老人与海（1958）

做钓饵倒不错。
You will make a beautiful bait.
他记不得自己是从什么时候开始独个儿自言自语了。
He did not remember when he’d first started to talk aloud when he was by himself.
早先他一个人有时候还会唱歌♥，
In the old days, he had sung at night when he was alone…
那是在小帆船或者捕龟船上值班掌舵的时候。
… steering on his watch on the turtle boats.
也许，是在那男孩离开他之后，他才开始一个人♥大♥声说话。
He had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left…
可是他记不得了。
… but he did not remember.
在海上，不没话找话说被认为是一种美德，
It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea…
老人向来这么认为，并且始终尊奉这一信条。
… and the old man had always considered it so and respected it.
可是现在，他经常把心中所想大声说出来，
But now he said his thoughts aloud many times…
反正也不会打扰什么人。
… since there was no one they could annoy.
“如果有人听见我自言自语，会以为我疯了，”他想，
“If the others heard me,” he thought, “they would think I am crazy.
“不过，既然我没有发疯，就不管他三七二十一。
But since I am not crazy, I do not care.
有钱人的船里有收音机对着他们说话，还给他们播放棒球赛的消息。”
And the rich have radios to talk to them on their boats, to bring them the baseball. ”
是的。是的。
Yes. Yes.
接着他感觉重重的一下，那分量让人难以置信。
Then he felt something hard and unbelievably heavy.
那是鱼的分量。
It was the weight of the fish…
于是，他让钓线向下滑去，往下，再往下，
… and he let the line slip down, down, down…
把两卷备用钓线中的一卷一点点放开。
… unrolling off the first of the two reserve coils.
在离海岸这么远的地方，长到这个月份，这条鱼个头儿一定不小，
This far out, he must be huge in this month.
鱼儿啊，快吃吧，吃吧。
Eat them, fish. Eat them.
请吃吧。
Please eat them.
饵料多么新鲜啊，
How fresh they are…
你却待在这漆黑而冰冷的海水里。
…and you down deep in that cold water in the dark.
来吧，
Come on, now.
再转身回来，
Make another turn.
闻一闻。不是很香吗？趁新鲜吃吧，
Then eat them. Just smell the sardines.
还有金枪鱼呢。
Then there is the tuna…
又硬，又凉，又好吃。
…cold and hard and lovely.
鱼儿，吃吧，
Come on, fish. Eat them.
别难为情。
Don’t be shy.
它会咬饵的，
He’ll take it.
上帝保佑让它咬饵吧。
God help him to take it.
它不可能游走的，
He can’t have gone.
天知道它是不会游走的。它是在兜圈子。
God knows he can’t have gone. He must be making another turn.
说不定它以前上过钩，还记得这回事儿。
Perhaps he has been hooked before, and he remembers part of it.
它刚才不过是在兜圈子，
He was just turning. He’s going to take it.
好大的鱼啊，
What a fish!
现在它把鱼饵咬在嘴边，
Now he has it sideways in his mouth…
正要带着鱼饵游走呢。
…and he’s going away with it.
钓线从老人的手指间轻轻溜下去的时候，
As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man’s fingers…
他仍旧能觉出很大的分量，
… he could still feel the great weight…
尽管他的拇指和食指之间几乎感觉不到什么压力。
… though the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible.
它咬饵了，
He’s taken it.
现在我让它吃个够。
Now let him eat it.
再吃点儿吧，
Eat it good, now, fish.
好好吃吧。
Go on, eat it.
吃吧，这样钩尖就能刺入你的心脏，把你杀死，
Eat it until the point of the hook goes into your heart and kills you…
然后乖乖地上来吧，让我把鱼叉刺进你的身体。
…then come up nice and easy and let me put the harpoon into you.
好啦，你准备好了吗？
Now, are you ready?
吃够了吗？
Have you been long enough at table?
*现在鱼一动不动了，老人能感觉到它被钩住了。
Now the fish was struck, and the old man could feel that he was hooked.
*它应该朝前游或者跳起来或者往下钻。
Now he should run with the line or jump or sound to the depths below…
*但是什么都没有发生。
… but nothing happened.
那鱼径自慢慢游走，
The fish just moved away slowly…
老人连一英寸也拉不上来。
… and the old man could not raise him an inch.
他的钓线很结实，是专为钓大鱼而做的，
His line was strong and made for heavy fish…
他把钓线抵在背上猛拉，钓线绷得紧紧的，竟然有水珠迸出。
… and he held it until it was so taut that beads of water were jumping from it.
小船开始慢慢向西北方向漂去。
Then the boat began to move slowly off toward the northwest.
老人身子抵在横座板上向后仰，和鱼的拉力相对抗。
The old man leaned back against the pull.
鱼一刻不停地游着，和小船一起在平静的水面上慢慢行进。
The fish moved steadily, and they traveled slowly on the calm water.
另外几个鱼饵还在水里，不过没什么动静，可以置之不理。
The other baits were still in the water, but there was nothing to be done.
这样下去它会死的，
This will kill him.
它不可能永远这么游下去。
He can’t keep this up forever.
然而，过了四个钟头，那鱼仍然拖着小船，一刻不停地游向大海深处，
But four hours later, the fish was still swimming steadily out to sea…
钓线也依然紧绷在老人背上。
… towing the skiff, and the old man was still braced solidly.
“这该是条多大的鱼啊。”他想。
“What a fish to pull like that!” he thought.
“它的嘴准是死死钩在钢丝钓钩上了。”
“He must have his mouth shut tight on the wire.
“我真想看它一眼，好知道这是个什么样的对手。”
I wish I could see him only once to know what I have against me. ”
陆地已经不在视线之内。“这没什么关系，”他想。
There was no land in sight now. “That makes no difference,” he thought.
“我总能借着哈瓦那的灯光回家。”
“I can always come in on the glare off the lights from Havana. ”
这鱼上钩约莫是在中午，可我还没看见它一眼呢。
It was noon when I hooked him, and I have not yet seen him.
真希望那孩子在我身边，
I wish the boy was here.
我正被一条鱼拖着走，成了系缆绳的桩子啦。
I’m being towed by a fish, and I am the towing bitt.
“如果它一门心思往下钻，我该怎么办？我不知道。
“What I will do if he decides to go down, I don’t know.
如果它潜到海底，死在那里怎么办？我不知道。
What I’ll do if he sounds and dives, I don’t know.
我得想想法子。我有不少办法呢。
I’ll do something. There are plenty of things I can do.
我倒是可以把钓线固定起来，”他想，“不过这样一来鱼就会把钓线扯断。
I could make the line fast, ” he thought, “but then he could break it.
我得死命拉住，不得已的时候放开一点儿钓线。
I must hold him all I can and then give him line when he must have it.
谢天谢地，它在朝前游，没有往下钻。”
Thank God he is traveling and not going down. ”
日落之后天气变凉了，
It was cold after the sun went down…
老人的后背、胳膊和两条老腿上的汗水都晾干了，身子感到发冷。
… and the old man’s sweat dried cold on his back and his arms and his old legs.
* “太阳落山了，它没有上来。”他想。
“He didn’t come up when the sun set,” he thought.
* 也许会和月亮一起上来。
“Maybe he will come up with the moon.
* 要是还不上来，也许会在太阳升起的时候。
If he does not do that, maybe he will come up with the sunrise.
我真想看看它的样子。
I wish I could see him.
我真想看它一眼，好知道这是个什么样的对手。”
I wish I could see him only once to know what I have against me. ”
两只海豚游到小船附近，他能听见它们翻腾和喷水的声音。
Two porpoises came round the boat, he could hear them rolling and blowing.
他能分辨出雄海豚那喧闹的喷水声，
He could tell the difference between the noise the male made…
和雌海豚发出的叹息似的喷水声。
… and the sighing blow of the female.
“它们真好，”他想。
“They’re good,” he thought.
“嬉戏、打闹，相亲相爱。
“They play and make jokes and love one another.
它们跟飞鱼一样，是我们的兄弟。”
They are our brothers, like the flying fish. ”
他开始怜悯起这条被他钓住的大鱼来了。
Then he began to pity the great fish he had hooked.
“它真是了不起，真是与众不同，”他想。
“He is wonderful and strange,” he thought.
“有谁知道它有多大岁数？”
“Who knows how old he is. ”
我从来没有碰上过一条这么强壮的鱼，
Never have I had such a strong fish…
也没有见识过这么奇特的一条鱼。
…or one that acted so strangely.
它也许是太聪明了，才没有往上跳。
Maybe he’s too wise to jump.
它要是跳起来或者横冲直撞，我就完了。
He could ruin me with a jump or one quick rush.
不过，也许它曾经不止一次上过钩，
Maybe he has been hooked many times before…
知道就该这么对抗。
…and he knows this is how he must make his fight.
它咬起饵来像条雄鱼，
He took the bait like a male.
拖拽起钓线来也像条雄鱼，
He moves like a male.
搏斗起来没有一丝惊慌。
There is no panic in his fight.
不知道它是胸有成竹，还是和我一样孤注一掷。
I wonder if he has a plan or if he’s just as desperate as I am.
真希望那孩子在我身边。
I wish the boy was here.
老人靠着观察天上的星斗，
The fish never changed his course nor his direction all that night…
看出这条鱼整个晚上都没有改变自己的路线和方向。
… as far as the old man could tell from watching the stars.
他能感觉到大鱼的力量。那鱼一直朝着自己选择的方向，一刻不停地游着。
He felt the strength of the great fish moving steadily toward what he had chosen…
是我耍的花招，老人心想，
… and he thought, “When once through my treachery …
迫使它做出了选择。
…it had been necessary for him to make a choice
它本来选择待在黑魆魆的深水里，
… his choice had been to stay in the deep water…
远远避开一切圈套、陷阱和花招。
… far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries.
而我选择到没人去过的地方找它。
My choice was to go there and find him beyond all people.
世界上任何人都没去过。
Beyond all people in the world.
现在我们给拴在一起了，从中午开始就是这样。
Now we are joined together and have been since noon.
谁也没有帮手。
And no one to help either one of us. ”
我会损失两百英寻长棒极了的钓线，还有钓钩和接钩绳。”他想。
“I have lost 200 fathoms of good line and hooks and leaders, ” he thought.
这些还可以重新添置。
“That can be replaced.
可是，万一钓上了别的鱼，把这条鱼给弄丢了，拿什么来代替呢？
But who replaces this fish if I hook some fish and it cuts him off?
我不知道刚才咬饵的是条什么鱼。
I don’t know what the fish was that took the bait just now.
有可能是条大马林鱼，或者剑鱼，要么就是鲨鱼。我还没来得及琢磨呢。
Could have been a marlin or a broadbill or a shark. I never felt him.
我得赶紧把它干掉。
I had to get rid of him too fast. ”
“不知道刚才这鱼为什么突然颠了一下，”他想。
“I wonder what he made that lurch for,” he thought.
一定是金属接钩绳滑到了它那高高隆起的背上。
“The wire must have slipped on the great hill of his back.
当然，它的后背不会和我一样难受。
Certainly his back cannot feel as badly as mine does…
可是，不管它有多么了不起，
… and he cannot pull this skiff forever…
也不可能永远拖着这条小船游下去。
… no matter how strong he is. ”
“上帝保佑，让它跳吧，”
“Please, God, let him jump.
要是我把钓线稍微拉紧一点儿，也许它就会疼得跳起来，
Maybe if I can increase the tension a little more, it will hurt him, and he will jump.