Sodium?

钠吗？

Yes, sir. Mixed with mercury, it forms an amalgam that takes the place of zinc in Bunsen cells.

是的，先生。钠跟汞混合，成为一种合金，代替本生电池中所需要的锌。

The mercury is never depleted. Only the sodium is consumed, and the sea itself gives me that.

汞是不会损失的，只有钠才要消耗，但海水本身供给我所需要的钠。

Beyond this, I'll mention that sodium batteries have been found to generate the greater energy, and their electro-motor strength is twice that of zinc batteries.

此外我还可以告诉您，钠电池应当是最强的，它的电动力比锌电池要强好几倍。

Captain, I fully understand the excellence of sodium under the conditions in which you're placed.

船长， 我很明白您在这种情形中获得钠的优越性。

The sea contains it. Fine. But it still has to be produced, in short, extracted.

海水中含有钠6对。不过还要把它制出来，就是说，要把它提出来。

And how do you accomplish this?

您是怎样做的呢？

Obviously your batteries could do the extracting; but if I'm not mistaken, the consumption of sodium needed by your electric equipment would be greater than the quantity you'd extract.

当然您的电池可以做这种工作，不过，如果我没有说错，电动机器消耗的钠的数量，恐怕要超过提出来的钠的数量。

It would come about, then, that in the process of producing your sodium, you'd use up more than you'd make!

那么结果您为生产而消费的钠。实际上比您所能生产的钠数量要多！

Accordingly, professor, I don't extract it with batteries; quite simply, I utilize the heat of coal from the earth.

教授，我并不用电池提取，我简单地用陆地上煤炭的热力就是了。