地心游记

教授和他的旧书

The Professor and His Old Book

我的名字叫阿克塞尔。这个故事很难让人相信，我也知道。到了今天，有时我自己也不敢相信。但是每一个字都是真的。

My name is Axel. This story is hard to believe, and I know it. Even today I sometimes cannot believe it myself. But every word is true.

我住在德国的汉堡，和我叔叔住在一起。他是我姨妈的丈夫。我的父母都去世了，所以叔叔把我带到他家，教我知识。他是李登布洛克教授，是一位著名的科学家。他懂石头和地球的一切事情，而我想把这些全学会。

I lived in Hamburg, in Germany, with my uncle. He was the husband of my mother’s sister. My father and mother were dead, so my uncle took me into his house and taught me. He was Professor Lidenbrock, a famous man of science. He knew everything about stones and the earth, and I wanted to learn it all.

我叔叔五十岁了。他个子很高，人很瘦，圆圆的眼睛上戴着大眼镜。他的鼻子又长又尖。他走路很快，步子很大，双手握成拳头。他常常发火。

My uncle was fifty years old. He was tall and very thin, with big glasses on his round eyes. His nose was long and sharp. He walked fast, with long steps, and he held his hands like fists. He was angry very often.

他还有一个毛病。当他给别人讲事情的时候，合用的词总想不出来。他停下来，大叫大嚷，有时候还会说出很难听的话。然后他喝下一杯水。所以，他的学问只有他自己知道。

He had a problem, too. When he explained something to other people, the right word did not come. He stopped, he shouted, and sometimes a very strong word came out. Then he drank a glass of water. So he kept his knowledge to himself.

我们住在国王街，住在一所木头和砖头盖的旧房子里。房子有点斜，挨着一条运河，墙上爬满了绿色的植物。门上长着一棵大树。1842年的大火没有烧到它。

We lived in the Konigstrasse, in an old house of wood and bricks. It stood a little crooked, next to a canal, and green plants covered the walls. A big tree grew over the door. The great fire of 1842 did not burn it.

我叔叔很有钱，那所房子是他自己的。那里住了四个人：我叔叔、我、老厨娘玛莎，还有格劳芬。格劳芬是叔叔的教女，是个年轻姑娘，很安静，人也很好。我觉得她是这所房子里最好的人。

My uncle was rich, and the house was his own. Four people lived there: my uncle, me, Martha the old cook, and Grauben. Grauben was my uncle’s god-daughter, a young girl, quiet and kind. She was the best thing in the house, I thought.

我喜欢石头，也喜欢我的工作。我觉得我们是一个快乐的家庭，但是我叔叔总是很着急。有一次他把花种在花盆里。每天早上四点他就起床，去拉扯叶子，好让花长得更快。

I loved stones and I loved my work. We were a happy family, I think, but my uncle was always in a hurry. He once planted flowers in pots. Every morning at four o’clock he got up and pulled the leaves, so that the flowers grew faster.

有一天叔叔出去了。我正在书房里整理石头，肚子很饿。我想去问问玛莎晚饭的事。这时，大门打开了。叔叔跑上楼梯，大声叫我的名字。

One day my uncle was out. I was working in the study among the stones, and I was hungry. I wanted to ask Martha about dinner. Then the street door opened. My uncle came running up the stairs and shouted my name.

“阿克塞尔！阿克塞尔！阿克塞尔！”

“Axel! Axel! Axel!”

我向他跑过去。说实话，我心里想的更多是汤，而不是科学。但是我叔叔可不是个愿意等人的人。

I ran to him. To tell the truth, I was thinking more about soup than about science. But my uncle was not a man to wait.

我在书房里找到了他。那间屋子里全都是石头。每一块石头我都认得，因为上面都有我写的名字。叔叔手里拿着一本发黄的旧书，看也没看我一眼。

I found him in his study. It was a room full of stones. I knew every one of them, because I wrote the name on each. My uncle was holding an old yellow book and he did not look at me.

“太棒了！”他大喊。“太棒了，太棒了！”

“Wonderful!” he cried. “Wonderful, wonderful!”

在我看来，那本书没什么特别的。但他很喜欢那些旧纸片、黑黑的字和厚厚的书皮。他一遍又一遍地说：“这书非常非常老了。”

The book did not look special to me. But he loved the old paper, the black letters and the heavy cover. He said again and again, “It is very, very old.”