The old man and the sea(17)
He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her color turned to a color almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy's aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat.
它靠得那么近，使得老人害怕它会用那大小和形状都像把大鎌刀的锋利尾巴把鱼线剪断。老人用鱼叉刺母鱼，再握住她那形如茅钩、边缘却粗糙如砂纸的尖嘴，用棒棍朝母鱼的头顶打，直到她变成如镜背一般黝暗的颜色为止。然后小男孩帮忙一起将她拖到船上，那条公鱼还一直在船边徘徊留连。
Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male fish jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed. That was the saddest thing I ever saw with them, the old man thought. The boy was sad too and we begged her pardon and butchered her promptly.
之后当老人在清理鱼线和鱼叉的时候，公鱼从船边跳上空中，再望母鱼最后一眼，便沉入深水中；那时它将紫色的翅膀，也就是它的胸鳍，完全地伸展开来，露出上面所有紫色的宽纹。老人依然记得，它实在美极了，当时他并为之停驻，久久未离去。那是我在鱼身上所见过最悲哀的事情，老人回想着。男孩也同样地难过，我们乞求母鱼原谅我们，而后很快地就把它宰割了。
"I wish the boy was here," he said aloud and settled himself against the rounded planks of the bow and felt the strength of the great fish through the line he held across his shoulders moving steadily toward whatever he had chosen. When once, through my treachery, it had been necessary to him to make a choice, the old man thought. His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world.
「真希望男孩在这里，」他大声地说着，把他自己靠在船头弧形的木板旁，从跨在他肩上的鱼线，他可以感觉到这条大鱼的力量，以及它决定稳定游往的方向。老人心想，一旦中了我的圈套它就不得不作一个选择。它的选择是继续待在黑暗的深水里，远离所有的陷阱、鱼网，以及奸诈阴谋。而我的选择是，抛开所有的人，它到哪儿，我就到哪儿去找寻它。抛开全世界所有的人。
Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either one of us. Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for. I must surely remember to eat the tuna after it gets light. Some time before daylight something took one of the baits that were behind him. He heard the stick break and the line begin to rush out over the gunwale of the skiff.
现在的我们从中午开始便已经结合在一起了，双方都没有任何外力可以提供帮助。他想，也许我不应该成为一个渔夫。可是这是我命中注定的。天亮的时候，我千万要记得吃鲔鱼。在天破晓之前，他感觉有什么东西咬住了他后边的其中一个鱼饵。他听见杆子折断的声音，鱼线开始快速地沿着船边拖动。
In the darkness he loosened his sheath knife and taking all the strain of the fish on his left shoulder he leaned back and cut the line against the wood of the gunwale. Then he cut the other line closest to him and in the dark made the loose ends of the reserve coils fast. He worked skillfully with the one hand and put his foot on the coils to hold them as he drew his knots tight. Now he had six reserve coils of line. There were two from each bait he had severed and the two from the bait the fish had taken and they were all connected.
黑暗中，他把小刀从鞘抽了出来，把鱼的重量都移到左边的肩膀来承担，身体往后一靠，用小刀把刚才拖动的那条鱼线，往船舷旁边一刀砍断。他又把最靠近的另外一根线也砍断，然后，在黑暗中，把两卷备用线的线头结在一起。他只用一只手很技巧地完成了这些事。他用一只脚固定住线盘，把结打紧。现在他有六盘预备线了，每一个切断的鱼饵都各连接着两盘预备线，另外两盘则连着这条上钩的鱼，所有鱼线都连结在一起了。
After it is light, he thought, I will work back to the forty-fathom bait and cut it away too and link up the reserve coils. I will have lost two hundred fathoms of good Catalan cardel and the hooks and leaders. That can be replaced. But who replaces this fish if I hook some fish and it cuts him off? I don't know what that fish was that took the bait just now. It could have been a marlin or a broadtail or a shark. I never felt him. I had to get rid of him too fast. Aloud he said, "I wish I had the boy."
他想，天亮了以后，我再回头把那四十啊深处的饵砍断，把它的预备线和其它的结在一起。这样我将会损失两百啊上好的卡特兰线和钩子，还有导管。这些损失，都是可以弥补的。但是如果我因为钩到了其它的鱼，而让那条大鱼跑掉，有谁能够补偿我这样的损失呢？我不知道刚刚咬上鱼饵的是什么鱼，它有可能是条马林鱼或阔嘴鱼，甚至也有可能是一条鲨鱼。但是我还没有来得及去判断，就得尽快把它处理掉。他大声地说：「真希望那男孩在我身边。」
But you haven't got the boy, he thought. You have only yourself and you had better work back to the last line now, in the dark or not in the dark, and cut it away and hook up the two reserve coils. So he did it. It was difficult in the dark and once the fish made a surge that pulled him down on his face and made a cut below his eye. The blood ran down his cheek a little way. But it coagulated and dried before it reached his chin and he worked his way back to the bow and rested against the wood.
可是那男孩偏偏不在你身边，他想。你只有靠你自己了，不管天黑不黑，最好是专心，把最后这条线处理一下吧，砍断它，好把这两卷预备线也连结在一起。于是他这么做了。黑暗中要这么做确实很困难，突然间，那条鱼猛然掀起一阵大浪，把他拖倒了，脸部朝下，一只眼睛下面还割出了道伤口。血沿着脸颊流下，在还没有流到下额之前就凝结了。他吃力地回到船头，靠在木头上休息。
He adjusted the sack and carefully worked the line so that it came across a new part of his shoulders and, holding it anchored with his shoulders, he carefully felt the pull of the fish and then felt with his hand the progress of the skiff through the water. I wonder what he made that lurch for, he thought. The wire must have slipped on the great hill of his back. Certainly his back cannot feel as badly as mine does. But he cannot pull this skiff forever, no matter how great he is. Now everything is cleared away that might make trouble and I have a big reserve of line; all that a man can ask.
他调整肩上的袋子，很小心地重新将鱼线压在肩膀上另一个新的位置，继续用肩膀撑着线，他专注地感觉鱼的拉力，并用手感觉船在水中航行的情况。它那样乱动是为了什么呢？他想。一定是铁丝从它高如小山的背脊上滑过了。不过可以确定它的背脊绝对不会像我的背脊这样痛。但是，无论它有多大，它绝不可能永远拖着这条小船。现在，可能制造麻烦的东西都已经解决掉了，我又有一大堆的预备线。一个人所能要求的也就只有这么多了。
"Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead." He'll stay with me too, I suppose, the old man thought and he waited for it to be light. It was cold now in the time before daylight and he pushed against the wood to be warm. I can do it as long as he can, he thought. And in the first light the line extended out and down into the water. The boat moved steadily and when the first edge of the sun rose it was on the old man's right shoulder. "He's headed north," the old man said.
「鱼啊！」他很温柔，但是很大声地说：「我到死都会一直陪着你。」老人心想，它也会一直陪着我；他等待着黎明。天亮以前的空气凉飕飕的，他紧靠着木头取暖，心里想着，只要它能，我也能。在第一道晨光中，他看见鱼线从小船向外沿伸潜入水中。船很稳定地航行着。当太阳初露一角，阳光正好附在老人的右肩上。「它在朝北方走，」老人说。