老人与海

He waited with the line between his thumb and his finger, watching it and the other lines at the same time for the fish might have swum up or down. Then came the same delicate pulling touch again. "He'll take it," the old man said aloud. "God help him to take it." He did not take it though. He was gone and the old man felt nothing. "He can't have gone," he said. "Christ knows he can't have gone. He's making a turn. Maybe he has been hooked before and he remembers something of it." Then he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy.

他把鱼线握在大拇指和食指之间，守望着，同时留意着所有的鱼线，因为鱼儿有可能上下游动。接着，和刚才一样的轻微拉动又开始了。「它一定会吃的，」老人大声地说。「求上帝帮助，让它吃吧！」然而，它却没有吃。它又走了，老人感觉不到任何拉动。「它不可能走了。」老人说：「上帝知道，它绝不可能走了，它正在转圈。它可能曾经被鱼钩勾到过，所以想起了什么。」然后，他反感觉到鱼线被轻轻地拉动了。他高兴极了。

"It was only his turn," he said. "He'll take it." He was happy feeling the gentle pulling and then he felt something hard and unbelievably heavy. It was the weight of the fish and he let the line slip down, down, down, unrolling off the first of the two reserve coils. As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man's fingers, he still could feel he the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible. "What a fish," he said. "He has it sideways in his mouth now and he is moving off with it."

「它刚才只是在兜圈子而已，」他说：「它会吃的。」然后他兴奋地感觉着这轻轻的力量，然后，这力量开始变得无比沉重了。这是鱼的重量，他让鱼线往下滑，一滑再滑，把两卷预备线中的一卷全拖走了。线从老人的指间里轻轻滑过，虽然在他的拇指和食指之间的压力轻微得好像不存在似的，他依然可以感觉到那条鱼沈甸甸的重量。「好大的一条鱼啊！」他说。「它现在正把饵横衔在嘴里，而且拖着它游走。」

Then he will turn and swallow it, he thought. He did not say that because he knew that if you said a good thing it might not happen. He knew what a huge fish this was and he thought of him moving away in the darkness with the tuna held crosswise in his mouth. At that moment he felt him stop moving but the weight was still there. Then the weight increased and he gave more line. He tightened the pressure of his thumb and finger for a moment and the weight increased and was going straight down. "He's taken it," he said. "Now I'll let him eat it well."

他心里盘算着，接下来，它就会打转，然后把它吞下去。他并没有把这些话说出口，因为他知道，如果你把好事情说出来，那么这件事也许就不会发生了。他晓得这是一条多么大的鱼，并想象着它在黑暗中把鲔鱼横衔在嘴里拖着走的样子。就在这一刻，他突然感觉鱼停止游动了，但是重量还在。然后，重量又增加了，他又放出了更多的线。他把拇指和食指夹紧了一些，不一会儿，重量又更增加了，而且直直地往下沉。「上钩了。」他说。「现在我就让它好好吃一餐。」

He let the line slip through his fingers while he reached down with his left hand and made fast the free end of the two reserve coils to the loop of the two reserve coils of the next line. New he was ready. He had three forty fathom coils of line in reserve now, as well as the coil he was using. "Eat it a little more," he said. "Eat it well." Eat it so that the point of the hook goes into your heart and kills you, he thought. Come up easy and let me put the harpoon into you. All right. Are you ready? Have you been long enough at table?

他一面让线继续由手指中往下滑，一面用左手往下伸去，将两卷预备线散开的线头紧紧打成一个结。现在他一切都准备好了。除了手边正在用的这卷线之外，还有了三卷四十啊长的备用线。「再多吃一点点吧，」他说：「好好地吃。」他心中暗自盘算着，好好地吃吧，好让鱼钩伸进你的心脏，取走你小命。然后乖乖地浮上来，好让我把鱼叉刺到你的身体里。好吧！准备好了吗？你这餐饭吃得够久了吧！

"Now!" he said aloud and struck hard with both hands, gained a yard of line and then struck again and again, swinging with each arm alternately on the cord with all the strength of his arms and the pivoted weight of his body. Nothing happened. The fish just moved away slowly and the old man could not raise him an inch. His line was strong and made for heavy fish and he held it against his back until it was so taut that beads of water were jumping from it. Then it began to make a slow hissing sound in the water and he still held it, bracing himself against the thwart and leaning back against the pull. The boat began to move slowly off toward the northwest.

「就是现在！」他大声地说，两只手便开始使劲地拉，总算把鱼线拉回了一码长，然后两手交替着继续不断地拉，不但使尽了所有的手肩力量，连作为主轴的身体，也全都用上了重量。徒劳无功地。鱼只是慢慢地游走，老人连一吋都提不起来。还好他的鱼线是专为捕大鱼所设计的，十分地坚固。他把线绳横跨在背上，紧紧握住，紧得连绳子上都挤出水珠来了。线绳在水里发出了缓慢的嘶嘶声，老人让自己在小船的坐板上坐稳，双手仍紧握着鱼线，他吃力地将身体往后靠，以抵抗鱼往前拖的力量。船开始缓慢地朝向西北方移动了。