The old man and the sea(26)
But he was that big and at the end of this circle he came to the surface only thirty yards away and the man saw his tail out of water. It was higher than a big scythe blade and a very pale lavender above the dark blue water. It raked back and as the fish swam just below the surface the old man could see his huge bulk and the purple stripes that banded him. His dorsal fin was down and his huge pectorals were spread wide. On this circle the old man could see the fish's eye and the two gray sucking fish that swam around him. Sometimes they attached themselves to him. Sometimes they darted off. Sometimes they would swim easily in his shadow.
但是它的确有那么大，在这一圈转完后，它在离老人大概只有三十码的水面浮了上来，他看见它的尾巴露出水面，比一个大鎌刀还高耸，在那深蓝色的水中，呈现淡淡的紫色。然后它又往后倒了下去，鱼就在水面上游着，老人可以看见它庞大的身躯和裹在它的身上的紫色条纹。它的背鳍下垂，庞大的胸鳍向外展开着。鱼在转这一圈的时候，老人可以看见它的眼睛以及两条正在哺乳的灰色小鱼跟在它身边游动，有时候它们紧靠着大鱼；有时候又跑开，有时候在大鱼影子下面自由自在地游着。
They were each over three feet long and when they swam fast they lashed their whole bodies like eels. The old man was sweating now but from something else besides the sun. On each calm placid turn the fish made he was gaining line and he was sure that in two turns more he would have a chance to get the harpoon in. But I must get him close, close, close, he thought. I mustn't try for the head. I must get the heart. "Be calm and strong, old man," he said.
它们每一条都超过三英呎长，游得快的时候，全身就像鳗鱼似地猛烈摇动。老人的汗水不停地流了下来，并非只因太阳的曝晒，还为了别的原因。鱼每次平稳地打转时，他都乘机收回一些绳子，他相信只要再两圈之后，他一定有机会把鱼叉射到它身上。他暗想，我必须把它弄靠近、很靠近、很靠近。我绝不可以射它的头。我一定要射它的心脏。「你要镇静，要坚强，老头子，」他说。
On the next circle the fish's back was out but he was a little too far from the boat. On the next circle he was still to far away but he was higher out of water and the old man was sure that by gaining some more line he could have him alongside. He had rigged his harpoon long before and its coil of light rope was in a round basket and the end was made fast to the bitt in the bow. The fish was coming in on his circle now calm and beautiful looking and only his great tail moving.
在转下一圈的时候，鱼的背脊露出了水面，但仍离船稍远了些。它又再一次转圈的时候，仍然离得太远，但浮出水面更高了，老人很确定只要再多收回一点绳子，他就可以把它拖到船边。他的鱼叉老早就准备好了，连着鱼叉的那一捆细绳在圆篮子里待命，而绳子的另一端牢牢地绑在船头的缆柱上。现在鱼又再次转圈，很平静、姿势很优美，只见它硕大的尾巴在摆动着。
The old man pulled on him all that he could to bring him closer. For just a moment the fish turned a little on his side. The he straightened himself and began another circle. "I moved him," the old man said. "I moved him then." He felt faint again now but he held on the great fish all the strain that he could. I moved him, he thought. Maybe this time I can get him over. Pull, hands, he thought. Hold up, legs. Last for me, head. Last for me. You never went. This time I'll pull him over.
老人竭力将鱼拖近。剎那间，鱼的身子侧翻了一下，然后又摆正，开始再绕另外一圈。「我动到它了，」老人说。「就是刚才，我动到它了。」他又感觉晕眩了，但依然尽其所能地拉住这条鱼。我终于拉动它了，他想。也许这一次我会把它弄过来。拉呀！手啊！他想。脚呀！站稳啊！头脑呀！为我保持清醒吧！为我保持清醒吧！你从来都没有头晕过，这一次我要把它拉过来。
But when he put all of his effort on, starting it well out before the fish came alongside and pulling with all his strength, the fish pulled part way over and then righted himself and swam away. "Fish," the old man said. "Fish, you are going to have to die anyway. Do you have to kill me too?" That way nothing is accomplished, he thought. His mouth was too dry to speak but he could not reach for the water now. I must get him alongside this time, he thought. I am not good for many more turns. Yes you are, he told himself. You're good for ever.
但这条鱼还在老远的地方时，他就使出了全力拼命拉，这条鱼的身体刚倾斜一点，又挺直身体游开了。「鱼啊！」老人说：「鱼，反正你马上就要死了，你是不是也想把我整死呢？」这样下去不是办法，他想。他的口渴得说不出话来，然而现在他又没办法摸到水。这一次我一定要把它拖到船边，他想。它再多转几圈我就撑不下去了。可以的，你还可以的，他告诉自己。再怎么样你都会有办法的。
On the next turn, he nearly had him. But again the fish righted himself and swam slowly away. You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who. Now you are getting confused in the head, he thought. You must keep your head clear. Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man. Or a fish, he thought. "Clear up, head," he said in a voice he could hardly hear. "Clear up."
在下一圈的时候，他几乎把它弄过来了。但是这条鱼又挺直了身体慢慢地游开。你简直整死我了，鱼啊，老人想，不过你是有这个权力。我从来没有见过比你更雄壮、更漂亮、或更镇静、更高贵的事物了，兄弟，来吧！来杀我好了。我不在乎谁杀谁。现在你的头脑已经不清醒了，他想。你必须维持头脑清醒。不但要维持清醒的头脑，还要像男子汉，或像条鱼一样忍受痛苦，他想。「清醒吧，头脑，」他用那种几乎听不见的声音说：「清醒吧。」
Twice more it was the same on the turns. I do not know, the old man thought. He had been on the point of feeling himself go each time. I do not know. But I will try it once more. He tried it once more and he felt himself going when he turned the fish. The fish righted himself and swam off again slowly with the great tail weaving in the air. I'll try it again, the old man promised, although his hands were mushy now and he could only see well in flashes. He tried it again and it was the same.
它又转了两圈，情况还是相同。我实在不懂，老人想。每次拉绳子，他就感觉自己濒临昏厥的边缘。我不懂，但我还要再试一次。他又试了一次，当他把鱼拉动转向时，感觉自己就要昏厥过去了。而鱼又挺直了身体慢慢地游开，大尾巴在空中摇摆着。我要再试一次，老人发誓。虽然他的手现在已是血肉模糊，他的视线也闪烁不明了。他又试了一次，结果还是一样。
So he thought, and he felt himself going before he started; I will try it once again. He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long gone pride and he put it against the fish's agony and the fish came over onto his side and swam gently on his side, his bill almost touching the planking of the skiff and started to pass the boat, long, deep, wide, silver and barred with purple and interminable in the water. The old man dropped the line and put his foot on it and lifted the harpoon as high as he could and drove it down with all his strength, and more strength he had just summoned, into the fish's side just behind the great chest fin that rose high in the air to the altitude of the man's chest.
他这么想着，感觉自己都还没开始就要昏了过去。我要再试一次。他忍住所有痛苦，使尽仅存的力量和长久来已消磨殆尽的骄傲，来和这条鱼的痛苦相互抗衡，鱼终于被他拉近船边，慢慢游向他身边，鱼的尖嘴几乎碰到船板。它开始靠着船边游，它的身影长长的、又深又宽，银色的身躯外裹着紫色的条纹，无止尽地在水中游动。老人把绳线放下来，用脚踩住，尽量举高鱼叉，然后使出所有力量。加上刚才力求振作所凝聚的奋起之力，刺向鱼的身侧，刚好刺在那巨大的胸鳍的后方，胸鳍高高地耸立在空中，有老人胸部那么高。
He felt the iron go in and he leaned on it and drove it further and then pushed all his weight after it. Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty.He seemed to hang in the air above the old man in the skiff. Then he fell into the water with a crash that sent spray over the old man and over all of the skiff.
他知道鱼叉的铁头已经射进去了，然后他把全身重量压在上面，把鱼叉再往里推去。于是那条鱼突然间活跃起来，死亡已进入它的身体了，它高高地冲出水面，展示出它惊人的长度、宽度，以及它的神勇与美丽。它似乎是停留在老人与船的上空，然后再重重地跌入水中，水花溅起，洒满了老人全身以及整艘小船。
The old man felt faint and sick and he could not see well. But he cleared the harpoon line and let it run slowly through his raw hands and, when he could see, he saw the fish was on his back with his silver belly up. The shaft of the harpoon was projecting at an angle from the fish's shoulder and the sea was discoloring with the red of the blood from his heart. First it was dark as a shoal in the blue water that was more than a mile deep. Then it spread like a cloud. The fish was silvery and still and floated with the waves.
老人感觉头昏得难受，视觉糊模。但是他还是把鱼叉的绳索弄好，让绳索经过他开肉绽的双手，慢慢被拖走。当他的视觉恢复了，他看见鱼的背部已经朝下，银色的肚皮朝上。鱼叉的柄部与鱼的肩膀形成一个倾斜角度，海水被它脏喷出来的血染红了。起先血迹就像是深蓝色水中大约一英哩深处的黑色沙洲，然后便又像朵云一样地扩散开来。鱼泛着银光，一动也不动地随着波浪漂浮。
The old man looked carefully in the glimpse of vision that he had. Then he took two turns of the harpoon line around the bitt in the bow and laid his head on his hands. "Keep my head clear," he said against the wood of the bow. "I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work." Now I must prepare the nooses and the rope to lash him alongside, he thought. Even if we were two and swamped her to load him and bailed her out, this skiff would never hold him.
老人用他微弱的视线很仔细地瞧了瞧。随后他把鱼叉线绳在船头的木栓上绕了两圈，然后把头靠在双手上。「头脑必须保持清醒」，他对着船头的木头说：「我现在已是个累坏了的老头了，但是，我已经把这条鱼给杀了，虽然说它是我的兄弟。现在我必须做接下来的苦差事了。」我必须准备一些绳套和绳子，好把鱼绑在船旁边，他想。即使是只有我和它两个，把它装上船，船里会浸满水，而就算把水汲出，这条船怎么也容纳不下它。
I must prepare everything, then bring him in and lash him well and step the mast and set sail for home. He started to pull the fish in to have him alongside so that he could pass a line through his gills and out his mouth and make his head fast alongside the bow. I want to see him, he thought, and to touch and to feel him. He is my fortune, he thought, but that is not why I wish to feel him. I think I felt his heart, he thought. When I pushed on the harpoon shaft the second time.
我必须将一切准备就绪，然后把它拖过来栓好，升起桅杆，扬起帆回航。他开始把鱼往船边拖过来，以便从它的鳃穿进绳子，再从口中抽出来，这样就能让它的头紧紧靠住船头。他想我要看看它、碰碰它、摸摸它。它就是我的财富，他想。但这并不是我要摸它的原因。我想刚才已经摸到它的心了，他想，就在那第二次把鱼叉柄推入它身体的时候。