The sun rose thinly from the sea and the old man could see the other boats, low on the water and well in toward the shore, spread out across the current. Then the sun was brighter and the glare came on the water and then, as it rose clear, the flat sea sent it back at his eyes so that it hurt sharply and he rowed without looking into it. He looked down into the water and watched the lines that went straight down into the dark of the water. He kept them straighter than anyone did, so that at each level in the darkness of the stream there would be a bait waiting exactly where he wished it to be for any fish that swam there. Others let them drift with the current and sometimes they were at sixty fathoms when the fishermen thought they were at a hundred.
淡淡的太陽從海上升起,老人看見其他船只低低地挨著水面,朝海岸漂去,向海浪垂直的方向分散開。接著,太陽更明亮了,刺眼的強(qiáng)光照在水面上。當(dāng)太陽從地平線上完全升起,平坦的海面把陽光反射到他眼睛里,使他的眼睛劇烈地刺痛,所以他劃著船,不朝太陽看。他俯視水中,注視著那幾根一直垂到漆黑的深水里的釣索。他把釣索垂得比任何人更直,這樣,在黑暗的灣流深處的幾個(gè)不同的深度,都會(huì)有一個(gè)魚餌剛好在他所指望的地方等待著游動(dòng)的魚來覓食。別的漁夫讓釣索順?biāo)?,有時(shí)釣索在六十英尋的深處,他們卻自以為在一百英尋的深處呢。
But, he thought, I keep them with precision. Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.
但是,他想,我總是把它們放在精確的地方。只是我沒有運(yùn)氣,可誰知道呢?也許今天就有好運(yùn)。每天都是新的一天。走運(yùn)當(dāng)然更好,但我寧愿做得精確。那么運(yùn)氣來的時(shí)候,你就準(zhǔn)備好了。
The sun was two hours higher now and it did not hurt his eyes so much to look into the east. There were only three boats in sight now and they showed very low and far inshore.
兩個(gè)小時(shí)過去了,太陽升得更高了,朝東望去,眼睛沒有刺痛得那么厲害?,F(xiàn)在只能看見三艘船,它們顯得很低,靠近海岸。
All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes, he thought. Yet they are still good. In the evening I can look straight into it without getting the blackness. It has more force in the evening too. But in the morning it is painful.
這一輩子,初升的太陽總是刺痛我的眼睛,他心想。然而,眼睛仍然是好好的。傍晚時(shí)分,我能直視它,不會(huì)有眼前發(fā)黑的感覺。陽光在傍晚要更強(qiáng)烈些,不過在早上它叫人感到痛苦。
Just then he saw a man-of-war bird with his long black wings circling in the sky ahead of him. He made a quick drop, slanting down on his back-swept wings, and then circled again.
就在這時(shí),他看見一只軍艦鳥,有著黑色的長(zhǎng)翅膀,在他前方的天空中盤旋。它斜著后掠的雙翅迅速俯沖下來,然后又盤旋起來。 "He's got something," the old man said aloud. "He's not just looking." "他逮到東西了,"老人大聲說,"他不只是看看。"
He rowed slowly and steadily toward where the bird was circling. He did not hurry and he kept his lines straight up and down. But he crowded the current a little so that he was still fishing correctly though faster than he would have fished if he was not trying to use the bird.
他緩慢而堅(jiān)定地劃向鳥兒盤旋的地方。他并不匆忙,使釣索保持著上下垂直的位置。不過他朝海流靠近了一點(diǎn),這樣他依然在用正確的方式捕魚,盡管他的速度要比不打算利用鳥兒來引路時(shí)來得快。
The bird went higher in the air and circled again, his wings motionless. Then he dove suddenly and the old man saw flying fish spurt out of the water and sail desperately over the surface.
鳥兒在空中飛得更高了,再次盤旋起來,翅膀紋絲不動(dòng)。然后它猛然俯沖下來,老人看見飛魚躍出水面,拼命地在海面上掠過。
"Dolphin," the old man said aloud. "Big dolphin."
"海豚,"老人大聲說道' "大海豚。"
He shipped his oars and brought a small line from under the bow. It had a wire leader and a medium-sized hook and he baited it with one of the sardines. He let it go over the side and then made it fast to a ring bolt in the stern. Then he baited another line and left it coiled in the shade of the bow. He went back to rowing and to watching the long-winged black bird who was working, now, low over the water.
他取下槳,從船頭下面拿出一根細(xì)釣絲。釣絲上系著鐵絲導(dǎo)線和一只中號(hào)釣鉤,他把一條沙丁魚掛在上面,順著船舷放下水,然后將絲緊緊地系在船尾一只帶環(huán)螺栓上。接著他在另一根線上安上魚餌,把它盤繞著擱置在船頭的陰影里。他又劃起船,看著長(zhǎng)翅黑鳥,它此刻正在水面上低飛。
As he watched the bird dipped again slanting his wings for the dive and then swinging them wildly and ineffectually as he followed the flying fish. The old man could see the slight bulge in the water that the big dolphin raised as they followed the escaping fish. The dolphin were cutting through the water below the flight of the fish and would be in the water, driving at speed, when the fish dropped. It is a big school of dolphin, he thought. They are widespread and the flying fish have little chance. The bird has no chance. The flying fish are too big for him and they go too fast.
他正看著,鳥兒又斜起翅膀準(zhǔn)備俯沖,它向下沖來,然后又猛烈地扇動(dòng)著雙翼,追蹤飛魚,但是沒有成效。老人看見大海豚在追趕飛魚時(shí)海面微微隆起的水浪。海豚在飛掠的魚下面破水而行,等魚一落下,海豚就會(huì)飛速潛人水中。這群海豚真大呀!他想。它們分散開去,飛魚很少有機(jī)會(huì)逃脫。軍艦鳥也沒有機(jī)會(huì),飛魚對(duì)它來說太大了,并且它們速度太快。
He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird. That school has gotten away from me, he thought. They are moving out too fast and too far. But perhaps I will pick up a stray and perhaps my big fish is around them. My big fish must be somewhere.
他看著飛魚一次次地躍出水面,鳥兒的行為也一無所獲。那群海豚要遠(yuǎn)離我了,他想著。它們動(dòng)作太快,游得太遠(yuǎn)。但是,也許我會(huì)逮住一條掉隊(duì)的,也許我的大魚就在它們周圍。我的大魚一定在某個(gè)地方。