在沒有遇到危險之前自己沒有認真的閱讀過神秘島這本書，在遇到危險之後的一段時間也沒有認真閱讀，只是偶爾的一天對神秘島這本書上的內容有了興趣。

　　此時工程師的一聲喊叫使他們匆匆的趕過去，他們即刻跑到了他那裡，並開始聞到一股刺鼻的氣味彌漫於空氣中。

　　 when a shout from the engineer made them hasten forward. They soon joined him， and were at once struck with a disagreeable odor which impregnated the atmosphere.

　　“這個火，”他說道，“或者確切的說，這是股煙，是自然界的產物。這裡有一處硫磺泉，它對治療我們的喉炎有良好的療效。”

　　“This fire，“ said he，“or rather， this smoke is produced by nature alone. There is a sulphur spring there， which will cure all our sore throats.“

　　在那兒，他們看見一股含硫磺泉水從岩石之間大量湧出來，泉水吸收了空氣中的氧氣以後，正散發出一股強烈的硫酸氣味。

　　They there saw a sulphur spring which flowed abundantly between the rocks， and its waters discharged a strong sulphuric acid odor， after having absorbed the oxygen of the air.

　　磚坯通常是要用模子壓出來的，可是工程師隻好用手來做。這件工作一共做了整整兩天，工人們把陶土浸在水裡，手腳並用，把陶土調和好。然後把它們分成一樣大小的一塊一塊。一個熟練的工人不用機器，十二個鍾頭可以做一萬塊左右，可是林肯島上的這五個製磚工人，兩天所做的還不到三千塊。他們把製成的磚坯一塊挨一塊地排在一起，等過三四天完全燒乾，就可以用來砌爐子了。

　　Generally bricks are formed in molds， but the engineer contented himself with making them by hand. All that day and the day following were employed in this work. The ， soaked in water， was mixed by the feet and hands of the ， and then divided into pieces of equal size. A practiced workman can make， without a machine， about ten thousand bricks in twelve hours; but in their two days work the five brickmakers on had not made more than three thousand，

which were ranged near each other， until the time when their complete would permit them to be used in building the oven， that is to say， in three or four days.　　4月6日，天剛破曉的時候，工程師和他的夥伴們就在林間空地上集合，打算在這裡燒磚。這種工作通常不是在窯裡而是在露天的地方進行的，凝結的磚坯砌成一個大窯，然後再用這個窯來燒磚坯本身。他們把捆好的木柴放在地上，把已經幹了的磚坯成排地圍在燃料外面，很快就圍成一個立方形，在立方形的最外一層，又開了幾個通氣孔。這項工作整整進行了一天，直到傍晚，他們才開始在柴捆上點火。當天晚上大家都沒有睡覺，全體都小心地照顧柴火，不使它熄滅。

　　On the 6th of April， at daybreak， the engineer and his were collected in the ， at the where they were going to perform the of baking the bricks. Naturally this had to be in the open air， and not in a kiln， or rather， the of bricks made an enormous kiln， which would bake itself. The fuel， made of well-prepared fagots， was laid on the ground and surrounded with several rows of dried bricks， which soon formed an enormous cube， to the of which they contrived air- holes. The work lasted all day， and it was not till the evening that they set fire to the fagots. No one slept that night， all watching carefully to keep up the fire.

　　燒磚工作繼續了四十八小時，結果完全成功。接著還需要等熱氣騰騰的半成品冷卻下來，在這期間，納布和潘克洛夫由賽勒斯?哈頓帶領著到湖的北邊去，把那裡的石灰石和普通的石頭用一個樹枝編成的筐子裝了一大批回來。經過加熱，它們就分解成一種濃度很強的生石灰，經過沸化，生石灰的體積大大膨脹了。它們的質地非常純粹，至少和白堊或碳酸鈣燒成的一樣。把石灰和細沙攪拌在一起，就成了上等的灰泥。

　　The lasted forty-eight hours， and perfectly. It then became necessary to leave the smoking mass to cool， and during this time Neb and Pencroft， guided by Cyrus Harding， brought， on a hurdle made of branches， loads of carbonate of lime and common stones， which were very abundant， to the north of the lake. These stones， when by heat， made a very strong quicklime， greatly increased by ， at least as pure as if it had been produced by the of chalk or marble. Mixed with sand the lime made excellent mortar.

　　這期間，居民們首先製造出一隻烹調用的陶土罐。主要原料是陶土，哈頓在裡面加了一些石灰和石英混合起來就成了正式的“管土”。他們拿適當形狀的石頭作模子，用陶土做成飯碗、茶杯，另外又做了一些盛水的大壺等等。

　　In the meantime what the settlers first manufactured was a common pottery in which to cook their food. The chief material was ， to which Harding added a little lime and quartz. This paste made “pipe-，“ with which they manufactured bowls， cups molded on stones of a proper size， great jars and pots to hold water， etc.

　　初升的月亮照亮了南邊的水平線，在天空的襯托下，這部分水平線顯得十分清晰。這時候，南十字座出現在觀察家的眼前了，十字架二倒置在星座的底部，也就是離南極較近的地方。這個星座離南極比北極星離北極遠。十字架二大約在距南極27度的方位，賽勒斯?哈頓知道這一點，在計算的時候就把這個角度估計在內了。當十字架二經過正對著南極的子午線時，他也仔細地進行了觀察，這樣工作就簡單了。

　　賽勒斯?哈頓把圓規的一隻腳對著水平線，另一隻腳對著十字架二，兩隻規腳之間的距離，就形成了十字架二和水平線之間的角距。為了把所得的這個角度固定下來，他用刺針把一根木條橫釘在圓規的兩隻腳上，這樣就可以把它們之間的角度適當地保留下來。

　　做完了這一步工作，下一步只要計算一下角度就行了。但是首先要把水平線的俯角考慮在內，因此必須再到海平面上去進行觀察，量一下峭壁的高度。有了上述的角度就可以求出十字架二的高度，從這裡也可以求出天極在水平線上的高度，也就是海島的緯度，困為地球上任何一個地方的緯度都永遠等於當地天極在水平線上的高度。

　　To the south the horizon， lighted by the first rays of the moon， was very clearly defined against the sky.

　　At this moment the Southern Cross presented itself to the observer in an inverted ， the star Alpha marking its base， which is nearer to the southern pole.

　　This is not situated as near to the antarctic pole as the Star is to the arctic pole. The star Alpha is about twenty-seven degrees from it， but Cyrus Harding knew this and made allowance for it in his He took care also to observe the moment when it passed the meridian below the pole， which would simplify the

　　Cyrus Harding pointed one leg of the compasses to the horizon， the other to Alpha， and the space between the two legs gave him the distance which separated Alpha from the horizon. In order to fix the angle obtained， he fastened with thorns the two pieces of wood on a third transversely， so that their should be properly maintained.

　　That done， there was only the angle to by bringing back the to the level of the sea， taking into the of the horizon， which would necessitate measuring the height of the cliff. The value of this angle would give the height of Alpha， and consequently that of the pole above the horizon， that is to say， the latitude of the ， since the latitude of a point of the globe is always equal to the height of the pole above the horizon of this point.

　　“你記得兩個相似三角形應該具備的條件嗎?”

　　“記得，”赫伯特答道，“它們的對應邊成比例。”

　　“好，孩子，我剛做出兩個相似的直角三角形，第一個比較小，它的三邊是:那根垂直的木杆和從這根小棍子到木杆底部的距離，我的視線就是三角形的斜邊，第二個三角形的三邊是:垂直的峭壁——我們想測量的也就是它的高度——這根小棍子和峭壁底部之間的距離，和同樣是由我的視線所形成的三角形斜邊，這斜邊也就是第一個三角形斜邊的延長線。”

　　“啊，哈頓先生，我明白了！”赫伯特大聲說。“小棍子和木杆之間的距離比小棍子和峭壁底部之間的距離，就等於木杆的高度比峭壁的高度。”

　　“You remember what are the properties of two triangles?“

　　“Yes，“ replied Herbert;“their homologous sides are “

　　“Well， my boy， I have just constructed two right-angled triangles; the first， the smallest， has for its sides the pole， the distance which separates the little stick from the foot of the pole and my visual ray for hypothenuse; the has for its sides the cliff， the height of which we wish to measure， the distance which separates the little stick from the bottom of the cliff， and my visual ray also forms its hypothenuse， which proves to be of that of the first triangle.“

　　“Ah， captain， I understand！“ cried Herbert.“As the distance from the stick to the pole is to the distance from the stick to the base of the cliff， so is the height of the pole to the height of the cliff.“

　　他們利用木杆量出了兩段水平距離，木杆在沙灘上的高度是十英尺整。第一段距離是從小棍子到插木杆的地方，相距十五英尺。第二段距離是從小棍子到峭壁底部，相距五百英尺。

　　15:500=10:X

　　500×10=5000

　　6000÷15=333.3

　　由此得出，花崗石峭壁的高度是三百三十三英尺。

　　The two horizontal distances were found out by means of the pole， whose length above the sand was exactly ten feet.

　　The first distance was fifteen feet between the stick and the where the pole was thrust into the sand.

　　The distance between the stick and the bottom of the cliff was five hundred feet. From which it was proved that the granite cliff measured 333 feet in height.

　　圓規兩腳之間的距離就是十字架二和水平線之間的角距。他首先把一個圓周分成三百六十等分，然後非常精確地把圓規角度落在圓周上，得出的結果是10度。在這個角度上加上十字架二距離南極的27度，再減去觀察的時候所在的峭壁上離海面高度的值，就得出一個37度的角來。南極與水平線之間相距90度，從90度裡減去53度還剩下37度。因此，賽勒斯?哈頓測量的結論是:林肯島在南緯37度線上。如果把計算時不精確的程度估計在內，假設誤差有五度，那麽海島的位置一定在南緯35度與40度之間。

　　然後賽勒斯?哈頓就把前一天晚上做的儀器拿了出來，圓規兩腳之間的距離就是十字架二和水平線之間的角距。他首先把一個圓周分成三百六十等分，然後非常精確地把圓規角度落在圓周上，得出的結果是10度。在這個角度上加上十字架二距離南極的27度，再減去觀察的時候所在的峭壁上離海面高度的值，就得出一個37度的角來。南極與水平線之間相距90度，從90度裡減去53度還剩下37度。因此，賽勒斯?哈頓測量的結論是:林肯島在南緯37度線上。如果把計算時不精確的程度估計在內，假設誤差有五度，那麽海島的位置一定在南緯35度與40度之間。

　　Cyrus Harding then took the instrument which he had made the evening before， the space between its two legs giving the distance between the star Alpha and the horizon. He measured， very exactly， the opening of this angle on a circumference which he divided into 360 equal parts. Now， this angle by adding to it the twenty-seven degrees which separated Alpha from the antarctic pole， and by reducing to the level of the sea the height of the cliff on which the had been made， was found to be fifty- three degrees. These fifty-three degrees being subtracted from degrees--the distance from the pole to the equator--there remained thirty- seven degrees. Cyrus Harding concluded， therefore， that was situated on the thirty-seventh degree of the southern latitude， or taking into through the of the performance， an error of five degrees， that it must be situated between the thirty-fifth and the fortieth parallel.

　　按道理，當影子的長度縮到最短的時候，應該正是中午十二點鍾，仔細地看著影子的末端，就可以找出影子在逐漸縮短以後，又開始伸長的一刹那。賽勒斯?哈頓把標杆偏向和太陽相對的方向，就可以使影子長一些，因此它的變化就更加容易看清了。日晷的時針愈長，針點的移動也就愈加容易辨別。標杆的影子也就相當於日晷上的指針。

　　In fact， the moment when this shadow would reach its minimum of length would be exactly twelve o'clock， and it would be enough to watch the extremity of the shadow， so as to ascertain the instant when， alter having diminished， it began to lengthen. By inclining his stick to the side opposite to the sun， Cyrus Harding made the shadow longer， and consequently its would be more easily ascertained. In fact， the longer the needle of a dial is， the more easily can the movement of its point be followed. The shadow of the stick was nothing but the needle of a dial.

　　一般的情況下，金屬埋藏在地裡的時候，質地並不純粹。它們通常和氧或硫化合在一起。賽勒斯?哈頓上次帶回來的兩種標本就是這樣，一種是沒有碳化的磁鐵礦，另一種是黃鐵礦，也叫做硫化鐵。因此，他們必須先用炭使氧化鐵還原，也就是除去氧，然後才能得到純粹的鐵。這個還原過程是用炭把礦石燒到溫度很高的時候進行的，可以用迅速而簡便的土法(它的優點是隻通過一道工序，就能把鐵礦石煉成鐵)，也可以用鼓風爐——第一步使鐵礦石熔化，然後排除和礦石化合在一起的百分之三至四的炭，使它變成鐵。

　　Metals are not generally found in the ground in a pure state. For the most part they are combined with oxygen or sulphur. Such was the case with the two specimens which Cyrus Harding had brought back， one of iron， not carbonated， the other a pyrite， also called sulphuret of iron. It was， therefore the first， the oxide of iron， which they must reduce with coal， that is to say， get rid of the oxygen， to obtain it in a pure state. This is made by subjecting the ore with coal to a high temperature， either by the rapid and easy method， which has the advantage of transforming the ore into iron in a single ， or by the furnace， which first smelts the ore， then changes it into iron， by carrying away the three to four per cent. of coal， which is combined with it.

　　他們在地上毫不費力地撿到炭和鐵礦石。他們先把鐵礦石打碎，用手把鐵礦石表面一層雜質擦乾淨，然後就把炭和鐵礦石一層夾一層地堆起來，好象木炭工人用木柴燒炭那樣。這樣，在鼓風機的作用下，炭就變為碳酸，然後又變成氧化碳，在變成氧化碳的過程中就使氧化鐵還原，放出了氧氣。

　　工程師就這樣進行工作。他事先在窯裡造了一根陶土的管子，把它裝在海豹皮風箱的一端，然後把風箱裝在礦石堆附近，工程師用一個木架、一些植物纖維做的繩子和一個秤錘做成鼓風機，把大量的空氣吹到立方體裡去，溫度提高以後，空氣也促進化學變化，到一定的時候就能冶煉出純鐵來。

　　The coal， as well as the ore， was collected without trouble on the surface of the ground. They first broke the ore into little pieces， and cleansed them with the hand from the impurities which soiled their surface. Then coal and ore were arranged in heaps and in layers， as the -burner does with the wood which he wishes to carbonize. In this way， under the influence of the air projected by the blowing-machine， the coal would be transformed into carbonic acid， then into oxide of carbon， its use being to reduce the oxide of iron， that is to say， to rid it of the oxygen.

　　Thus the engineer proceeded. The bellows of sealskin， furnished at its extremity with a nozzle of ， which had been fabricated in the pottery kiln， was established near the heap of ore. Using the mechanism which consisted of a frame， cords of fiber and counterpoise， he threw into the mass an abundance of air， which by raising the temperature also concurred with the chemical to produce in time pure iron.

　　賽勒斯?哈頓打算煉製後面一種，因為他煉得的鐵質地很純。為了進行這項工作，他事先用陶土做了一個坩堝，把鐵和炭末一起放在坩堝裡加熱，結果鋼就煉成了。

　　這種鋼不論在冷或熱的情況下，都能任人擺布，於是他就用錘子在鋼上進行加工。納布和潘克洛夫在他精明指導下，把鋼燒紅了，然後突然浸入水中，製得了許多硬度很強的斧頭。

　　It was the last which Cyrus Harding intended to ， as he possessed iron in a pure state. He by heating the metal with powdered coal in a crucible which had been manufactured from suitable for the purpose.

　　He then worked this steel， which is malleable both when hot or cold， with the hammer. Neb and Pencroft， cleverly directed， made hatchets， which， heated red-hot， and plunged suddenly into cold water， acquired an excellent temper.

　　建橋是目前最迫切的工程。他們砍伐選好的樹木，除去杈枝，做成橫梁、托架和厚板。這座橋，在感恩河右岸的一頭是固定的，而在左岸的一頭卻是活動的，這樣就可以通過平衡力量方式把它吊升起來，正如某些閘橋那樣。。

　　這項工程當然是相當艱巨的，雖然領導有方，還是花了不少的時間，因為慈悲河在這裡寬達八十英尺。必須在河床中打下一些橋樁，才能支撐橋板，為了打樁，就必須安裝打樁機。橋樁應該形成兩個弓架結構，使橋身能夠承受重量。

　　The bridge was the most urgent work. Trees were selected， cut down， stripped of their branches， and cut into beams， joists， and The end of the bridge which rested on the right bank of the Mercy was to be firm， but the other end on the left bank was to be movable， so that it might be raised by means of a counterpoise， as some canal bridges are managed.

　　This was certainly a considerable work， and though it was skillfully conducted， it took some time， for the Mercy at this was eighty feet wide. It was therefore necessary to fix piles in the bed of the river so as to sustain the floor of the bridge and establish a pile-driver to act on the tops of these piles， which would thus form two arches and allow the bridge to support heavy loads.

　　很快，塞勒斯.哈頓要動手製造玻璃的一切條件都具備了。最難製造的工具就是吹玻璃的吹管，這是一種五六英尺長的鐵管，它的一端用來蘸液體玻璃。潘克洛夫把一條簿薄的鐵片卷成槍筒形，也就做成了一根隨時可以使用的吹管了。

　　3月28日，爐子已被燒製灼熱。他們在一百分沙粒，三十五分白堊，四十分硫酸鈉裡摻了兩三分煤屑，就構成了那種製玻璃用的物質，混和在一起放在坩堝裡。當爐裡的高溫使原料化為液體的時候，更確切地說變成膠狀物時，賽勒斯?哈頓就用吹管蘸了一些，他在預先準備好的一塊金屬板上滾了滾吹管，做出一個適合於吹的形狀來，然後把吹管遞給赫伯特，教他吹另外的一端。

　　The tool， the manufacture of which presented the most difficulty， was the pipe of the -maker， an iron tube， five or six feet long， which collects on one end the material in a state of But by means of a long， thin piece of iron rolled up like the barrel of a gun， Pencroft in making a tube soon ready for use.

　　On the 28th of March the tube was heated. A hundred parts of sand， thirty-five of chalk， forty of sulphate of soda， mixed with two or three parts of powdered coal， composed the substance， which was in crucibles. When the high temperature of the oven had reduced it to a liquid， or rather a pasty state， Cyrus Harding collected with the tube a quantity of the paste: he turned it about on a metal ， arranged， so as to give it a form suitable for blowing， then he passed the tube to Herbert， telling him to blow at the other extremity.