Ned Land reentered, exhausted. 尼德·兰疲倦不堪地回来。

He and his companions were replaced by new workmen, 他的同伴们和他，由别的人员替代，

including Conseil and me. 康塞尔和我，我们这次也加入。

The Nautilus's chief officer supervised us.  诺第留斯号的船副来指导我们。

The water struck me as unusually cold, 我觉得海水特别冷，

but I warmed up promptly while wielding my pick. 但我挥动铁锨，不久就暖和了。

My movements were quite free, although they were executed under a pressure of thirty atmospheres. 我的动作虽然在三十度气压下面进行，但是很轻松自在。

After two hours of work, reentering to snatch some food and rest, 当我工作了两小时，回来吃点东西，休息一会儿的时候，

The air hadn't been renewed in forty-eight hours, 空气自四十八小时来没有调换，

and its life-giving qualities were considerably weakened. 它的刺激兴奋力量已经很薄弱。

Meanwhile, after twelve hours had gone by, 可是，过了十二小时，

we had removed from the outlined surface area a slice of ice only one meter thick, 我们在画出的冰面上，只挖去了厚一米的冰，

hence about 600 cubic meters. 就是约六百立方米的冰。

Assuming the same work would be accomplished every twelve hours, 假定每十二小时可以做同样工作，

it would still take five nights and four days to see the undertaking through to completion. 把这个工作好好的完成，还要五夜和四天的工夫。

"Five nights and four days!" I told my companions. “五夜和四天的工夫！”我对我的同伴们说，

"And we have oxygen in the air tanks for only two days." “但在储藏库中我们只有够用两天的空气”

"Without taking into account," Ned answered,  “并且，”尼德·兰回答，

"that once we're out of this damned prison, “又没有算上我们脱离了这座魔鬼监牢后，

we'll still be cooped up beneath the Ice Bank, 我们可能还要被禁在冰山下，

without any possible contact with the open air!" 仍不能立即跟上面的大气相交通！”

An apt remark. 这是正确的想法。

For who could predict the minimum time we would need to free ourselves? 那时谁能预料我们得救所需要的最小限度的时间是多少呢？

Before the Nautilus could return to the surface of the waves, 在诺第留斯号可能回到水面之前，

couldn't we all die of asphyxiation? 缺乏氧气不是就把我们窒息死了吗？

Were this ship and everyone on board doomed to perish in this tomb of ice? 难道这船是连同它载上的所有的人都注定死在这冰的坟墓中吗？

It was a dreadful state of affairs. 看来情形十分可怕。

But we faced it head-on, 但人人都正视它，

each one of us determined to do his duty to the end. 人人都决心尽各人的责任，坚持到底。

During the night, in line with my forecasts, 照我的预见，在夜间，

a new one-meter slice was removed from this immense socket. 又有一片一米厚的冰从这巨大的圆圈中挖去。

But in the morning, wearing my diving suit, 但是，到了早晨，当我穿上了潜水衣，

I was crossing through the liquid mass in a temperature of -6 degrees to -7 degrees centigrade, 在零下六、七度温度下，走过海水时，

when I noted that little by little the side walls were closing in on each other. 我看到旁边的冰墙渐渐地连接起来了。

The liquid strata farthest from the trench, 在水坑中远一点的水，

not warmed by the movements of workmen and tools, 因为人的劳力和工具的作用不能使它温热，

were showing a tendency to solidify. 现出要冻结的情势。

In the face of this imminent new danger, 面前发生了这个新的危险，

what would happen to our chances for salvation, 我们得救的机会将是怎样呢？

and how could we prevent this liquid medium from solidifying? 这种海水中间的冻结作用，怎样加以防止呢？

then cracking the Nautilus's hull like glass. 可能把诺第留斯号的船壳像玻璃一样压碎。