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In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Verne developed a submarine which was not only double-hulled and propelled by electricity but was able to manufacture electricity from the sea. Simon Lake, father of the modern submarine, credits Verne with giving him virtually a blueprint for his invention.
在《海底两万里》中，凡尔纳描述了一种潜水艇，它不仅是双层外壳、由电推动，而且还能用海水发电。现代潜水艇之父西蒙·莱克认为凡尔纳给他的发明提供了蓝本。
Reading through Verne's books, one finds it hard to believe that they were written almost 100 years ago. The people of his fancy made diamonds synthetically, developed a convertible automobile-ship-helicopter-plane, and fired glass bullets containing an electric spark instantly fatal.
读凡尔纳的书，简直不能相信它们几乎是写于100年前。他那些幻想故事里的人用合成法造钻石，发明了一种在汽车、轮船和直升机之间自由转换的交通工具，他们发射的玻璃子弹中含有立即致命的电火花。
The last years of Jules Verne were not happy ones. Intellectual circles sneered at him. He was not elected a member of the French Academy. Gossips said that there was no such man as Jules Verne. The Russians claimed him as a Slav, a Pole and former espionage agent who had taken to letters. Italian intellectuals said Jules Verne was the pen name of a group of French scientists and delegated a novelist to go to France to find the proof. The man examined the manuscripts and departed wholly convinced. To his colleagues he wired: "There is no Jules Verne and Company—there is only Jules."
儒勒·凡尔纳的晚年过得并不幸福。学术界对他冷嘲热讽。他没能当选为法兰西文学院院士。谣传说没有儒勒·凡尔纳这个人。俄国人宣称他是斯拉夫人、波兰人，是以写作为掩护的老牌间谍。意大利的知识分子们说儒勒·凡尔纳是一伙法国科学家的笔名，且派了一个小说家去法国寻找证据。那个人检查了手稿，离开的时候心悦诚服。他打电报告诉他的同事：“没有什么儒勒·凡尔纳团体——只有儒勒。”
Jules Verne died in 1905. The world attended his funeral, including all who had sneered and gossiped, the thirty members of the French Academy, the diplomatic corps, and special representatives of kings and presidents.
儒勒·凡尔纳死于1905年。社会各界的人们都参加了他的葬礼，包括所有原来鄙视他和散布谣言诋毁他的人、法国文学院的30名成员、外交人员、国王和总统们的特使。
Of all the thousands of words of praise uttered at his death, Jules Verne would have liked best these two sentences from a Paris newspaper: "The old story teller is dead. It is like the passing of Santa Claus."
人们在他的葬礼上所说的那些溢美之词中，儒勒·凡尔纳也许最喜爱巴黎一家报纸上刊载的两句话：“一位故事大师离开了我们，就像圣诞老人一样地离去了。”
