20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , livre ebook
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19
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2021
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Publié par
Date de parution
01 septembre 2021
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781783223978
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
2 Mo
Publié par
Date de parution
01 septembre 2021
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781783223978
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
2 Mo
Retold by Pauline Francis
First published in this edition 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of ReadZone Books Limited.
© copyright in the text Pauline Francis 2018 © copyright in this edition ReadZone Books 2018
The right of the Author to be identified as the Author of this work had been asserted by the Author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Every attempt has been made by the Publisher to secure appropriate permissions for material reproduced in this book. If there has been any oversight we will be happy to rectify the situation in future editions or reprints. Written submissions should be made to the Publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (CIP) is available for this title.
ISBN 978-1-78322-397-8
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Chapter One Monster at Sea
Chapter Two A Strange Whale
Chapter Three The Nautilus
Chapter Four A Walk under Water
Chapter Five Buried at Sea
Chapter Six Saving Captain Nemo
Chapter Seven The Arabian Tunnel
Chapter Eight Atlantis
Chapter Nine The South Pole
Chapter Ten Escaping the Whirlwind
Introduction
Jules Verne was born in northern France in 1828. He went to study law in Paris, as his father had done. But as well as studying, he began to do what he really wanted – to write.
Jules Verne wrote several plays and some of them were performed on the Paris stage. In 1857, he married a widow with two young sons. He continued to work and write because he had a family to support.
In 1862, Jules Verne wrote his first travel adventure, Five Weeks in a Balloon . It soon became very popular. From then on, Verne wrote for the same publisher, called Hetzel. In 1869, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was published. This book tells the story of a scientist who is trying to rid the ocean of a sea monster. Instead, he becomes a prisoner of Captain Nemo and is forced to travel around the world – under the sea. When this story was written, real scientists were still trying to design a submarine that could stay under water for a long time.
Jules Verne wrote over sixty more novels before his death in 1905.
The best-known of these are Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).
CHAPTER ONE
Monster at Sea
I was in New York in the summer of 1867. I had just finished a scientific expedition and was waiting to sail back to France where I worked at the Museum of Paris. One morning, this newspaper article caught my eye:
2nd July, 1867, New York Herald
SEA MONSTER STRIKES AGAIN!
A sea monster has attacked two ships in the Pacific Ocean. It made holes in the ships with its sharp teeth, although not badly enough to sink them.
It is thought to be the same creature that was seen several times last year. It has been described as “bigger than a whale” and about two hundred feet long. Sometimes it shines brightly.
What is this creature that lurks beneath the waves? We shall soon find out. The “Abraham Lincoln” has been ready for some time to set sail. It is a high-speed, ice-breaking ship that will soon hunt it down.
“There are only two explanations for what has happened,” I thought. “It is either a very powerful ship that travels under the sea – but such an engine has not been invented yet – or a very powerful sea creature.”
A short time later, this letter arrived at my hotel:
Dear Monsieur Aronnax
If you wish to join the expedition of the Abraham Lincoln to represent France, the Captain has reserved a cabin for you.
Yours,
Secretary of the Navy.
I did not hesitate. “Conseil!” I called to my manservant. “Start packing. We are going to rid the sea of a monster! It will be a glorious journey, but a dangerous one. It is the sort of journey from which people don’t always come back.”
“Whatever pleases Monsieur,” Conseil replied calmly.
By eight o’clock that evening, we were sailing into the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship had all the equipment needed for capturing the giant sea creature – harpoons, cannons and other guns. But best of all, she carried Ned Land, a man with the reputation of being one of the best harpooners around.
Ned Land was about forty years old, a Canadian from Quebec, a town that still belonged to France. He looked serious and did not speak very much. He became angry very easily if somebody annoyed him. He took a liking to me because I was French.
“I do not believe in this sea monster,” he told me.
“But you are a whaler,” I replied. “You ought to accept the idea of an enormous sea mammal.”
“That is exactly why I don’t believe it,” he replied. “I have hunted and harpooned many in my time and none of them were powerful enough to have holed an iron ship. I suppose it could be a giant octopus. Have you thought of that?”
“That is even less likely, Ned,” I replied. “Its flesh is too soft, even if it were five hundred feet long.”
On the 27th of July, we entered the Pacific Ocean. At last we were in the area where the monster had last been seen. We were all excited and could not eat or sleep. But day after day, we saw nothing. The crew became angry and felt they were wasting their time.
