He lay in the stern and steered and watched for the glow to come in the sky. I have half of him, he thought. Maybe I‘ll have the luck to bring the forward half in. I should have some luck. No, he said. You violated your luck when you went too far outside.
他躺在船梢掌著舵,注視著天空,等著天際的反光出現。我還有半條魚,他想。也許我運氣好,能把前半條帶回去。我總該多少有點運氣吧。不,他說。你出海太遠了,把好運給沖掉啦。
"Don‘t be silly," he said aloud. "And keep awake and steer. You may have much luck yet.
“別傻了,”他說出聲來。“保持清醒,掌好舵。你也許還有很大的好運呢。”
"I‘d like to buy some if there‘s any place they sell it," he said.
“要是有什麼地方賣好運,我倒想買一些,”他說。
What could I buy it with? he asked himself. Could I buy it with a lost harpoon and a broken knife and two bad hands?
我能拿什麼來買呢?他問自己。能用一支弄丟了的魚叉、一把折斷的刀子和兩隻受了傷的手嗎?
"You might," he said. "You tried to buy it with eighty-four days at sea. They nearly sold it to you too."
“也許能,”他說。“你曾想拿在海上的八十四天來買它。人家也幾乎把它賣給了你。”
I must not think nonsense, he thought. Luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her? I would take some though in any form and pay what they asked. I wish I could see the glow from the lights, he thought. I wish too many things. But t hat is the thing I wish for now. He tried to settle more comfortably to steer and from his pain he knew he was not dead.
我不能胡思亂想,他想。好運這玩意兒,來的時候有許多不同的方式,誰認得出啊?可是不管什麼樣的好運,我都要一點兒,要多少錢就給多少。但願我能看到燈火的反光,他想。我的願望太多了。但眼下的願望就只有這個了。他竭力坐得舒服些,好好掌舵,因為感到疼痛,知道自己並沒有死。
He saw the reflected glare of the lights of the city at what must have been around ten o‘clock at night. They were only perceptible at first as the light is in the sky before the moon rises. Then they were steady to see across the ocean which was rough now with the increasing breeze. He steered inside of the glow and he thought that now, soon, he must hit the edge of the stream.
大約夜裡十點的時候,他看見了城市的燈火映在天際的反光。起初只能依稀看出,就象月亮升起前天上的微光。然後一步步地清楚了,就在此刻正被越來越大的風颳得波濤洶湧的海洋的另一邊。他駛進了這反光的圈子,他想,要不了多久就能駛到灣流的邊緣了。
Now it is over, he thought. They will probably hit me again. But what can a man do against them in the dark without a weapon?
現在事情過去了,他想。它們也許還會再來襲擊我。不過,一個人在黑夜裡,沒有武器,怎樣能對付它們呢?
He was stiff and sore now and his wounds and all of the strained parts of his body hurt with the cold of the night. I hope I do not have to fight again, he thought. I hope so much I do not have to fight again.
他這時身子僵硬、疼痛,在夜晚的寒氣裡,他的傷口和身上所有用力過度的地方都在發痛。我希望不必再鬥了,他想。我真希望不必再鬥了。
But by midnight he fought and this time he knew the fight was useless. They came in a pack and he could only see the lines in the water that their fins made and their phosphorescence as they threw themselves on the fish. He clubbed at heads and heard the jaws chop and the shaking of the skiff as they took hold below. He clubbed desperately at what he could only feel and hear and he felt something seize the club and it was gone.
但是到了午夜,他又搏鬥了,而這一回他明白搏鬥也是徒勞。它們是成群襲來的,朝那魚直撲,他只看見它們的鰭在水面上劃出的一道道線,還有它們的磷光。他朝它們的頭打去,聽到上下顎啪地咬住的聲音,還有它們在船底下咬住了魚使船搖晃的聲音。他看不清目標,只能感覺到,聽到,就不顧死活地揮棍打去,他感到什麼東西攫住了棍子,它就此丟了。
He jerked the tiller free from the rudder and beat and chopped with it, holding it in both hands and driving it down again and again. But they were up to the bow now and driving in one after the other and together, tearing off the pieces of meat that show ed glowing below the sea as they turned to come once more.
他把舵把從舵上猛地扭下,用它又打又砍,雙手攥住了一次次朝下戳去。可是它們此刻都在前面船頭邊,一條接一條地竄上來,成群地一起來,咬下一塊塊魚肉,當它們轉身再來時,這些魚肉在水面下發亮。
One came, finally, against the head itself and he knew that it was over. He swung the tiller across the shark‘s head where the jaws were caught in the heaviness of the fish‘s head which would not tear. He swung it once and twice and again. He heard the ti ller break and he lunged at the shark with the splintered butt. He felt it go in and knowing it was sharp he drove it in again. The shark let go and rolled away. That was the last shark of the pack that came. There was nothing more for them to eat.
最後,有條鯊魚朝魚頭起來,他知道這下子可完了。他把舵把朝鯊魚的腦袋掄去,打在它咬住厚實的魚頭的兩顎上,那兒的肉咬不下來。他掄了一次,兩次,又一次。他聽見舵把啪的斷了,就把斷下的把手向鯊魚扎去。他感到它紮了進去,知道它很尖利,就再把它扎進去。鯊魚鬆了嘴,一翻身就走了。這是前來的這群鯊魚中最末的一條。它們再也沒有什麼可吃的了。
The old man could hardly breathe now and he felt a strange taste in his mouth. It was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment. But there was not much of it.
老人這時簡直喘不過起來,覺得嘴裡有股怪味兒。這味兒帶著銅腥氣,甜滋滋的,他一時害怕起來。但是這味兒並不太濃。
He spat into the ocean and said, "Eat that, galanos. And make a dream you‘ve killed a man."
他朝海里啐了一口說:“把它吃了,加拉諾鯊。做個夢吧,夢見你殺了一個人。”
He knew he was beaten now finally and without remedy and he went back to the stern and found the jagged end of the tiller would fit in the slot of the rudder well enough for him to steer. He settled the sack around his shoulders and put the skiff on her c ourse. He sailed lightly now and he had no thoughts nor any feelings of any kind. He was past everything now and he sailed the skiff to make his home port as well and as intelligently as he could. In the night sharks hit the carcass as someone might pick up crumbs from the table. The old man paid no attention to them and did not pay any attention to anything except steering. He only noticed how lightly and how well the skiff sailed now there was no great weight beside her.
他明白他如今終於給打敗了,沒法補救了,就回到船梢,發現舵把那鋸齒形的斷頭還可以安在舵的狹槽裡,讓他用來掌舵。他把麻袋在肩頭圍圍好,使小船順著航線駛去。航行得很輕鬆,他什麼念頭都沒有,什麼感覺也沒有。他此刻超脫了這一切,只顧儘可能出色而明智地把小船駛回他家鄉的港口。夜裡有些鯊魚來咬這死魚的殘骸,就象人從飯桌上撿麵包屑吃一樣。老人不去理睬它們,除了掌舵以外他什麼都不理睬。他只留意到船舷邊沒有什麼沉重的東西,小船這時駛來多麼輕鬆,多麼出色。
She‘s good, he thought. She is sound and not harmed in any way except for the tiller. That is easily replaced.
船還是好好的,他想。它是完好的,沒受一點兒損傷,除了那個舵把。那是容易更換的。
He could feel he was inside the current now and he could see the lights of the beach colonies along the shore. He knew where he was now and it was nothing to get home.
他感覺到已經在灣流中行駛,看得見沿岸那些海濱住宅區的燈光了。他知道此刻到了什麼地方,回家是不在話下了。
The wind is our friend, anyway, he thought. Then he added, sometimes. And the great sea with our friends and our enemies. And bed, he thought. Bed is my friend. Just bed, he thought. Bed will be a great thing. It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was. And what beat you? he thought.
不管怎麼樣,風總是我們的朋友,他想。然後他加上一句:有時候是。還有大海,海里有我們的朋友,也有我們的敵人。還有床,他想。床是我的朋友。光是床,他想。床將是樣了不起的東西。吃了敗仗,上床是很舒服的,他想。我從來不知道竟然這麼舒服。那麼是什麼把你打敗的,他想。
"Nothing," he said aloud. "I went out too far."
“什麼也沒有,”他說出聲來。“只怪我出海太遠了。”
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