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This valley is closed off to the east by a sheer wall 2,000 meters high. We arrived there on May 28, and the Nautilus lay no farther than 150 kilometers from Ireland.
這座山谷東面被一堵高2000米的陡壁封住。5月28日，我們到達了那里時，“鸚鵡螺號”距離愛爾蘭島僅有150公里。
Would Captain Nemo head up north and beach us on the British Isles? No. Much to my surprise, he went back down south and returned to European seas. As we swung around the Emerald Isle, I spotted Cape Clear for an instant, plus the lighthouse on Fastnet Rock that guides all those thousands of ships setting out from Glasgow or Liverpool.
尼摩船長會浮出水面在大不列顛群島登陸嗎？不。令我深感意外的是，他調頭向南朝歐洲海開去。繞過翡翠島時，有一陣子我望見了克里爾角和法斯特內島上的航標燈，它照亮了從格拉斯哥或利物浦出來的上千萬只輪船的航程。
An important question then popped into my head. Would the Nautilus dare to tackle the English Channel? Ned Land (who promptly reappeared after we hugged shore) never stopped questioning me. What could I answer him? Captain Nemo remained invisible. After giving the Canadian a glimpse of American shores, was he about to show me the coast of France?
這時，我想起了一個重要的問題。“鸚鵡螺號”船只敢不敢駛向英吉利海峽呢？自從我們接近陸地后，尼德·蘭又出現了，他不停地問我這個問題。怎么回答他呢？尼摩船長還是一直不露面。讓加拿大人遙望了美洲海岸后，難道他也想讓我望一望法國海岸嗎？
But the Nautilus kept gravitating southward. On May 30, in sight of Land's End, it passed between the lowermost tip of England and the Scilly Islands, which it left behind to starboard.
然而，“鸚鵡螺號”一直南下。5月30日，在船右舷，我們望見了英格蘭島極端和索爾林格島之間的終極島。
If it was going to enter the English Channel, it clearly needed to head east. It did not.
如果“鸚鵡螺號”想進入英吉利海峽，這時它就該直接向東行駛。可它并沒有這么做。
