，女佣玛尔塔刚开始做午饭，李登布洛克教授匆匆赶回位于三人堡旧城科尼街十九号的小房子。

阿克赛尔想躲开脾气暴躁的叔叔，赶紧回到楼上的房间。这时门突然被推开，教授来到楼上书房，并且把阿克赛尔叫了过去。

教授在约翰大学讲矿物学，说话不流利，许多来听课的人等教授说错发火时，就开始笑，并以此为乐。但教授具有地质学家的天才及矿物学家的敏锐观察力，他在所有学校和学术协会里享有盛名，很多有名望的教授也向他请教学术方面的棘手问题。

教授高瘦的身体长得十分结实，虽然已五十多岁，但看起来要年轻得多。由于急躁的性格，他一步能跨一点五英尺。教授的家中住着教女格劳本、女佣玛尔塔和已成为孤儿的侄子阿克赛尔。

阿克赛尔迷上了地质学，成了教授的实验助手。听到教授叫，阿克赛尔马上跑进他的书房。

O n the 24th of May，1863，my uncle, Professor Liedenbroek, rushed into his little house, No. 19 Köinigstrasse, one of the oldest streets in the oldest portion of the city of Hamburg.教授把阿克赛尔叫了过去

Martha must have concluded that she was very much behindhand, for the dinner had only just been put into the oven.‘Well, now，'said I to myself，‘if that most impatient of men is hungry, what a disturbance he will make！'‘M. Liedenbrock so soon！'cried poor Martha in great alarm, half opening the dining-room door.‘Yes, Martha；but very likely the dinner is not half cooked, for it is not two yet. Saint Michael's dock has only just struck halfpast one.'‘Then why has the master come home so soon？'‘Perhaps he will tell us that himself.'‘Here he is, Monsieur Axel；I will run and hide myself while you argue with him.'

And Martha retreated in safety into her own dominions.

I was left alone. But how was it possible for a man of my undecided turn of mind to argue successfully with so irascible a person as the Professor？With this persuasion I was hurrying away to my own little retreat upstairs, when the street door creaked upon its hinges；heavy feet made the whole flight of stairs to shake；and the master of the house, passing rapidly through the dining-room, threw himself in haste into his own sanctum.

But on his rapid way he had found time to fling his hazel stick into a corner, his rough broadbrim upon the table, and these few emphatic words at his nephew：‘Axel, follow me！'

I had scarcely had time to move when the Professor was again shouting after me：‘What！not come yet？'

And I rushed into my redoubtable master's study.

Otto Liedenbrock had no mischief in him, I willingly allow that；but unless he very considerably changes as he grows older, at the end he will be a most original character.

He was professor at the Johannæum, and was delivering a series of lectureson mineralogy, in the course of every one of which he broke into a passion once or twice at least.Not at all that he was over-anxious about the improvement of his class, or about the degree of attention with which they listened to him, or the success which might eventually crown his labours.Such little matters of detail never troubled him much.His teaching was as the German philosophy calls it，‘subjective；’it was to benefit himself, not others.He was a learned egotist.He was a well of science, and the pulleys worked uneasily when you wanted to draw anything out of it.In a word, he was a learned miser.

Germany has not a few professors of this sort.

To his misfortune, my uncle was not gifted with a sufficiently rapid utterance；not, to be sure, when he was talking at home, but certainly in his public delivery；this is a want much to be deplored in a speaker. The fact is, that during the course of his lectures at the Johannaæum, the Professor often came to a complete standstill；he fought with wilful words that refused to pass his struggling lips, such words as resist and distend the cheeks, and at last break out into the unasked-for shape of a round and most unscientific oath：then his fury would gradually abate.

Now in mineralogy there are many half-Greek and half-Latin terms, very hard to articulate, and which would be most trying to a poet's measures. I don't wish to say a word against so respectable a science, far be that from me.True, in the august presence of rhombohedral crystals, retinasphaltic resins, gehlenites, Fassaites, molybdenites, tungstates of manganese, and titanite of zirconium, why, the most facile of tongues may make a slip now and then.

It therefore happened that this venial fault of my uncle's came to be pretty well understood in time, and an unfair advantage was taken of it；the students laid wait for him in dangerous places, and when he began to stumble, loud was the laughter, which is not in good taste, not even in Germans. And if there was always a full audience to honour the Liedenbrock courses, I should be sorry to conjecture how many came to make merry at my uncle's expense.

Nevertheless my good uncle was a man of deep learning—a fact I am mostanxious to assert and reassert. Sometimes he might irretrievably injure a specimen by his too great ardour in handling it；but still he united the genius of a true geologist with the keen eye of the mineralogist.Armed with his hammer, his steel pointer, his magnetic needles, his blowpipe, and his bottle of nitric acid, he was a powerful man of science.He would refer any mineral to its proper place among the six hundred elementary substances now enumerated, by its fracture, its appearance, its hardness, its fusibility, its sonorousness, its smell, and its taste.

The name of Liedenbrock was honourably mentioned in colleges and learned societies. Humphry Davy, Humboldt, Captain Sir John Franklin, General Sabine, never failed to call upon him on their way through Hamburg.Becquerel, Ebelman, Brewster, Dumas, Milne-Edwards, Saint-Claire-Deville frequently consulted him upon the most difficult problems in chemistry, a science which was indebted to him for considerable discoveries, for in 1853 there had appeared at Leipzig an imposing folio by Otto Liedenbrock, entitled，‘A Treatise upon Transcendental Chemistry，'with plates；a work, however, which failed to cover its expenses.

To all these titles to honour let me add that my uncle was the curator of the museum of mineralogy formed by M. Struve, the Russian ambassador；a most valuable collection, the fame of which is European.

Such was the gentleman who addressed me in that impetuous manner. Fancy a tall, spare man, of an iron constitution, and with a fair complexion which took off a good ten years from the fifty he must own to.His resdess eyes were in incessant motion behind his full-sized spectacles.His long, thin nose was like a knife blade.Boys have been heard to remark that that organ was magnetized and attracted iron filings.But this was merely a mischievous report；it had no attraction except for snuff, which it seemed to draw to itself in great quantities.

When I have added, to complete my portrait, that my uncle walked by mathematical strides of a yard and a half, and that in walking he kept his fists firmly closed, a sure sign of an irritable temperament, I think I shall have saidenough to disenchant any one who should by mistake have coveted much of his company.

He lived in his own little house in Königstrasse, a structure half brick and half wood, with a gable cut into steps；it looked upon one of those winding canals which intersect each other in the middle of the ancient quarter of Hamburg, and which the great fire of 1842 had fortunately spared.

It is true that the old house stood slighdy off the perpendicular, and bulged out a little towards the street；its roof sloped a little to one side, like the cap over the left ear of a Tugendbund student；its lines wanted accuracy；but after all, it stood firm, thanks to an old elm which buttressed it in front, and which often in spring sent its young sprays through the window panes.

My uncle was tolerably well off for a German professor. The house was his own, and everything in it.The living contents were his god-daughter Gräuben, a young Virlandaise of seventeen, Martha, and myself.As his nephew and an orphan, I became his laboratory assistant.

I freely confess that I was exceedingly fond of geology and all its kindred sciences；the blood of a mineralogist was in my veins, and in the midst of my specimens I was always happy.

In a word, a man might live happily enough in the little old house in the Königstrasse, in spite of the resdess impatience of its master for although he was a little too excitable—he was very fond of me.But the man had no notion how to wait；nature herself was too slow for him.In April, after he had planted in the terra-cotta pots outside his window seedling plants of mignonette and convolvulus, he would go every evening and give them a little pull by their leaves to make them grow faster.In dealing with such a strange individual there was nothing for it but prompt obedience.I therefore rushed after him.第二章　一定要解开的谜团/Chapter Ⅱ A Mystery to be Solved at any Price

阿克赛尔来到书房，看到叔叔正在欣赏他刚买回来的一本装订得非常好的旧书。他告诉阿克赛尔，这是十二世纪冰岛著名作家斯诺尔·图勒松的《王记》，是挪威诸王统治冰岛的编年史，是用卢尼字母写的手稿。

这时，一张满是污垢的羊皮纸从书中掉下来，上面写着一些和手稿中一样的卢尼字母。可是能熟练运用地球两千多种语言和一万两千多种土话的教授也看不懂这些字母。

钟敲响了两下，女佣来喊教授吃午饭。教授吼道：“让午饭见鬼去吧！”吓得女佣赶紧走了。阿克赛尔坐在餐桌旁，慢慢地吃着饭，突然听到叔叔大声吼叫，他赶快又来到书房。

T hat study of his was a museum, and nothing else. Specimens of everything known in mineralogy lay there in their places in perfect order, and correctly named, divided into inflammable, metallic, and lithoid minerals.

How well I knew all these bits of science！Many a time, instead of enjoying the company of lads of my own age, I had preferred dusting these graphites, anthracites, coals, lignites, and peats！And there were bitumens, resins, organic salts, to be protected from the least grain of dust；and metals，from iron to gold；metals whose current value altogether disappeared in the presence of the republican equality of scientific specimens；and stones too, enough to rebuild entirely the house in Königstrasse, even with a handsome additional room, which would have suited me admirably.阿克赛尔来到书房，看到叔叔正在欣赏他刚买回来的一本旧书

But on entering this study now I thought of none of all these wonders；my uncle alone filled my thoughts. He had thrown himself into a velvet easy-chair, and was grasping between his hands a book over which he bent, pondering with intense admiration.‘Here's a remarkable book！What a wonderful book！'he was exclaiming.

These ejaculations brought to my mind the fact that my uncle was liable to occasional fits of bibliomania；but no old book had any value in his eyes unless it had the virtue of being nowhere else to be found, or, at any rate, of being illegible.‘Well, now；don't you see it yet？Why I have got a priceless treasure, that I found his morning, in rummaging in old Hevelius's shop, the Jew.'‘Magnificent！'I replied, with a good imitation of enthusiasm.

What was the good of all this fuss about an old quarto, bound in rough calf, a yellow, faded volume, with a ragged seal depending from it？

But for all that there was no lull yet in the admiring exclamations of the Professor.‘See，'he went on, both asking the questions and supplying the answers.‘Isn't it a beauty？Yes；splendid！Did you ever see such a binding？Doesn't the book open easily？Yes；it stops open anywhere. But does it shut equally well？Yes；for the binding and the leaves are flush, all in a straight line, and no gaps or openings anywhere.And look at its back, after seven hundred years.Why, Bozerian, Closs, or Purgold might have been proud of such a binding！'

While rapidly making these comments my uncle kept opening and shutting the old tome. I really could do no less than ask a question about its contents, although I did not feel the slightest interest.‘And what is the title of this marvellous work？'I asked with an affected eagerness which he must have been very blind not to see through.‘This work，'replied my uncle, firing up with renewed enthusiasm，‘this work is the Heims Kringla of Snorre Turlleson, the most famous Icelandic author of the twelfth century！It is the chronicle of the Norwegian princes who ruled in Iceland.'‘Indeed；'I cried, keeping up wonderfully，‘of course it is a German translation？'‘What！'sharply replied the Professor，‘a translation！What should I do with a translation？This is the Icelandic original, in the magnificent idiomatic vernacular, which is both rich and simple, and admits of an infinite variety of grammatical combinations and verbal modifications.'‘Like German，'I happily ventured.‘Yes，'replied my uncle, shrugging his shoulders；‘but, in addition to all this, the Icelandic has three numbers like the Greek, and irregular declensions of nouns proper like the Latin.'‘Ah！'said I, a little moved out of my indifference；‘and is the type good？'‘Type！What do you mean by talking of type, wretched Axel？Type！Do you take it for a printed book, you ignorant fool？It is a manuscript, a Runic manuscript.'‘Runic？'‘Yes. Do you want me to explain what that is？'‘Of course not，'I replied in the tone of an injured man. But my uncle persevered, and told me, against my will, of many things I cared nothing about.‘Runic characters were in use in Iceland in former ages. They were invented, it is said, by Odin himself.Look there, and wonder, impious young man, and admire these letters, the invention of the Scandinavian god！'

Well, well！not knowing what to say, I was going to prostrate myself before this wonderful book, a way of answering equally pleasing to gods and kings, and which has the advantage of never giving them any embarrassment, when a little incident happened to divert conversation into another channel.

This was the appearance of a dirty slip of parchment, which slipped out of the volume and fell upon the floor.

My uncle pounced upon this shred with incredible avidity. An old document, enclosed an immemorial time within the folds of this old book, had for him an immeasurable value.

“What's this？'he cried.

And he laid out upon the table a piece of parchment, five inches by three, and along which were traced certain mysterious characters.

Here is the exact facsimile. I think it important to let these strange signs be publicly known, for they were the means of drawing on Professor Liedenbrock and his nephew to undertake the most wonderful expedition of the nineteenth century.

The Professor mused a few moments over this series ot characters；then raising his spectacles he pronounced：‘These are Runic letters；they are exactly like those of the manuscript of Snorre Turlleson. But, what on earth is their meaning？'

Runic letters appearing to my mind to be an invention of the learned to mystify this poor world, I was not sorry to see my uncle suffering the pangs of mystification. At least, so it seemed to me, judging from his fingers, which were beginning to work with terrible energy.‘It is certainly old Icelandic，'he muttered between his teeth.

And Professor Liedenbrock must have known, for he was acknowledged to be quite a polyglot. Not that he could speak fluendy in the two thousand languages and twelve thousand dialects which are spoken on the earth, but he knew at least his share of them.

So he was going, in the presence of this difficulty, to give way to all the impetuosity of his character, and I was preparing for a violent outbreak, whentwo o'clock struck by the little timepiece over the fireplace.

At that moment our good housekeeper Martha opened the study door, saying：‘Dinner is ready！'

I am afraid he sent that soup to where it would boil away to nothing, and Martha took to her heels for safety. I followed her, and hardly knowing how I got there I found myself seated in my usual place.

I waited a few minutes. No Professor came.Never within my remembrance had he missed the important ceremonial of dinner.And yet what a good dinner it was！There was parsley soup, an omelette of ham garnished with spiced sorrel, a fillet of veal with compôte of prunes；for dessert, crystallised fruit；the whole washed down with sweet Moselle.

All this my uncle was going to sacrifice to a bit of old parchment. As an affectionate and attentive nephew I considered it my duty to eat for him as well as for myself, which I did conscientiously.‘I have never known such a thing，'said Martha.‘M. Liedenbrock is not at table！'‘Who could have believed it？'I said, with my mouth full.‘Something serious is going to happen，'said the servant, shaking her head.

My opinion was, that nothing more serious would happen than an awful scene when my uncle should have discovered that his dinner was devoured. I had come to the last of the fruit when a very loud voice tore me away from the pleasures of my dessert.With one spring I bounded out of the dining-room into the study.第三章　教授破解神秘文字/Chapter Ⅲ The Runic Writing Exercises the Professor

教授在研究文字里面的秘密，他让侄子坐下记下他说的一些词。写完后教授又开始仔细研究，但还是看不出其中的意思。他相信真正的含义就隐藏在密码信里面，只要将它正确排列，便能得到正确的信息。于是他将羊皮纸和那本书仔细比较起来。

他想这神秘的字母是这本书的收藏者写的，而收藏者可能将自己的名字写在了书的某个地方。于是他拿起放大镜，在第二页发现几个大半被擦去的字母，认出是：“阿尔姆·萨克努塞姆”！这是十六世纪冰岛一位炼金术学者的名字。

教授思考着这些密码里所隐藏的含义。他看出这封信用的是一种南欧语言，萨克努塞姆没有用母语写信，用的应该是当时常用的拉丁语，只是把顺序打乱了。作者原来写下了正确的句子，然后利用某些规律把字母打乱了，现在就是要找出这个规律。

这时，阿克赛尔的目光落在墙上格劳本的像上。叔叔的养女现在一个亲戚家中，他们两个互相爱恋，还背着叔叔订了婚。他们俩一起学习，度过了好多幸福时光。

叔叔用拳头在桌上一击，把阿克赛尔带回到现实中。他让阿克赛尔把一句话按顺序将字母逐个排列，依次垂直写下来，然后把这些词横着写成一排，阿克赛尔照着做了，得到了一封杂乱无章的密码信。

然后他将每个词的第一个字母写下来，第二、第三，依次类推，得到一句话并读了出来：“小格劳本，我爱你。”教授破解文字之谜

教授看到了阿克赛尔的秘密，但还是沉浸在密码中。他用刚才的方法把羊皮纸上的字母写下来，但毫无意义，于是向科尼街上冲去。‘U ndoubtedly it is runic，'said the Professor, bending his brows；‘but there is a secret in it, and I mean to discover the key.'

A violent gesture finished the sentence.‘Sit there，'he added, holding out his fist towards the table.‘Sit there, and write.'

I was seated in a trice.‘Now I will dictate to you every letter of our alphabet which corresponds with each of these Icelandic characters. We will see what that will give us.But, by St.Michael, if you should dare to deceive me—'

The dictation commenced. I did my best.Every letter was given me one after the other, with the following remarkable result：

When this work was ended my uncle tore the paper from me and examined it attentively for a long time.‘What does it all mean？'he kept repeating mechanically.

Upon my honour I could not have enlightened him. Besides he did not ask me, and he went on talking to himself.‘This is what is called a cryptogram, or cipher，'he said，‘in which lettersare purposely thrown in confusion, which if properly arranged would reveal their sense. Only think that under this jargon there may lie concealed the clue to some great discovery！'

As for me, I was of opinion that there was nothing at all in it；though, of course, I took care not to say so.

Then the Professor took the book and the parchment, and diligently compared them together.‘These two writings are not by the same hand，'he said；‘the cipher is of later date than the book, an undoubted proof of which I see in a moment. The first letter is a double m, a letter which is not to be found in Turlleson's book, and which was only added to the alphabet in the fourteenth century.Therefore there are two hundred years between the manuscript and the document.'

I admitted that this was a strictly logical conclusion.‘I am therefore led to imagine，'continued my uncle，‘that some possessor of this book wrote these mysterious letters. But who was that possessor？Is his name nowhere to be found in the manuscript？'

My uncle raised his spectacles, took up a strong lens, and carefully examined the blank pages of the book. On the front of the second, the title-page, he noticed a sort of stain which looked like an ink blot.But in looking at it very closely he thought he could distinguish some half-effaced letters.My uncle at once fastened upon this as the centre of interest, and he laboured at that blot, until by the help of his microscope he ended by making out the following Runic characters which he read without difficulty.‘Arne Saknussemm！'he cried in triumph.‘Why that is the name of another Icelander, a savant of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist！'

I gazed at my uncle with satisfactory admiration.‘Those alchemists，'he resumed，‘Avicenna, Bacon, Lully, Paracelsus, were the real and only savants of their time. They made discoveries at which we are astonished.Has not this Saknussemm concealed under his cryptogram some surprising invention？It is so；it must be so！'

The Professor's imagination took fire at this hypothesis.‘No doubt，'I ventured to reply；‘but what interest would he have in thus hiding so marvellous a discovery？'‘Why？Why？How can I tell？Did not Galileo do the same by Saturn？We shall see. I will get at the secret of this document, and I will neither sleep nor eat until I have found it out.'

My comment on this was a half-suppressed‘Oh！'‘Nor you either, Axel，'he added.‘The deuce！'said I to myself；‘then it is lucky I have eaten two dinners today！'‘First of all we must find out the key to this cipher；that cannot be difficult.'

At these words I quickly raised my head；but my uncle went on soliloquising.‘There's nothing easier. In this document there are a hundred and thirty-two letters, viz.，seventy-seven consonants and fifty-five vowels.This is the proportion found in southern languages, whilst northern tongues are much richer in consonants；therefore this is in a southern language.'

These were very fair conclusions, I thought.‘But what language is it？'

Here I looked for a display of learning, but I met instead with profound analysis.‘This Saknussemm，'he went on，‘was a very well-informed man；now since he was not writing in his own mother tongue, he would naturally select that which was currently adopted by the choice spirits of the sixteenth century；I mean Latin. If I am mistaken, I can but try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, or Hebrew.But the savants of the sixteenth century generally wrote in Latin.I am therefore entitled to pronounce this，àpriori, to be Latin.It is Latin.’

I jumped up in my chair. My Latin memories rose in revolt against the notion that these barbarous words could belong to the sweet language of Virgil.‘Yes, it is Latin，'my uncle went on；‘but it is Latin confused and in disorder；“pertubata seu inordinata，”as Euclid has it.'‘Very well，'thought I，‘if you can bring order out of that confusion, my dear uncle, you are a clever man.'‘Let us examine carefully，'said he again, taking up the leaf upon which I had written.‘Here is a series of one hundred and thirty-two letters in apparent disorder. There are words consisting of consonants only, as nrrlls；others, on the other hand, in which vowels predominate, as for instance the fifth, uneeief, or the last but one, oseibo.Now this arrangement has evidently not been premeditated；it has arisen mathematically in obedience to the unknown law which has ruled in the succession of these letters.It appears to me a certainty that the original sentence was written in a proper manner, and afterwards distorted by a law which we have yet to discover.Whoever possesses the key of this cipher will read it with fluency.What is that key？Axel, have you got it？'

I answered not a word, and for a very good reason. My eyes had fallen upon a charming picture, suspended against the wall, the portrait of Gräuben.My uncle’s ward was at that time at Altona, staying with a relation, and in her absence I was very downhearted；for I may confess it to you now, the pretty Virlandaise and the professor’s nephew loved each other with a patience and a calmness entirely German.We had become engaged unknown to my uncle, who was too much taken up with geology to be able to enter into such feelings as ours.Gräuben was a lovely blue-eyed blonde, rather given to gravity and seriousness；but that did not prevent her from loving me very sincerely.As for me, I adored her, if there is such a word in the German language.Thus it happened that the picture of my pretty Virlandaise threw me in a moment out of the world of realities into that of memory and fancy.

There looked down upon me the faithful companion of my labours and my recreations. Every day she helped me to arrange my uncle's precious specimens；she and I labelled them together.Mademoiselle Gräuben was an accomplished mineralogist；she could have taught a few things to a savant.She was fond of investigating abstruse scientific questions.What pleasant hours we have spent in study；and how often I envied the very stones which she handled with her charming fingers.

Then, when our leisure hours came, we used to go out together and turninto the shady avenues by the Alster, and went happily side by side up to the old windmill, which forms such an improvement to the landscape at the head of the lake. On the road we chatted hand in hand；I told her amusing tales at which she laughed heartily.Then we reached the banks of the Elbe, and after having bid good-bye to the swan, sailing gracefully amidst the white water lilies, we returned to the quay by the steamer.

That is just where I was in my dream, when my uncle with a vehement thump on the table dragged me back to the realities of life.‘Come，'said he，‘the very first idea which would come into any one's head to confuse the letters of a sentence would be to write the words vertically instead of horizontally.'‘Indeed！'said I.‘Now we must see what would be the effect of that, Axel；put down upon this paper any sentence you like, only instead of arranging the letters in the usual way, one after the other, place them in succession in vertical columns, so as to group them together in five or six vertical lines.'

I caught his meaning, and immediately produced the following literary wonder：‘Good，'said the professor, without reading them，‘now set down those words in a horizontal line.'

I obeyed, and with this result：

Iyloau lolwrb ou, nGe vwmdrn eeyea！‘Excellent！'said my uncle, taking the paper hastily out of my hands.‘This begins to look just like an ancient document：the vowels and the consonants aregrouped together in equal disorder；there are even capitals in the middle of words, and commas too, just as in Saknussemm's parchment.'

I considered these remarks very clever.‘Now，'said my uncle, looking straight at me，‘to read the sentence which you have just written, and with which I am wholly unacquainted, I shall only have to take the first letter of each word, then the second, the third, and so forth.'

And my uncle, to his great astonishment, and my much greater, read：‘I love you well, my own dear Gräuben！’‘Hallo！'cried the Professor.‘Yes, indeed, without knowing what I was about, like an awkward and unlucky lover, I had compromised myself by writing this unfortunate sentence.‘Aha！you are in love with Gräuben？’he said, with the right look for a guardian.‘Yes；no！'I stammered.‘You love Gräuben，’he went on once or twice dreamily.‘Well, let us apply the process I have suggested to the document in question.’

My uncle, falling back into his absorbing contemplations, had already forgotten my imprudent words. I merely say imprudent, for the great mind of so learned a man of course had no place for love affairs, and happily the grand business of the document gained me the victory.

Just as the moment of the supreme experiment arrived the Professor's eyes flashed right through his spectacles. There was a quivering in his fingers as he grasped the old parchment.He was deeply moved.At last he gave a preliminary cough, and with profound gravity, naming in succession the first, then the second letter of each word, he dictated me the following：

messvnkaSenrA. icefdoK.segnittamvrm

ecertserrette, rotaisadva, ednecsedsadne

lacarmiiilvlsiratraeSarbmvtabiledmek

meretarcsilvcoIsleffenSnI.

I confess I felt considerably excited in coming to the end；these letters named, one at a time, had carried no sense to my mind；I therefore waited for the Professor with great pomp to unfold the magnificent but hidden Latin of this mysterious phrase.

But who could have foretold the result？A violent thump made the furniture rattle, and spilt some ink, and my pen dropped from between my fingers.‘That's not it，'cried my uncle，‘there's no sense in it.'

Then darting out like a shot, bowling down stairs like an avalanche, he rushed into the Königstrasse and fled.第四章　使敌人屈服/Chapter Ⅳ The Enemy to be Starved into Submission

玛尔塔看到教授没吃午饭就走了，便喊了起来。阿克赛尔告诉她，叔叔不解开这个古老的谜语是不会吃饭的。他又回到书房，对一些晶石进行归类、整理，可脑海中始终浮现着那些密码。

当他把晶石整理完后，无意中拿起了密码，试着拼起来。他胡乱地拼出几个拉丁词，还有几个是法语，但那只是一些巧合。阿克赛尔感到头脑发热、喘不过气，于是就用那张羊皮纸扇起来。当纸的反面转到他面前时，看到了火山口、地球等拉丁词，他激动地想，自己发现了密码规律。

于是他将纸翻过来，按照刚才记下的顺序，读出了一句话。但他想，这不能让叔叔知道，要不叔叔会拉着他去做同样的事情，那样就回不来了。他想把羊皮纸扔到炉子中，这时，叔叔回来了。‘H e is gone！'cried Martha, running out of her kitchen at the noise of the violent slamming of doors.‘Yes，'I replied，‘completely gone.'‘Well；and how about his dinner？'said the old servant.‘He won't have any.'‘And his supper？'‘He won't have any.'‘What？'cried Martha, with clasped hands.‘No, my dear Martha, he will eat no more. No one in the house is to eat anything at all.Uncle Liedenbrock is going to make us all fast until he has succeeded in deciphering an undecipherable scrawl.'‘Oh, my dear！must we then all die of hunger？'

I hardly dared to confess that, with so absolute a ruler as my uncle, this fate was inevitable.

The old servant, visibly moved, returned to the kitchen, moaning piteously.

When I was alone, I thought I would go and tell Gräuben all about it.But how should I be able to escape from the house？The Professor might return at any moment.And suppose he called me？And suppose he tackled me again with this logomachy, which might vainly have been set before ancient CEdipus.And if I did not obey his call, who could answer for what might happen？

The wisest course was to remain where I was. A mineralogist at Besançon had just sent us a collection of siliceous nodules, which I had to classify：so I set to work；I sorted, labelled, and arranged in their own glass case all these hollow specimens, in the cavity of each of which was a nest of little crystals.

But this work did not succeed in absorbing all my attention. That old document kept working in my brain.My head throbbed with excitement, and I felt an undefined uneasiness.I was possessed with a presentiment of coming evil.

In an hour my nodules were all arranged upon successive shelves. Then I dropped down into the old velvet arm-chair, my head thrown back and my hands joined over it.I lighted my long crooked pipe, with a painting on it of an idle-looking naiad；then I amused myself watching the process of the conversion of the tobacco into carbon, which was by slow degrees making my naiad into a negress.Now and then I listened to hear whether a well-known step was on the stairs.No.Where could my uncle be at that moment？I fancied him running under the noble trees which line the road to Altona, gesticulating, making shots with his cane, thrashing the long grass, cutting the heads off the thistles, and disturbing the contemplative storks in their peaceful solitude.

Would he return in triumph or in discouragement？Which would get the upper hand, he or the secret？I was thus asking myself questions, and mechanically taking between my fingers the sheet of paper mysteriously disfigured with the incomprehensible succession of letters I had written down；and I repeated to myself：‘What does it all mean？'

I sought to group the letters so as to form words. Quite impossible！When I put them together by twos, threes, fives or sixes, nothing came of it but nonsense.To be sure the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth letters made the English word‘ice'；the eighty-third and two following made‘sir'；and in the midst of the document, in the second and third lines, I observed the words，‘rota，'‘mutabile，'‘ira，'‘nec，’‘atra.’‘Come now，'I thought，‘these words seem to justify my unele's view about the language of the document. In the fourth line appeared the word“lueo”，which means a sacred wood.It is true that in the third line was the word“tabiled'，which looked like Hebrew, and in the last the purely French words“mer”，“arc”，“mˆre.”’

All this was enough to drive a poor fellow crazy. Four different languages in this ridiculous sentence！What connection could there possibly be between such words as ice, sir, anger, cruel, sacred wood, changeable, mother, bow, and sea？The first and the last might have something to do with each other；it was not at all surprising that in a document written in Iceland there should be mention of a sea of ice；but it was quite another thing to get to the end of this cryptogram with so small a due.So I was struggling with an insurmountable difficulty；my brain got heated, my eyes watered over that sheet of paper；its hundred and thirty-two letters seemed to flutter and fly around me like those motes of mingled light and darkness which float in the air around the head when the blood is rushing upwards with undue violence.I was a prey to a kind of hallucination；I was stifling；I wanted air.Unconsciously I fanned myself with the bit of paper, the back and front of which successively came before myeyes.What was my surprise when, in one of those rapid revolutions, at the moment when the back was turned to me I thought I caught sight of the Latin words‘craterem，'‘terrestre，'and others.

A sudden light burst in upon me；these hints alone gave me the first glimpse of the truth；I had discovered the key to the cipher. To read the document, it would not even be necessary to read it through the paper.Such as it was, just such as it had been dictated to me, so it might be spelt out with ease.All those ingenious professorial combinations were coming right.He was right as to the arrangement of the letters；he was right as to the language.He had been within a hait's breadth of reading this Latin document from end to end；but that hair's breadth, chance had given it to me！

You may be sure I felt stirred up. My eyes were dim, I could scarcely see.I had laid the paper upon the table.At a glance I could tell the whole secret.

At last I became more calm. I made a wise resolve to walk twice round the room quietly and settle my nerves, and then I returned into the deep gulf of the huge armchair.‘Now I'll read it，'I cried, after having well distended my lungs with air.

I leaned over the table；I laid my finger successively upon every letter；and without a pause, without one moment's hesitation, I read off the whole sentence aloud.

Stupefaction！terror！I sat overwhelmed as if with a sudden deadly blow. What！that which I read had actually, really been done！A mortal man had had the audacity to penetrate！……‘Ah！'I cried, springing up.‘But no！no！My uncle shall never know it. He would insist upon doing it too.He would want to know all about it.Ropes could not hold him, such a determined geologist as he is！He would start, he would, in spite of everything and everybody, and he would take me with him, and we should never get back.No, never！never！'

My over-excitement was beyond all description.‘No！no！it shall not be，'I declared energetically；‘and as it is in my power to prevent the knowledge of it coming into the mind of my tyrant, I will do it. By dint of turning this document round and round, he too might discover the key.I will destroy it.'

There was a little fire left on the hearth. I seized not only the paper but Saknussemm's parchment；with a feverish hand I was about to fling it all upon the coals and utterly destroy and abolish this dangerous secret, when the study door opened, and my uncle appeared.第五章　胜利之后是沮丧/Chapter Ⅴ Famine, then Victory, followed by Dismay

阿克赛尔赶忙把密码信放回桌子上，教授回来后便开始计算，不停地在纸上写了又划去。阿克赛尔看出叔叔是在将这一百三十二个字母进行排列组合。

后来阿克赛尔在沙发上睡着了。第二天醒来时，看到叔叔还在那里工作，但感到自己不能告诉他答案，那会把他引向绝路的。

上午玛尔塔去买菜时，发现大门锁上了，可能是教授昨晚回来后锁的。几年前教授就因为致力于自己的工作，而使全家两天没吃饭。下午两点，阿克赛尔饿得实在难受，就想自己可能夸大了叔叔知道密码的重要性，便决定告诉他。

这时他发现叔叔站起来准备出去，心想教授又要把他们关在家里，便问教授钥匙要怎么办。教授开始以为是说大门钥匙。阿克赛尔告诉他自己指的是密码信的钥匙。教授听出了侄子的意思，激动地抓住了他的胳膊。

他告诉教授，自己是无意间看出的。说着就把写好的纸片递给教授，让他从后面读。教授看到阿尔纳·萨克努塞姆写的原话：“在七月来临时，从斯卡尔塔里的影子落在斯奈菲尔的约库尔火山口处下去，可到达地心。”他已去过了。

教授激动地在屋里走来走去，然后说先吃饭再准备他们两个的行李。教授回来后便开始计算

I had only just time to replace the unfortunate document upon the table.

Professor Liedenbroek seemed to be greatly abstracted.

The ruling thought gave him no rest. Evidently he had gone deeply into the matter, analytically and with profound scrutiny.He had brought all the resources of his mind to bear upon it during his walk, and he had come back to apply some new combination.

He sat in his armchair, and pen in hand he began what looked very much like algebraic formule. I followed with my eyes his trembling hands, I took count of every movement.Might not some unhoped-for result come of it？I trembled, too, very unnecessarily, since the true key was in my hands, and no other would open the secret.

For three long hours my uncle worked on without a word, without lifting his head；rubbing out, beginning again, then rubbing out again, and so on a hundred times.

I knew very well that if he succeeded in setting down these letters in every possible relative position, the sentence would come out. But I knew also that twenty letters alone could form two quintillions, four hundred and thirty-two quadrillions, nine hundred and two trillions, eight billions, a hundred and seventy-six millions, six hundred and forty thousand combinations.Now, here were a hundred and thirty-two letters in this sentence, and these hundred and thirty-two letters would give a number of different sentences, each made up of at least a hundred and thirty-three figures, a number which passed far beyond all calculation or conception.

So I felt reassured as far as regarded this heroic method of solving the difficulty.

But time was passing away；night came on；the street noises ceased；my uncle, bending over his task, noticed nothing, not even Martha half opening thedoor；he heard not a sound, not even that excellent woman saying：‘Will not monsieur take any supper to-night？'

And poor Martha had to go away unanswered. As for me, after long resistance, I was overcome by sleep, and fell off at the end of the sofa, while uncle Liedenbrock went on calculating and rubbing out his calculations.

When I awoke next morning that indefatigable worker was still at his post. His red eyes, his pale complexion, his hair tangled between his feverish fingers, the red spots on his cheeks, revealed his desperate struggle with impossibilities, and the weariness of spirit, the mental wrestlings he must have undergone all through that unhappy night.

To tell the plain truth, I pitied him. In spite of the reproaches which I considered I had a right to lay upon him, a certain feeling of compassion was beginning to gain upon me.The poor man was so entirely taken up with his one idea that he had even forgotten how to get angry.All the strength of his feelings was concentrated upon one point alone；and as their usual vent was closed, it was to be feared lest extreme tension should give rise to an explosion sooner or later.

I might with a word have loosened the screw of the steel vice that was crushing his brain；but that word I would not speak.

Yet I was not an ill-natured fellow. Why was I dumb at such a crisis？Why so insensible to my uncle's interests？‘No, no，'I repeated，‘I shall not speak. He would insist upon going；nothing on earth could stop him.His imagination is a volcano, and to do that which other geologists have never done he would risk his life.I will preserve silence.I will keep the secret which mere chance has revealed to me.To discover it, would be to kill Professor Liedenbrock！Let him find it out himself if he can.I will never have it laid to my door that I led him to his destruction.'

Having formed this resolution, I folded my arms and waited. But I had not reckoned upon one little incident which turned up a few hours after.

When our good Martha wanted to go to Market, she found the door locked. The big key was gone.Who could have taken it out？Assuredly, it was my uncle, when he returned the night before from his hurried walk.

Was this done on purpose？or was it a mistake？Did he want to reduce us by famine？This seemed like going rather too far！What！should Martha and I be victims of a position of things in which we had not the smallest interest？It was a fact that a few years before this, whilst my uncle was working at his great classification of minerals, he was forty-eight hours without eating, and all his household were obliged to share in this scientific fast. As for me, what I remember is, that I got severe cramps in my stomach, which hardly suited the constitution of a hungry, growing lad.

Now it appeared to me as if breakfast was going to be wanting, just as supper had been the night before. Yet I resolved to be a hero, and not to be conquered by the pangs of hunger.Martha took it very seriously, and, poor woman, was very much distressed.As for me, the impossibility of leaving the house distressed me a good deal more, and for a very good reason.A caged lover's feelings may easily be imagined.

My uncle went on working, his imagination went off rambling into the ideal world of combinations；he was far away from earth, and really far away from earthly wants.

About noon hunger began to stimulate me severely. Martha had, without thinking any harm, cleared out the larder the night before, so that now there was nothing left in the house.Still I held out；I made it a point of honour.

Two o'clock struck. This was becoming ridiculous；worse than that, unbearable.I began to say to myself that I was exaggerating the importance of the document；that my uncle would surely not believe in it, that he would set it down as a mere puzzle；that if it came to the worst, we should lay violent hands on him and keep him at home if he thought on venturing on the expedition that, after all, he might himself discover the key of the cipher, and that then I should be clear at the mere expense of my involuntary abstinence.

These reasons seemed excellent to me, though on the night before I should have rejected them with indignation；I even went so far as to condemn myself for my absurdity in having waited so long, and I finally resolved to let it all out.

I was therefore meditating a proper introduction to the matter, so as not toseem too abrupt, when the Professor jumped up, clapped on his hat, and prepared to go out.

Surely he was not going out, to shut us in again！no, never！‘Uncle！'I cried.

He seemed not to hear me.‘Uncle Liedenbrock！'I cried, lifting up my voice.‘Ay，'he answered like a man suddenly waking.‘Uncle, that key！'‘What key？The door key？'‘No, no！'I cried.‘The key of the document.'

The Professor stared at me over his spectacles；no doubt he saw something unusual in the expression of my countenance；for he laid hold of my arm, and speechlessly questioned me with his eyes. Yes, never was a question more forcibly put.

I nodded my head up and down.

He shook his pityingly, as if he was dealing with a lunatic. I gave a more affirmative gesture.

His eyes glistened and sparkled with live fire, his hand was shaken threateningly.

This mute conversation at such a momentous crisis would have riveted the attention of the most indifferent. And the fact really was that I dared not speak now, so intense was the excitement for fear lest my uncle should smother me in his first joyful embraces.But he became so urgent that I was at last compelled to answer.‘Yes, that key, chance-'‘What is that you are saying？'he shouted with indescribable emotion.‘There, read that！'I said, presenting a sheet of paper on which I had written.‘But there is nothing in this，'he answered, crumpling up the paper.‘No, nothing until you proceed to read from the end to the beginning.'

I had not finished my sentence when the Professor broke out into a cry, nay, a roar. A new revelation burst in upon him.He was transformed！‘Aha, clever Saknussemm！'he cried.‘You had first written out your sentence the wrong way.'

And darting upon the paper, with eyes bedimmed, and voice choked with emotion, he read the whole document from the last letter to the first.

It was conceived in the following terms：

In Sneffels Joculis craterem quem delibat

Umbra ScartarisJulii intra calendas descende，

Audax viator, et terrestre centrum attinges.

Quod feci, Arne Saknussemm.

Which bad Latin may be translated thus：‘Descend, bold traveller, into the crater of the jokul of Sneffels, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the kalends of July, and you will attain the centre of the earth；which I have done, Arne Saknussemm.'

In reading this, my uncle gave a spring as if he had touched a Leyden jar. His audacity, his joy, and his convictions were magnificent to behold.He came and he went；he seized his head between both his hands；he pushed the chairs out of their places, he piled up his books；incredible as it may seem, he rattled his precious nodules of flints together；he sent a kick here, a thump there.At last his nerves calmed down, and like a man exhausted by too lavish an expenditure of vital power, he sank back exhausted into his armchair.‘What o'clock is it？'he asked after a few moments of silence.‘Three o'clock，'I replied.‘Is it really？The dinner-hour is past, and I did not know it. I am half dead with hunger.Come on, and after dinner—'‘Well？'‘After dinner, pack up my trunk.”‘What？'I cried.‘And yours！'replied the indefatigable Professor, entering the dining-room.第六章　关于空前伟大的事业的讨论/Chapter Ⅵ Exciting Discussions about and Unparalleled Enterprise

玛尔塔马上出去买菜，一个钟头后，他们就吃上饭了。饭后，教授把阿克赛尔叫到书房，要他保密——要不好多地质学家都会去那里的。

阿克赛尔认为现在不能证明那封信的真实性，更不能证明萨克努塞姆到过地心，于是又向教授问了几个问题。

教授让他拿来地图册，指着火山构成的岛屿告诉阿克赛尔，这些火山都被称作约库尔，那座看似伸进大海的山就是斯奈菲尔。它五千英尺高，如果能从它的火山口到达地心，它便是地球上最著名的山峰了。它自从一二一九年喷发后就逐渐平息下来成了死火山。而萨克努塞姆巧妙地告诉人们，在六月底的最后几天，斯卡尔塔里斯山峰的阴影会落在一个火山口上，这就是应该走的路。

阿克赛尔指出，地球半径是一千五百里格，按每往下七十英尺温度上升一度算，地心的温度应超过几十万度。

教授却不这样认为，他说人类只是了解地球半径千分之十二的情况。地球内部的情况仍有待勘测。一些学者证明，如果地球内部真的有几十万度高温，那将使地球爆炸。教授又谈到一八二五年英国化学家亨弗里·戴维来访，他们认为，地球核心不存在液体。若有液体，那么在月球引力的作用下，会发生周期性的地震，而地球表面的温度是因为表面大量的金属钠和钾与水发生作用造成的。这也是地球初期众多火山形成的原因。戴维曾经用钠和钾做成小球，用水滴在表面使之形成小山，而山顶为火山口而爆发。所以地心热的说法不可能存在，但下一步会把它搞清楚的。他认为不能证明那封信的真实性

教授再次要求阿克赛尔保密，说不能让别人和他们一起去探索。

A t these words a cold shiver ran through me. Yet I controlled myself；I even resolved to put a good face upon it.Scientific arguments alone could have any weight with Professor Liedenbrock.Now there were good ones against the practicability of such a journey.Penetrate to the centre of the earth！What nonsense！But I kept my dialectic battery in reserve for a suitable opportunity, and I interested myself in the prospect of my dinner, which was not yet forthcoming.

It is no use to tell of the rage and imprecations of my uncle before the empty table. Explanations were given, Martha was set at liberty, ran off to the market, and did her part so well that in an hour afterwards my hunger was appeased, and I was able to return to the contemplation of the gravity of the situation.

During all dinner time my uncle was almost merry；he indulged in some of those learned jokes which never do anybody any harm. Dessert over, he beckoned me into his study.

I obeyed；he sat at one end of his table, I at the other.‘Axel，'said he very mildly；‘you are a very ingenious young man, you have done me a splendid service, at a moment when, wearied out with the struggle, I was going to abandon the contest. Where should I have lost myself？.None can tell.Never, my lad, shall I forget it；and you shall have your share in the glory to which your discovery will lead.'‘Oh, come！'thought I，‘he is in a good way. Now is the time for discussing that same glory.'‘Before all things，'my uncle resumed，‘I enjoin you to preserve the most inviolable secrecy：you understand？There are not a few in the scientific worldwho envy my success, and many would be ready to undertake this enterprise, to whom our return should be the first news of it.'‘Do you really think there are many people bold enough？'said I.‘Certainly；who would hesitate to acquire such renown？If that document were divulged, a whole army of geologists would be ready to rush into the footsteps of Arne Saknussemm.'‘I don't feel so very sure of that, uncle，'I replied；‘for we have no proof of the authenticity of this document.'‘What！not of the book, inside which we have discovered it？'‘Granted. I admit that Saknussemm may have written these lines.But does it follow that he has really accomplished such a journey？And may it not be that this old parchment is intended to mislead？'

I almost regretted having uttered this last word, which dropped from me in an unguarded moment. The Professor bent his shaggy brows, and I feared I had seriously compromised my own safety.Happily no great harm came of it.A smile flitted across the lip of my severe companion, and he answered：‘That is what we shall see.'‘Ah！'said I, rather put out.‘But do let me exhaust all the possible objections against this document.'‘Speak, my boy, don't be afraid. You are quite at liberty to express your opinions.You are no longer my nephew only, but my colleague.Pray go on.'‘Well, in the first place, I wish to ask what are this Jokul, this Sneffels, and this Scartaris, names which I have never heard before？'‘Nothing easier. I received not long ago a map from my friend, Augustus Petermann, at Liepzig.Nothing could be more apropos.Take down the third atlas in the second shelf in the large bookcase, series Z, plate 4.'

I rose, and with the help of such precise instructions could not fail to find the required atlas. My uncle opened it and said：‘Here is one of the best maps of Iceland, that of Handersen, and I believe this will solve the worst of our difficulties.'

I bent over the map.‘You see this volcanic island，'said the Professor；‘observe that all the volcanoes are called jokuls, a word which means glacier in Icelandic, and under the high latitude of Iceland nearly all the active volcanoes discharge through beds of ice. Hence this term of jokul is applied to all the eruptive mountains in Iceland.'‘Very good，'said I；‘but what of Sneffels？'

I was hoping that this question would be unanswerable；but I was mistaken. My uncle replied：‘Follow my finger along the west coast of Iceland. Do you see Rejkiavik, the capital？You do.Well；ascend the innumerable fiords that indent those sea-beaten shores, and stop at the sixty-fifth degree of latitude.What do you see there？'‘I see a peninsula looking like a thigh bone with the knee bone at the end of it.'‘A very fair comparison, my lad. Now do you see anything upon that knee bone？'‘Yes；a mountain rising out of the sea.'‘Right. That is Snæfell.’‘That Snæfell？’‘It is. It is a mountain five thousand feet high, one of the most remarkable in the world, if its crater leads down to the centre of the earth.'‘But that is impossible，'I said shrugging my shoulders, and disgusted at such a ridiculous supposition.‘Impossible？'said the Professor severely；‘and why, pray？'‘Because this crater is evidently filled with lava and burning rocks, and therefore-'‘But suppose it is an extinct volcano？'‘Extinct？'‘Yes；the number of active volcanoes on the surface of the globe is at the present time only about three hundred. But there is a very much larger number of extinct ones.Now, Snæfell is one of these.Since historic times there hasbeen but one eruption of this mountain, that of 1219；from that time it has quieted down more and more, and now it is no longer reckoned among active volcanoes.’

To such positive statements I could make no reply. I therefore took refuge in other dark passages of the document.‘What is the meaning of this word Scartaris, and what have the kalends of July to do with it？'

My uncle took a few minutes to consider. For one short moment I felt a ray of hope, speedily to be extinguished.For he soon answered thus：‘What is darkness to you is light to me. This proves the ingenious care with which Saknussemm guarded and defined his discovery.Sneffels, or Snæfell, has several craters.It was therefore necessary to point out which of these leads to the centre of the globe.What did the Icelandic sage do？He observed that at the approach of the kalends of July, that is to say in the last days of June, one of the peaks, called Scartaris, flung its shadow down the mouth of that particular crater, and he committed that fact to his document.Could there possibly have been a more exact guide？As soon as we have arrived at the summit of Snæfell we shall have no hesitation as to the proper road to take.’

Decidedly, my uncle had answered every one of my objections. I saw that his position on the old parchment was impregnable.I therefore ceased to press him upon that part of the subject, and as above all things he must be convinced, I passed on to scientific objections, which in my opinion were far more serious.‘Well, then，'I said，‘I am forced to admit that Saknussemm's sentence is clear, and leaves no room for doubt. I will even allow that the document bears every mark and evidence of authenticity.That learned philosopher did get to the bottom of Sneffels, he has seen the shadow of Scartaris touch the edge of the crater before the kalends of July；he may even have heard the legendary stories told in his day about that crater reaching to the centre of the world；but as for reaching it himself, as for performing the journey, and returning, if he ever went, I say no-he never, never did that.'‘Now for your reason？'said my uncle ironically.‘All the theories of science demonstrate such a feat to be impracticable.'‘The theories say that, do they？'replied the Professor in the tone of a meek disciple.‘Oh！unpleasant theories！How the theories will hinder us, won't they？'

I saw that he was only laughing at me；but I went on all the same.‘Yes；it is perfectly well known that the internal temperature rises one degree for every 70 feet in depth；now, admitting this proportion to be constant, and the radius of the earth being fifteen hundred leagues, there must be a temperature of 360，032 degrees at the centre of the earth. Therefore, all the substances that compose the body of this earth must exist there in a state of incandescent gas；for the metals that most resist the action of heat, gold, and platinum, and the hardest rocks, can never be either solid or liquid under such a temperature.I have therefore good reason for asking if it is possible to penetrate through such a medium.'‘So, Axel, it is the heat that troubles you？'‘Of course it is. Were we to reach a depth of thirty miles we should have arrived at the limit of the terrestrial crust, for there the temperature will be more than 2372 degrees.'‘Are you afraid of being put into a state of fusion？'‘I will leave you to decide that question，'I answered rather sullenly.‘This is my decision，'replied Professor Liedenbrock, putting on one of his grandest airs.‘Neither you nor anybody else knows with any certainty what is going on in the interior of this globe, since not the twelve thousandth part of its radius is known；science is eminently perfectible；and every new theory is soon routed by a newer. Was it not always believed until Fourier that the temperature of the interplanetary spaces decreased perpetually？and is it not known at the present time that the greatest cold of the ethereal regions is never lower than 40 degrees below zero Fahr.？Why should it not be the same with the internal heat？Why should it not, at a certain depth, attain an impassable limit, instead of rising to such a point as to fuse the most infusible metals？'

As my uncle was now taking his stand upon hypotheses, of course, there was nothing to be said.‘Well, I will tell you that true savants, amongst them Poisson, have demonstrated that if a heat of 360，000 degrees existed in the interior of the globe, the fiery gases arising from the fused matter would acquire an elastic force which the crust of the earth would be unable to resist, and that it would explode like the plates of a bursting boiler.'‘That is Poisson's opinion, my uncle, nothing more.'‘Granted. But it is likewise the creed adopted by other distinguished geologists, that the interior of the globe is neither gas nor water, nor any of the heaviest minerals known, for in none of these cases would the earth weigh what it does.‘Oh, with figures you may prove anything！'‘But is it the same with facts！Is it not known that the number of volcanoes has diminished since the first days of creation？and if there is central heat may we not thence conclude that it is in process of diminution？'‘My good uncle, if you will enter into the legion of speculation, I can discuss the matter no longer.'‘But I have to tell you that the highest names have come to the support of my views. Do you remember a visit paid to me by the celebrated chemist, Humphry Davy, in 1825？'‘Not at all, for I was not born until nineteen years afterwards.'‘Well, Humphry Davy did call upon me on his way through Hamburg. We were long engaged in discussing, amongst other problems, the hypothesis of the liquid structure of the terrestrial nucleus.We were agreed that it could not be in a liquid state, for a reason which science has never been able to confute.'‘What is that reason？'I said, rather astonished.‘Because this liquid mass would be subject, like the ocean, to the lunar attraction, and therefore twice every day there would be internal tides, which, upheaving the terrestrial crust, would cause periodical earthquakes！'‘Yet it is evident that the surface of the globe has been subject to the actionof fire，'I replied，‘and it is quite reasonable to suppose that the external crust cooled down first, whilst the heat took refuge down to the centre.'‘Quite a mistake，'my uncle answered.‘The earth has been heated by combustion on its surface, that is all. Its surface was composed of a great number of metals, such as potassium and sodium, which have the peculiar property of igniting at the mere contact with air and water；these metals kindled when the atmospheric vapours fell in rain upon the soil；and by and by, when the waters penetrated into the fissures of the crust of the earth, they broke out into fresh combustion with explosions and eruptions.Such was the cause of the numerous volcanoes at the origin of the earth.'‘Upon my word, this is a very clever hypothesis，'I exclaimed, in spite rather of myself.‘And which Humphry Davy demonstrated to me by a simple experiment. He formed a small ball of the metals which I have named, and which was a very fair representation of our globe；whenever he caused a fine dew of rain to fall upon its surface, it heaved up into little monticules, it became oxydized and formed miniature mountains；a crater broke open at one of its summits；the eruption took place, and communicated to the whole of the ball such a heat that it could not be held in the hand.'

In truth, I was beginning to be shaken by the Professor's arguments, besides which he gave additional weight to them by his usual ardour and fervent enthusiasm.‘You see, Axel，'he added，‘the condition of the terrestrial nucleus has given rise to various hypotheses among geologists；there is no proof at all for this internal heat；my opinion is that there is no such thing；it cannot be；besides we shall see for ourselves, and, like Arne Saknussemm, we shall know exacdy what to hold as truth concerning this grand question.'‘Very well, we shall see，'I replied, feeling myself carried off by his contagious enthusiasm.‘Yes, we shall see；that is, if it is possible to see anything there.'‘And why not？May we not depend upon electric phenomena to give uslight？May we not even expect light from the atmosphere, the pressure of which may render it luminous as we approach the centre？'‘Yes, yes，'said I；‘that is possible, too.'‘It is certain，'exclaimed my uncle in a tone of triumph.‘But silence, do you hear me？silence upon the whole subject；and let no one get before us in this design of discovering the centre of the earth.'第七章　一位姑娘的鼓励/Chapter Ⅶ A Woman’s Courage

阿克赛尔从叔叔的房间出来，朝码头走去。一个小时后兴奋的感觉消失了，阿克赛尔感到此事真是荒唐。这时，格劳本从亲戚家回来，看到阿克赛尔，以为他来接自己。当看到他焦急不安的样子时，便问他怎么了。

他便把事情的来龙去脉说了出来，格劳本觉得这是一次伟大的壮举，如果可以自己也愿意去，随后他们便一起回去了。教授看到他们回家，便交代了好多没办妥的事，并告诉阿克赛尔，后天早晨就出发。教授已在当天下午购置了好多所需的东西。

第二天一早，格劳本把阿克赛尔叫了起来，告诉他自己和教授谈了很久，相信他们一定会成功。他俩又到书房，阿克赛尔问叔叔现在是否是五月十六日……教授没等他说完，便告诉他，今天去旅游局问了，每月从哥本哈根到雷克雅未克只有下旬一班船，如果等下个月就赶不上了。

阿克赛尔和格劳本回去做准备，他叔叔订的东西都送来了。一直忙到晚上十点，晚上睡觉时他一直做梦，梦到自己掉入了深渊。五点半阿克赛尔醒了，看到叔叔正狼吞虎咽地吃东西，但他一点也吃不下去。这时，听到车轮的滚动声，一辆大车送他们去火车站，教授把家里的大权交给了格劳本。

姑娘让阿克赛尔放心地去，她现在已是他的未婚妻，等他回来将是他的妻子。他们上了车，向火车站驶去。格劳本觉得这是一次伟大的壮举

T hus ended this memorable seance. That conversation threw me into a fever.I came out of my uncle's study as if I had been stunned, and as if there was not air enough in all the streets of Hamburg to put me right again.I therefore made for the banks of the Elbe, where the steamer lands her passengers, which forms the communication between the city and the Hamburg railway.

Was I convinced of the truth of what I had heard？Had I not bent under the iron rule of the Professor Liedenbrock？Was I to believe him in earnest in his intention to penetrate to the centre of this massive globe？Had I been listening to the mad speculations of a lunatic, or to the scientific conclusions of a lofty genius？Where did truth stop？Where did error begin？

I was all adrift amongst a thousand contradictory hypotheses, but I could not lay hold of one.

Yet I remembered that I had been convinced, although now my enthusiasm was beginning to cool down；but I felt a desire to start at once, and not to lose time and courage by calm reflection. I had at that moment quite courage enough to strap my knapsack to my shoulders and start.

But I must confess that in another hour this unnatural excitement abated, my nerves became unstrung, and from the depths of the abysses of this earth I ascended to its surface again.‘It is quite absurd！'I cried，‘there is no sense about it. No sensible young man should for a moment entertain such a proposal.The whole thing is non-existent.1 have had a bad night, I have been dreaming of horrors.'

But I had followed the banks of the Elbe and passed the town. After passing the port too, I had reached the Altona road.I was led by a presentiment, soon to be realised；for shortly I espied my little Gräuben bravely returning with her light step to Hamburg.‘Gräuben！’I cried from afar off.

The young girl stopped, rather frightened perhaps to hear her name called after her on the high road. Ten yards more, and I had joined her.‘Axel！'she cried surprised.‘What！have you come to meet me？Is this why you are here, sir？'

But when she had looked upon me, Gräuben could not fail to see the uneasiness and distress of my mind.‘What is the matter？'she said, holding out her hand.‘What is the matter, Gräuben？’I cried.

In a couple of minutes my pretty Virlandaise was fully informed of the position of affairs. For a time she was silent.Did her heart palpitate as mine did？I don't know about that, but I know that her hand did not tremble in mine.We went on a hundred yards without speaking.

At last she said，‘Axel！'‘My dear Gräuben.’‘That will be a splendid journey！'

I gave a bound at these words.‘Yes, Axel, a journey worthy of the nephew of a savant；it is a good thing for a man to be distinguished by some great enterprise.'‘What, Gräuben, won’t you dissuade me from such an undertaking？’‘No, my dear Axel, and I would willingly go with you, but that a poor girl would only be in your way.'‘Is that quite true？'‘It is true.'

Ah！women and young girls, how incomprehensible are your feminine hearts！When you are not the timidest, you are the bravest of creatures. Reason has nothing to do with your actions.What！did this child encourage me in such an expedition！Would she not be afraid to join it herself！.And she was driving me to it, one whom she loved！

I was disconcerted, and, if I must tell the whole truth, I was ashamed.‘Gräuben, we will see whether you will say the same thing tomorrow.’‘To-morrow, dear Axel, I will say what I say to-day.'

Gräuben and I, hand in hand, but in silence, pursued our way.The emotions of that day were breaking my heart.

After all, I thought, the kalends of July are a long way off, and between this and then many things may take place which will cure my uncle of his desire to travel underground.

It was night when we arrived at the house in Königstrasse.I expected to find all quiet there, my uncle in bed as was his custom, and Martha giving her last touches with the feather brush.

But I had not taken into account the Professor's impatience. I found him shouting and working himself up amidst a crowd of porters and messengers who were all depositing various loads in the passage.Our old servant was at her wits'end.‘Come, Axel, come, you miserable wretch，'my uncle cried from as far off as he could see me.‘Your boxes are not packed, and my papers are not arranged；where's the key of my carpet bag？And what have you done with my gaiters？'

I stood thunderstruck. My voice failed.Scarcely could my lips utter the words：‘Are we really going？'‘Of course, you unhappy boy！Could I have dreamed that you would have gone out for a walk instead of hurrying your preparations forward？'‘Are we to go？'I asked again, with sinking hopes.‘Yes；the day after to-morrow, early.'

I could hear no more. I fled for refuge into my own little room.

All hope was now at an end. My uncle had been all the morning making purchases of a part of the tools and apparatus required for this desperate undertaking.The passage was encumbered with rope ladders, knotted cords, torches, flasks, grappling irons, alpenstocks, pickaxes, iron shod sticks, enough to load ten men.

I spent an awful night. Next morning I was called early.I had quite decided I would not open the door.But how was I to resist the sweet voice which was always music to my ears, saying，‘My dear Axel？'

I came out of my room. I thought my pale countenance and my red andsleepless eyes would work upon Gräuben’s sympathies and change her mind.‘Ah！my dear Axel，'she said，‘I see you are better. A night's rest has done you good.'‘Done me good！'I exclaimed.

I rushed to the glass. Well, in fact I did look better than I had expected.I could hardly believe my own eyes.‘Axel，'she said，‘I have had a long talk with my guardian. He is a bold philosopher, a man of immense courage, and you must remember that his blood flows in your veins.He has confided to me his plans, his hopes, and why and how he hopes to attain his object.He will no doubt succeed.My dear Axel, it is a grand thing to devote yourself to science！What honour will fall upon Herr Liedenbrock, and so be reflected upon his companion！When you return, Axel, you will be a man, his equal, free to speak and to act independently, and free to-'

The dear girl only finished this sentence by blushing. Her words revived me.Yet I refused to believe we should start.I drew Gräuben into the Professor’s study.‘Uncle, is it true that we are to go？'‘Why do you doubt？'‘Well, I don't doubt，'I said, not to vex him；‘but, I ask, what need is there to hurry？'‘Time, time, flying with irreparable rapidity.'‘But it is only the 16th May, and until the end of June-'‘What, you monument of ignorance！do you think you can get to Iceland in a couple of days？If you had not deserted me like a fool I should have taken you to the Copenhagen office, to Liffender＆Co.，and you would have learned then that there is only one trip every month from Copenhagen to Rejkiavik, on the 22nd.'‘Well？'‘Well, if we waited for the 22nd June we should be too late to see the shadow of Scartaris touch the crater of Sneffels. Therefore we must get toCopenhagen as fast as we can to secure our passage.Go and pack up.'

There was no reply to this. I went up to my room.Gräuben followed me.She undertook to pack up all things necessary for my voyage.She was no more moved than if I had been starting for a little trip to Lübeck or Heligoland.Her little hands moved without haste.She talked quietly.She supplied me with sensible reasons for our expedition.She delighted me, and yet I was angry with her.Now and then I felt I ought to break out into a passion, but she took no notice and went on her way as methodically as ever.

Finally the last strap was buckled；I came downstairs. All that day the philosophical instrument makers and the electricians kept coming and going.Martha was distracted.‘Is master mad？'she asked.

I nodded my head.‘And is he going to take you with him？'

I nodded again.‘Where to？'

I pointed with my finger downward.‘Down into the cellar？'cried the old servant.‘No，'I said.‘Lower down than that.'

Night came. But I knew nothing about the lapse of time.‘To-morrow morning at six precisely，'my uncle decreed‘we start.'

At ten o'clock I fell upon my bed, a dead lump of inert matter. All through the night terror had hold of me.I spent it dreaming of abysses.I was a prey to delirium.I felt myself grasped by the Professor's sinewy hand, dragged along, hurled down, shattered into little bits.I dropped down unfathomable precipices with the accelerating velocity of bodies falling through space.My life had become an endless fall.I awoke at five with shattered nerves, trembling and weary.I came downstairs.My uncle was at table, devouring his breakfast.I stared at him with horror and disgust.But dear Gräuben was there；so I said nothing, and could eat nothing.

At half-past five there was a rattle of wheels outside. A large carriage wasthere to take us to the Altona railway station.It was soon piled up with my uncle's multifarious preparations.‘Where's your box？'he cried.‘It is ready，'I replied, with faltering voice.‘Then make haste down, or we shall lose the train.'

It was now manifestly impossible to maintain the struggle against destiny. I went up again to my room, and rolling my portmanteaus downstairs I darted after him.

At that moment my uncle was solemnly investing Gräuben with the reins of government.My pretty Virlandaise was as calm and collected as was her wont.She kissed her guardian；but could not restrain a tear in touching my cheek with her gentle lips.‘Gräuben！’I murmured.‘Go, my dear Axel, go！I am now your betrothed；and when you come back I will be your wife.'

I pressed her in my arms and took my place in the carriage. Martha and the young girl, standing at the door, waved their last farewell.Then the horses, roused by the driver's whistling, darted off at a gallop on the road to Altona.第八章　认真准备/Chapter Ⅷ Serious Preparations for Vertical Descent

六点半，他们到达火车站，行李贴上标签后被装上了行李车。七点钟，他们就出发了。

教授仔细检查着旅行包，里面有一张丹麦驻汉堡领事克里蒂安森先生写给丹麦领事的信。这能使他们在哥本哈根得到很多方便，那封密码信也被藏在里面。

三小时后火车在基尔停下，行李被装入船中。由于船要晚上开，他们便在那里停留了一天。教授急得直骂，但也无可奈何。晚上十点一刻船终于起航了。

早上七点，他们又在考色尔登陆，坐上了火车。十点钟他们到了哥本哈根，半小时后马车把他们拉到了凤凰旅馆。

教授拉着他去北欧古董博物馆，汤姆逊馆长看了教授的介绍信，去码头为他们找到一艘六月二日去雷克雅未克的双桅帆船。

船长利用教授的热情，要了他们双倍的钱，并让他星期二早上七点上船。

午饭后他们在几个景点看了看，教授被阿马克岛上的一座钟楼吸引住了，便带着阿克赛尔坐汽船到了那里。他们登上钟楼，最后来到钟楼上的平台时，阿克赛尔双腿发软，大风刮得他晕头转向。他只好抓着栏杆慢慢地爬，后来实在爬不动了。叔叔抓着他的衣领来到塔顶的圆球旁，让他练习登高俯视，他们整整在那里待了一个小时。

第二天，他们又去了。后来连续去了五天，阿克赛尔在这方面也确实有了很大的进步。

A ltona, which is but a suburb of Hamburg, is the terminus of the Kiel railway, which was to carry us to the Belts. In twenty minutes we were in Holstein.

At half-past six the carriage stopped at the station；my unele's numerous packages, his voluminous impedimenta, were unloaded, removed, labelled, weighed, put into the luggage vans, and at seven we were seated face to face in our compartment. The whistle sounded, the engine started, we were off.

Was I resigned？No, not yet. Yet the cool morning air and the scenes on the road, rapidly ehanged by the swiftness of the train, drew me away somewhat from my sad reflections.

As for the Professor's refleetions, they went far in advance of the swiftest express. We were alone in the carriage, but we sat in silence.My uncle examined all his pockets and his travelling bag with the minutest care.I saw that he had not forgotten the smallest matter of detail.

Amongst other documents, a sheet of paper, carefully folded, bore the heading of the Danish consulate with the signature of W. Christiensen, consul at Hamburg and the Professor's friend.With this we possessed the proper introductions to the Governor of Iceland.

I also observed the famous document most carefully laid up in a secret pocket in his portfolio. I bestowed a malediction upon it, and then proceeded to examine the country.

It was a very long suecesson of uninteresting loamy and fertile flats, a very easy country for the construetion of railways, and propitious for the laying-down of these direct level lines so dear to railway companies.

I had no time to get tired of the monotony；for in three hours we stopped at Kiel, close to the sea.

The luggage being. labelled for Copenhagen, we had no occasion to lookafter it.Yet the Professor watched every article with jealous vigilance, until all were safe on board.There they disappeared in the hold.

My uncle, notwithstanding his hurry, had so well calculated the relations between the train and the steamer that we had a whole day to spare. The steamer Ellenora, did not start until night.Thence sprang a feverish state of excitement in which the impatient irascible traveler devoted to perdition the railway directors and the steamboat companies and the governments which allowed such intolerable slowness.I was obliged to act chorus to him when he attacked the captain of the Ellenora upon this subject.The captain disposed of us summarily.

At Kiel, as elsewhere, we must do something to while away the time. What with walking on the verdant shores of the bay within which nestles the little town, exploring the thick woods which make it look like a nest embowered amongst thick foliage, admiring the villas, each provided with a little bathing house, and moving about and grumbling, at last ten o'clock came.

The heavy coils of smoke from the Ellenora's funnel unrolled in the sky, the bridge shook with the quivering of the struggling steam；we were on board, and owners for the time of two berths, one over the other, in the only saloon cabin on board.

At a quarter past ten, the moorings were loosed and the throbbing steamer pursued her way over the dark waters of the Great Belt.

The night was dark；there was a sharp breeze and a rough sea, a few lights appeared on shore through the thick darkness；later on, I cannot tell when, a dazzling light from some lighthouse threw a bright stream of fire along the waves；and this is all I can remember of this first portion of our sail.

At seven in the morning we landed at Korsör, a small town on the west coast of Zealand.There we were transferred from the boat to another line of railway, which took us by just as flat a country as the plain of Holstein.

Three hours'travelling brought us to the capital of Denmark. My uncle had not shut his eyes all night.In his impatience I believe he was trying to accelerate the train with his feet.

At last he discerned a stretch of sea.‘The Sound！'he cried.

At our left was a huge building that looked like a hospital.‘That's a lunatic asylum，'said one of or travelling companions.

Very good！thought I, just the place we want to end our days in；and great as it is, that asylum is not big enough to contain all Professor Liedenbrock's madness！

At ten in the morning, at last, we set our feet in Copenhagen；the luggage was put upon a carriage and taken with ourselves to the Phoenix Hotel in Breda Gate. This took half an hour, for the station is out of the town.Then my uncle, after a hasty toilet, dragged me after him.The porter at the hotel could speak German and English；but the Professor, as a polyglot, questioned him in good Danish, and it was in the same language that that personage directed him to the Museum of Northern Antiquities.

The curator of this curious establishment, in which wonders are gathered together out of which the ancient history of the country might be reconstructed by means of its stone weapdns, its cups and its jewels, was a learned savant, the friend of the Danish consul at Hamburg, Professor Thomsen.

My uncle had a cordial letter of introduction to him. As a general rule one savant greets another with coolness.But here the case was different.M.Thomsen, like a good friend, gave the Professor Liedenbrock a cordial greeting, and he even vouchsafed the same kindness to his nephew.It is hardly necessary to say the secret was sacredly kept from the excellent curator；we were simply disinterested travellers visiting Iceland out of harmless curiosity.

M. Thomsen placed his services at our disposal, and we visited the quays with the object of finding out the next vessel to sail.

I was yet in hopes that there would be no means of getting to Iceland. But there was no such luck.A small Danish schooner, the Valkyria, was to set sail for Rejkiavik on the 2nd of June.The captain, M.Bjarne, was on board.His intending passenger was so joyful that he almost squeezed his hands till they ached.That good man was rather surprised at his energy.To him it seemed avery simple thing to go to Iceland, as that was his business；but to my uncle it was sublime.The worthy captain took advantage of his enthusiasm to charge double fares；but we did not trouble ourselves about mere trifles.‘You must be on board on Tuesday, at seven in the morning，'said Captain Bjarne, after having pocketed more dollars than were his due.

Then we thanked M. Thomsen for his kindness, and we returned to the Phoenix Hotel.‘It's all right, it's all right，'my uncle repeated.‘How fortunate we are to have found this boat ready for sailing. Now let us have some breakfast and go about the town.'

We went first to Kongens-nye-Torw, an irregular square in which are two innocent-looking guns, which need not alarm any one. Close by, at No.5，there was a French‘restaurant，'kept by a cook of the name of Vincent, where we had an ample breakfast for four marks each（2s.4d.）.

Then I took a childish pleasure in exploring the city；my uncle let me take him with me, but he took notice of nothing, neither the insignificant king's palace, nor the pretty seventeenth century bridge, which spans the canal before the museum, nor that immense cenotaph of Thorwaldsen's, adorned with horrible mural painting, and containing within it a collection of the sculptor's works, nor in a fine park the toy like chateau of Rosenberg, nor the beautiful renaissance edifice of the Exchange, nor its spire composed of the twisted tails of four bronze dragons, nor the great windmill on the ramparts, whose huge arms dilated in the sea breeze like the sails of a ship.

What delicious walks we should have had together, my pretty Virlandaise and I, along the harbour where the two-deckers and the frigate slept peaceably by the red roofing of the warehouse, by the green banks of the strait, through the deep shades of the trees amongst which the fort is half concealed, where the guns are thrusting out their black throats between branches of alder and willow.

But, alas！Gräuben was far away；and I never hoped to see her again.

But if my uncle felt no attraction towards these romantic scenes he was very much struck with the aspect of a certain church spire situated in the islandof Amak, which forms the south-west quarter of Copenhagen.

I was ordered to direct my feet that way；I embarked on a small steamer which plies on the canals, and in a few minutes she touched the quay of the dockyard.

After crossing a few narrow streets where some convicts, in trousers half yellow and half grey, were at work under the orders of the gangers, we arrived at the Vor Frelsers Kirk. There was nothing remarkable about the church；but there was a reason why its tall spire had attracted the Professor's attention.Starting from the top of the tower, an external staircase wound around the spire, the spirals circling up into the sky.‘Let us get to the top.'said my uncle.‘I shall be dizzy.'I said.‘The more reason why we should go up；we must get used to it.'‘But-'‘Come, I tell you；don't waste our time.'

I had to obey. A keeper who lived at the other end of the street handed us the key, and the ascent began.

My uncle went ahead with a light step. I followed him not with-out alarm, for my head was very apt to feel dizzy；I possessed neither the equilibrium of an eagle nor his fearless nature.

As long as we were protected on the inside of the winding stair-case up the tower, all was well enough；but after toiling up a hundred and fifty steps the fresh air came to salute my face, and we were on the leads of the tower. There the aerial staircase began its gyrations, only guarded by a thin iron rail, and the narrowing steps seemed to ascend into infinite space！‘Never shall I be able to do it.'I said.‘Don't be a coward；come up, sir'；said my uncle with the coldest cruelty.

I had to follow, clutching at every step. The keen air made me giddy；I felt the spire rocking with every gust of wind；my knees began to fail；soon I was crawling on my knees, then creeping on my stomach；I closed my eyes；I seemed to be lost in space.

At last I reached the apex, with the assistance of my uncle dragging me up by the collar.‘Look down！'he cried.‘Look down well！You must take a lesson in abysses.'

I opened my eyes. I saw houses squashed flat as if they had all fallen down from the skies；a smoke fog seemed to drown them.Over my head ragged clouds were drifting past, and by an optical inversion they seemed stationary, while the steeple, the ball and I were all spinning along with fantastic speed.Far away on one side was the green country, on the other the sea sparkled, bathed in sunlight.The Sound stretched away to Elsinore, dotted with a few white sails, like sea-gulls'wings；and in the misty east and away to the north-east lay outstretched the faintly-shadowed shores of Sweden.All this immensity of space whirled and wavered, fluctuating beneath my eyes.

But I was compelled to rise, to stand up, to look. My first lesson in dizziness lasted an hour.When I got permission to come down and feel the solid street pavements I was afflicted with severe lumbago.‘Tomorrow we will do it again，'said the Professor.

And it was so；for five days in succession, I was obliged to undergo this anti-vertiginous exercise；and whether I would or not, I made some improvement in the art of'lofty contemplations.'第九章　冰岛！但下一站是哪里？Chapter Ⅸ Iceland！But What Next？

出发的头天晚上，汤姆逊先生给冰岛总督特朗普伯爵、助理主教皮克图尔森先生和雷克雅未克市长芬荪先生分别写了信。

六月二日晚上六点，他们就上船了。装好行李，不一会儿船就开了。船长告诉教授，船要航行十天左右。由于晕船，教授感到很羞愧，只好躺在船舱里。

十一号，他们到达波特海角两天后，小船便到达法克萨海湾了。教授匆匆下了船，指着前边的一座高山对阿克赛尔说：“那就是斯奈菲尔。”接着，他们上了小艇，踏上了冰岛的土地。

他们首先碰到冰岛总督特朗普，教授将介绍信给了他，并用丹麦语和他进行了交谈，他表示可以满足教授的所有要求。他们又受到了市长芬荪先生的接待。因助理主教在外地视察暂时没见到。雷克雅未克学校的自然科学教授弗立德里克森先生把自己的三间房让给他们两间，将他们安顿好。

教授去了图书馆，阿克赛尔则在城市仅有的两条马路上散步，看到了用土墙围起来的公墓、小湖边的教堂以及总督的官邸，多数居民都在忙着处理鳕鱼。这是他们的出口产品。

三个小时后，阿克赛尔回到住所，看到叔叔和主人在一起。教授受到总督的接待

T he day for our departure arrived. The day before it our kind friend M.Thomsen brought us letters of introduction to Count Trampe, the Governor of Iceland, M.Picturssen, the bishop's suffragan, and M.Finsen, mayor of Rejkiavik.My uncle expressed his gratitude by tremendous compressions of both his hands.

On the 2nd, at six in the evening, all our precious baggage being safely on board the Valkyria, the captain took us into a very narrow cabin.‘Is the wind favourable？'my uncle asked.‘Excellent，'replied Captain Bjarne；‘a sou'-easter. We shall pass down the Sound full speed, with all sails set.'

In a few minutes the schooner, under her mizen, brigantine, topsail, and topgallant sail, loosed from her moorings and made full sail through the straits. In an hour the capital of Denmark seemed to sink below the distant waves, and the Valkyria was skirting the coast by Elsinore.In my nervous frame of mind I expected to see the ghost of Hamlet wandering on the legendary casde terrace.‘Sublime madman！'I said，‘no doubt you would approve of our expedition. Perhaps you would keep us company to the centre of the globe, to find the solution of your eternal doubts.'

But there was no ghostly shape upon the ancient walls. Indeed, the castle is much younger than the heroic prince of Denmark.It now

试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]

下载完整电子书