This animal, this monster, this natural phenomenon that had puzzled the whole scientific world,

这动物，这怪东西，这天然的怪物，它使整个学术界费尽了心血，

that had muddled and misled the minds of seamen in both hemispheres,

它使东西两半球的航海家糊里糊涂，

was, there could be no escaping it, an even more astonishing phenomenon-a phenomenon made by the hand of man.

现在应当承认，它是一种更惊人的怪东西，它是人工制造的怪东西。

Even if I had discovered that some fabulous, mythological creature really existed, it wouldn't have given me such a terrific mental jolt.

看到最怪诞、最荒唐、甚至神话式的生物，也不会使我惊骇到这种程度。

It's easy enough to accept that prodigious things can come from our Creator.

造物者手中造出来的东西怎么出奇，也容易了解。

But to find, all at once, right before your eyes, that the impossible had been mysteriously achieved by man himself: this staggers the mind!

现在一下子看到那种不可能的事竟是奥妙地由人的双手实现的，那就不能不使人感到十分惊讶了！

But there was no question now. We were stretched out on the back of some kind of underwater boat that, as far as I could judge, boasted the shape of an immense steel fish.

现在不容犹豫了。我们现在是躺在一只潜水船的脊背上，按照我可能的判断，这船似乎有点像一条巨大的钢鱼。