He could not see the green of the shore now but only the tops of the blue hills that showed white as though they were snow-capped and the clouds that looked like high snow mountains above them. The sea was very dark and the light made prisms in the water. The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the high sun and it was only the great deep prisms in the blue water that the old man saw now with his lines going straight down into the water that was a mile deep.
他眼下已看不见海岸的那一道绿色了，只看得见那些青山的仿佛积着白雪的山峰，以及山峰上空象是高耸的雪山般的云块。海水颜色深极了，阳光在海水中幻成彩虹七色。那数不清的斑斑点点的浮游生物，由于此刻太阳升到了头顶上空，都看不见了，眼下老人看得见的仅仅是蓝色海水深处幻成的巨大的七色光带，还有他那几根笔直垂在有一英里深的水中的钓索。
The tuna, the fishermen called all the fish of that species tuna and only distinguished among them by their proper names when they came to sell them or to trade them for baits, were down again. The sun was hot now and the old man felt it on the back of his neck and felt the sweat trickle down his back as he rowed.
渔夫们管所有这种鱼都叫金枪鱼，只有等到把它们卖出，或者拿来换鱼饵时，才分别叫它们各自的专用名字。这时它们又沉下海去了。阳光此刻很热，老人感到脖颈上热辣辣的，划着划着，觉得汗水一滴滴地从背上往下淌。
I could just drift, he thought, and sleep and put a bight of line around my toe to wake me. But today is eighty-five days and I should fish the day well.
我大可随波逐流，他想，管自睡去，预先把钓索在脚趾上绕上一圈，有动静时可以把我弄醒。不过今天是第八十五天，我该一整天好好钓鱼。
Just then, watching his lines, he saw one of the projecting green sticks dip sharply.
就在这时，他凝视着钓索，看见其中有一根挑出在水面上的绿色钓竿猛地往水中一沉。
"Yes," he said. "Yes," and shipped his oars without bumping the boat. He reached out for the line and held it softly between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. He felt no strain nor weight and he held the line lightly. Then it came again. This time it was a tentative pull, not solid nor heavy, and he knew exactly what it was. One hundred fathoms down a marlin was eating the sardines that covered the point and the shank of the hook where the hand-forged hook projected from the head of the small tuna.
“来啦，”他说。“来啦，”说着从桨架上取下双桨，没有让船颠簸一下。他伸手去拉钓索，把它轻轻地夹在右手大拇指和食指之间。他感到钓索并不抽紧，也没什么分量，就轻松地握着。跟着它又动了一下。这回是试探性的一拉，拉得既不紧又不重，他就完全明白这是怎么回事了。在一百英寻的深处有条大马林鱼正在吃包住钓钩尖端和钩身的沙丁鱼，这个手工制的钓钩是从一条小金枪鱼的头部穿出来的。
The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick. Now he could let it run through his fingers without the fish feeling any tension.
老人轻巧地攥着钓索，用左手把它从竿子上轻轻地解下来。他现在可以让它穿过他手指间滑动，不会让鱼感到一点儿牵引力。
This far out, he must be huge in this month, he thought. Eat them, fish. Eat them. Please eat them. How fresh they are and you down there six hundred feet in that cold water in the dark. Make another turn in the dark and come back and eat them.
在离岸这么远的地方，它长到本月份，个头一定挺大了，他想。吃鱼饵吧，鱼啊。吃吧。请你吃吧。这些鱼饵多新鲜，而你啊，待在这六百英尺的深处，在这漆黑黑的冷水里。在黑暗里再绕个弯子，拐回来把它们吃了吧。
He felt the light delicate pulling and then a harder pull when a sardine‘s head must have been more difficult to break from the hook. Then there was nothing.
他感到微弱而轻巧地一拉，跟着较猛烈地一拉，这时准是有条沙丁鱼的头很难从钓钩上扯下来。然后没有一丝动静了。
"Come on," the old man said aloud. "Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren‘t they lovely? Eat them good now and then there is the tuna. Hard and cold and lovely. Don‘t be shy, fish. Eat them."
“来吧，”老人说出声来。“再绕个弯子吧。闻闻这些鱼饵。它们不是挺鲜美吗？趁它们还新鲜的时候吃了，回头还有那条金枪鱼。又结实，又凉快，又鲜美。别怕难为情，鱼儿。把它们吃了吧。”
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.
他把钓索夹在大拇指和食指之间等待着。同时盯着它和其他那几根钓索，因为这鱼可能已游到了高一点的地方或低一点的地方。跟着又是那么轻巧地一拉。
"He‘ll take it," the old man said aloud. "God help him to take it."
“它会咬饵的，”老人说出声来。“求天主帮它咬饵吧。”
He did not take it though. He was gone and the old man felt nothing.
然而它没有咬饵。它游走了，老人没感到有任何动静。
"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."
“它不可能游走的，”他说。“天知道它是不可能游走的。它正在绕弯子呐。也许它以前上过钩，还有点儿记得。”
Then he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy.
跟着他感到钓索轻轻地动了一下，他高兴了。
"It was only his turn," he said. "He‘ll take it."
“它刚才不过是在转身，”他说。“它会咬饵的。”
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 th rough the old man‘s fingers, he still could feel the great weight, thought the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible.
感到这轻微的一拉，他很高兴，接着他感到有些猛拉的感觉，很有份量，叫人难以相信。这是鱼本身的重量造成的，他就松手让钓索朝下溜，一直朝下，朝下溜，从那两卷备用钓索中的一卷上放出钓索。它从老人的指间轻轻地滑下去的时候，他依旧感到很大的分量，尽管他的大拇指和食指施加的压力简直小得觉察不到。
"What a fish," he said. "He has it sideways in his mouth now and he is moving off with it."
“多棒的鱼啊，”他说。“它正把鱼饵斜叼在嘴里，带着它在游走呐。”
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.
它就会掉过头来把饵吞下去的，他想。他没有把这句话说出声来，因为他知道，一桩好事如果说破了，也许就不会发生了。他知道这条鱼有多大，他想象到它嘴里横衔着金枪鱼，在黑暗中游走。这时他觉得它停止不动了，可是分量还是没变。跟着分量越来越重了，他就再放出一点钓索。他一时加强了大拇指和食指上的压力，于是钓索上的分量增加了，一直传到水中深处。
"He‘s taken it," he said. "Now I‘ll let him eat it well."
“它咬饵啦，”他说。“现在我来让它美美地吃一顿。”
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. Now he was ready. He had three forty-fathom coils of line in reserve now, as well as the coil he was using.
他让钓索在指间朝下溜，同时伸出左手，把两卷备用钓索的一端紧系在旁边那根钓索的两卷备用钓索上。他如今准备好了。他眼下除了正在使用的那钓索卷儿，还有三个四十英寻长的卷儿可供备用。
"Eat it a little more," he said. "Eat it well."
“再吃一些吧，”他说。“美美地吃吧。”
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?
吃了吧，这样可以让钓钩的尖端扎进你的心脏，把你弄死，他想。轻松愉快地浮上来吧，让我把鱼叉刺进你的身子。得了。你准备好了？你进餐得时间够长了吗？
"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.
“着啊！”他说出声来，用双手使劲猛拉钓索，收进了一码，然后连连猛拉，使出胳膊上的全副劲儿，拿身子的重量作为支撑，挥动双臂，轮换地把钓索往回拉。