4 Two Strangers

CHAPTER 4 Two Strangers We were in the machine in a matter of seconds. I shivered all over. I had no idea what would happen. At first, we were in total darkness. I couldn't see anything. I felt my feet clinging to the steps of a ladder. Ned and Conseil followed me. At the bottom of the ladder a door opened. It shut with a bang. We were alone. All was black. I could hardly imagine where we were. It was a good half hour

第4章两个陌生人我们在几秒钟内就进入了机器。 我浑身发抖。我不知道会发生什么。 起初，我们完全处于黑暗之中。 我什么也看不见。我感到我的脚粘在梯子的台阶上。 尼德-兰和康塞尔跟在我后面。 梯子的底部开了一扇门。 它砰的一声关上了。只有我们两个。 一片漆黑。我几乎想象不出我们在哪里。 这半个小时过得很愉快

before we got some light. It appeared with two men. One man was short with strong muscles. He had dark hair and a black mustache. The other man was tall with good looks. The two strangers spoke to each other in a language I had never heard. I spoke up in French and told them I didn't understand. When I got no answer, I decided to tell my story just in case they might understand a few words. I told them our names, speaking slowly about each one of us. The men listened to me. I was sure they didn't understand. I nodded for Ned to try in English. They made no reply to him either. Conseil then tried in German, but we got the same blank stares from the men. In a few minutes they left, leaving us confused and scared. We talked about our situation for a few minutes. Just then the door opened. A man

在我们有光之前。它和两个人一起出现了。 一个人个子不高，肌肉结实。 他有一头黑发，留着黑胡子。 另一个人身材高大，相貌英俊。 这两个陌生人用一种我从未听过的语言交谈。 我大声说法语，告诉他们我听不懂。 当我没有得到答案时，我决定讲述我的故事，以防他们能听懂几句话。 我告诉他们我们的名字，慢慢地介绍我们每个人。 那些人听了我的话。我敢肯定他们不明白。 我点点头，让奈德用英语试一试。 他们也没有回答他。 康塞尔又用德语试了试，但人们的目光还是一样的茫然。 几分钟后，他们离开了，留下我们又困惑又害怕。 我们谈了几分钟我们的处境。 正在这时，门开了。 一个男人

entered with clothes, coats, and pants made of a material I had never seen. We quickly got out of our wet things. As we dressed, the man set the table in the room and put out three plates. "What do you think they eat here?" asked Ned. "Turtle liver and shark?" To our surprise, we were treated as if we were in a nice restaurant. We ate several kinds of fish, some of which I had never tasted before. There were other foods that I enjoyed, even though I couldn't tell if they were vegetable or animal. Each of us cleaned our plates. We saw some writing on each one: MOBILIS IN MOBILI N. The letter N was probably the initial of the boat's captain. We didn't spend time thinking about that. We were tired and full from our meal. Ned

进来的是我从未见过的衣服、外套和裤子。 我们很快脱下湿衣服。 我们穿衣服时，那人在房间里摆好桌子，拿出三个盘子。 “你看它们在这里吃什么？”尼德-兰问。 “龟肝和鲨鱼？”令我们惊讶的是，我们被当作是在一家很好的餐馆里一样对待。 我们吃了好几种鱼，有些是我以前从未吃过的。 还有其他我喜欢的食物，尽管我分不清它们是植物还是动物。 我们每个人都把盘子洗干净了。 我们看到每张纸上都写着：MOBILIS IN MOBILI N。 字母N可能是船长的首字母。 我们没有花时间考虑这个问题。 我们吃完饭又累又饱。 内德

and Conseil stretched out on the carpet and were soon asleep. I couldn't relax, though. My thoughts were on all that had happened to us in the last several hours. Finally I allowed myself to rest. I fell into a deep, deep sleep in this strange monster we had found.

康塞尔躺在地毯上，很快就睡着了。 但我无法放松。我满脑子想的都是过去几个小时里发生在我们身上的事。 最后我让自己休息了一下。 我在我们发现的这个奇怪的怪物身上睡得很沉很沉。