老人与海

The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea. He thought of how some men feared being out of sight of land in a small boat and knew they were right in the months of sudden bad weather. But now they were in hurricane months and, when there are no hurricanes, the weather of hurricane months is the best of all the year.

随着即将吹起的贸易风，云朵渐渐多了，他往前望去，看见一群野鸭子在水面上低空飞过、渐渐消失，然后又再度出现。他知道，海洋上没有谁是真正孤单的。他想到，有些人最怕待在一艘小船上却完全看不见陆地的感觉。而他同意，在天气极不稳定的某几个月中这样的想法是对的，但是现在正是飓风季节，只要没有飓风来，这个月份是全年天气最好的时候。

If there is a hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead if you are at sea. They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for, he thought. The land must make a difference too, in the shape of the clouds. But we have no hurricane coming now. He looked at the sky and saw the white cumulus built like friendly piles of ice cream and high above were the thin feathers of the cirrus against the high September sky. "Light brisa," he said. "Better weather for me than for you, fish."

假使有飓风的话，那在海上好几天前就可以从天空中看到一些征兆了。他想，如果是在陆地上的话反倒就看不见了，因为人们不晓得看什么为准。一定是陆地使这些云朵改变了形状。不过现在不会有飓风来就是了。他看见天空中一堆堆白色的积层云，彷佛是一层层美味的冰淇淋。在更高的上头则有稀疏羽毛似的卷云，衬托着九月的万里晴空呢。「微风，」他说，「鱼呀！这种天气对我比对你有利多了。」

His left hand was still cramped, but he was unknotting it slowly. I hate a cramp, he thought. It is a treachery of one's own body. It is humiliating before others to have a diarrhea from ptomaine poisoning or to vomit from it. But a cramp, he thought of it as a calambre, humiliates oneself especially when one is alone. If the boy were here he could rub it for me and loosen it down from the forearm, he thought. But it will loosen up. Then, with his right hand he felt the difference in the pull of the line before he saw the slant change in the water.

他的左手依然在痉挛，但是似乎已渐渐舒展开了些。我恨透抽筋，他想。这简直就是跟自己的身体作对。一个人中了尸毒当众上吐下泻固然丢脸，但是对于一个独处的人来说，抽筋更是可耻。他想，如果男孩在我身边，他可以帮我从手肘一直往下揉一揉，让抽筋尽快结束。不过它自己还是会好的。就在他看见水中鱼线的倾斜度改变之前，他的右手就已经感觉到线的拉力有点不同了。

Then, as he leaned against the line and slapped his left hand hard and fast against his thigh he saw the line slanting slowly upward. "He's coming up," he said. "Come on hand. Please come on." The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out. He came out unendingly and water poured from his sides. He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender. His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier and he rose his full length from the water and then re-entered it, smoothly, like a diver and the old man saw the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out.

在他靠着鱼线，左手急促地往大腿重重拍打的同时，他看见那条倾斜的鱼线，缓慢地上升。「它起来了，」他说。「手啊，快好吧！拜托快好吧。」鱼线缓慢而稳定地升起，船头前面，海水波涛汹涌，鱼破水而出了。它直冲上来，水从它的两侧奔流而下，在阳光之下，它是那么耀眼，它的头和背呈深紫色，阳光下，它身侧的淡紫色宽纹展露无遗。它的尖嘴像棒球棍那么长，尖尖的像细长的剑。它全身都浮出了水面，然后像个潜水员般利落地再度没入水中。老人看着它那大鎌刀状的尾巴没入水中后，鱼线也跟着向前奔去。

"He is two feet longer that the skiff," the old man said. The line was going out fast but steadily and the fish was not panicked. The old man was trying with both hands to keep the line just inside of breaking strength. He knew that if he could not slow the fish with a steady pressure the fish could take out all the line and break it.

「它比这条小船还要长两呎，」老人说。鱼线放得既快又稳，可是鱼没有惊慌失措。在不扯断鱼线的范围之内，老人的双手使劲握住鱼线。他知道如果没有办法用稳定的拉力减缓鱼的速度的话，所有的鱼线都可能会被拖光，并断裂。

He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought. I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run. If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke. But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able. The old man had seen many great fish. He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone.

他心想，这是条大鱼，我一定要把它制服。我千万不可以让它明白自己的力量有多大，也不能让它知道可以如何逃跑。假如我是它，我会竭尽所能地跑，直到线被扯断为止。但是，感谢上帝，这些鱼虽然比我们人类更高贵，更有能耐，但却不如我们这些屠杀它们的人那么聪明。老人曾经见过许许多多的大鱼，其中很多都超过一千磅重，而他自己一生中也捕过两条这般重的大鱼，但他从来不是单独一个人捕到的。

Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to the biggest fish that he had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of, and his left hand was still as tight as the gripped claws of an eagle. It will uncramp though, he thought. Surely it will uncramp to help my right hand. There are three things that are brothers: the fish and my two hands. It must uncramp. It is unworthy of it to be cramped. The fist had slowed again and was going at his usual pace. I wonder why he jumped, the old man thought. He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was.

而现在，他孤零零地一个人，远在陆地之外，他的命运与一条过去所见所闻中的从未碰过的大鱼，紧密地结合在一起；他的左手依然像老鹰的爪子一样僵硬。抽筋总会好的，他想。它当然要松开来，帮助我的右手。我有三个兄弟：鱼和我的双手。它必须复元，手若抽筋就一点用也没有啦。那鱼又慢了下来，恢复它往常的速度前进。「我真不知道它为什么要跳上来，」老人想。它跳上来就像是要我看看它有多么大。