He was an old man who fished alone in a
skiff① in the Gulf Stream and he had gone
eighty-four days now without taking a fish②.
In the fi rst forty days a boy had been with him.
But after forty days without a fish the boy’s
parents had told him that the old man was
now defi nitely and fi nally salao③, which is the
worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at
their orders in another boat which caught three
good fish the first week. It made the boy sad
to see the old man come in each day with his
skiff empty and he always went down to help
him carry either the coiled④ lines or the gaff⑤
and harpoon⑥ and the sail that was furled⑦
around the mast⑧. The sail was patched⑨ with
fl our sacks and, furled, it looked like the fl ag of
permanent defeat.
The old man was thin and gaunt with deep
wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown
blotches⑩ of the benevolent skin cancer the
sun brings from its refl ection on the tropic sea
were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down
① skiff: 轻舟,小船
② take a fi sh: 捕鱼
③ salao: 西班牙语,
意为咸的,苦的,
转义为倒霉的
④ coiled: 卷起的
⑤ gaff: 鱼钩
⑥ harpoon: 捕鲸的
鱼叉
⑦ furl: 卷收,收下
⑧ mast: 桅杆,船桅
⑨ patch: 修补,补缀
⑩ blotch: 红疤,伤
疤
benevolent: 仁慈
的,乐善好施的,
此处指(肿瘤)
良性的
tropic: 热带的
50 周年纪念版
79
the sides of his face and his hands had the deepcreased
① scars from handling heavy fish on
the cords②. But none of these scars were fresh.
They were as old as erosions③ in a fishless
desert.④
Everything about him was old except his
eyes and they were the same color as the sea
and were cheerful and undefeated.
“Santiago,” the boy said to him as they
climbed the bank from where the skiff was
hauled up⑤. “I could go with you again. We’ve
made some money.”
The old man had taught the boy to fi sh and
the boy loved him.
“No,” the old man said. “You’re with a lucky
boat. Stay with them.”
“But remember how you went eighty-seven
days without fi sh and then we caught big ones
every day for three weeks.”
the old man said. “I know you did not leave
me because you doubted.”
“It was papa made me leave⑥. I am a boy
and I must obey⑦ him.”
“I know,” the old man said. “It is quite
normal.”
“He hasn’t much faith⑧.”
“No,” the old man said. “But we have.
① deep-creased: 褶皱
深的
② cord: 绳索,细绳
③ erosion: 侵蚀,腐
烂
④ fi shless desert: 无
鱼可打的沙漠,
比喻特别干燥
⑤ haul up: 拖上来
⑥ It was papa made
me leave: 此句为
强调句式。
⑦ obey: 服从,听从
⑧ faith: 信心
老 人 与 海
80
The Old Man and the Sea
Haven’t we?”
“Yes,” the boy said. “Can I offer you a beer
on the Terrace① and then we’ll take the stuff
home.”
“Why not?” the old man said. “Between
fishermen.” They sat on the Terrace and many
of the fi shermen made fun of the old man and he
was not angry. Others, of the older fishermen,
looked at him and were sad. But they did not
show it and they spoke politely about the
current and the depths they had drifted② their
lines at and the steady good weather and of what
they had seen. The successful fi shermen of that
day were already in and had butchered③ their
marlin④ out and carried them laid full length
across two planks⑤, with two men staggering⑥
at the end of each plank, to the fi sh house where
they waited for the ice truck to carry them to the
market in Havana. Those who had caught sharks
had taken them to the shark factory on the other
side of the cove where they were hoisted⑦ on
a block and tackle⑧, their livers removed, their
fi ns cut off and their hides skinned out and their
fl esh cut into strips for salting⑨.
When the wind was in the east a smell came
across the harbour from the shark factory; but
today there was only the faint⑩ edge of the
① Terrace: 露台餐厅
② drift: 使漂流
③ butcher: 屠宰
④ marlin: 大马林鱼
⑤ plank: 厚板
⑥ stagger: 摇摇晃晃
⑦ hoist: 向上推,升
起
⑧ tackle: 滑车
⑨ salt: 动词,腌制
⑩ faint: 微弱的,模
糊的
50 周年纪念版
81
odour because the wind had backed into the
north and then dropped off and it was pleasant
and sunny on the Terrace.
“Santiago,” the boy said.
“Yes,” the old man said. He was holding his
glass and thinking of many years ago.
“Can I go out to get sardines① for you for
tomorrow?”
“No. Go and play baseball. I can still row
and Rogelio will throw the net.”
“I would like to go. If I cannot fi sh with you.
I would like to serve② in some way.”
“You bought me a beer,” the old man said.
“You are already a man.”
“How old was I when you fi rst took me in a
boat?”
“Five and you nearly were killed when I
brought the fish in too green③ and he nearly
tore the boat to pieces④. Can you remember?”
“I can remember the tail slapping and
banging and the thwart⑤ breaking and the noise
of the clubbing⑥. I can remember you throwing
me into the bow where the wet coiled lines were
and feeling the whole boat shiver⑦ andthe noise
of you clubbing him like chopping⑧ a tree
down and the sweet blood smell all over me.”
“Can you really remember that or did I just
① sardine: 沙丁鱼
② serve: 帮忙
③ the fi sh in too
green: 鱼特别的活
碰乱跳
④ tore the boat to
pieces: 撞成碎片
⑤ thwart: 划船者的
座板
⑥ club: 用棍子打
⑦ shiver: 发抖
⑧ chop: 砍,削
老 人 与 海
82
The Old Man and the Sea
tell it to you?”
“I remember everything from when we fi rst
went together.”
The old man looked at him with his sunburned
①, confi dent loving eyes.
“If you were my boy I’d take you out and
gamble②,” he said. “But you are your father’s
and your mother’s and you are in a lucky boat.”
“May I get the sardines? I know where I can
get four baits③ too.”
“I have mine left from today. I put them in
salt in the box.”
“Let me get four fresh ones.”
“One,” the old man said. His hope and his
confidence④ had never gone. But now they
were freshening as when the breeze⑤ rises.
“Two,” the boy said.
“Two,” the old man agreed. “You didn’t steal
them?”
“I would⑥,” the boy said. “But I bought
these.”
“Thank you,” the old man said. He was
too simple to wonder when he had attained⑦
humility⑧. But he knew he had attained it and
he knew it was not disgraceful⑨ and it carried
no loss of true pride.
“Tomorrow is going to be a good day with
① sunburned: 饱经日
晒的
② gamble: 冒险,孤
注一掷
③ bait: 鱼饵
④ confi dence: 信心,
把握
⑤ breeze: 微风
⑥ I would: 要是那样
就好啦
⑦ attain: 获得
⑧ humility: 谦卑,谦
恭
⑨ disgraceful: 可耻
的,不光彩的
50 周年纪念版
83
this current①,” he said.
“Where are you going?” the boy asked.
“Far out to come in when the wind shifts. I
want to be out before it is light.”
“I’ll try to get him to work far out,” the boy
said. “Then if you hook something truly big we
can come to your aid②.”
“He does not like to work too far out.”
“No,” the boy said. “But I will see something
that he cannot see such as a bird working and
get him to come out after dolphin.”
“Are his eyes that bad?”
“He is almost blind.”
“It is strange,” the old man said. “He never
went turtle-ing③. That is what kills the eyes.”
“But you went turtle-ing for years off the
Mosquito Coast④ and your eyes are good.”
“I am a strange old man”
“Rut are you strong enough now for a truly
big fi sh?”
“I think so. And there are many tricks⑤.”
“Let us take the stuff home,” the boy said. “So
I can get the cast net and go after the sardines.”
They picked up the gear⑥ from the boat.
The old man carried the mast on his shoulder
and the boy carried the wooden box with the
coiled, hard-braided⑦ brown lines, the gaff
① current: 水流
② come to your aid:
去帮你
③ went turtle-ing: 捕
海龟
④ Mosquito Coast: 莫
斯基托海岸
⑤ trick: 窍门
⑥ gear: 一系列工具
⑦ hard-braided: 织得
很密的
老 人 与 海
84
The Old Man and the Sea
and the harpoon with its shaft①. The box with
the baits was under the stern② of the skiff along
with the club that was used to subdue③ the big
fi sh when they were brought alongside. No one
would steal from the old man but it was better
to take the sail and the heavy lines home as the
dew was bad for them and, though he was quite
sure no local people would steal from him, the
old man thought that a gaff and a harpoon were
needless temptations to leave in a boat.
They walked up the road together to the old
man’s shack④ and went in through its open
door. The old man leaned the mast with its
wrapped sail against the wall and the boy put
the box and the other gear beside it. The mast
was nearly as long as the one room of the shack. The
shack was made of the tough budshields⑤ of the
royal palm which are called guano⑥ and in it there
was a bed, a table, one chair, and a place on the dirt
floor to cook with charcoal. On the brown walls
of the flattened⑦, overlapping ⑧leaves of the
sturdy⑨ fibered guano there was a picture in
color of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and another
of the Virgin of Cobre. These were relics of his
wife. Once there had been a tinted⑩ photograph
of his wife on the wall but he had taken it down
because it made him too lonely to see it and it
① shaft: 手柄
② stern: 船尾
③ subdue: 征服,控
制
④ shack: 简陋的小屋
⑤ budshields: 苞壳
⑥ Guano: 西班牙语,
棕榈,王棕
⑦ fl attened: 平扁的
⑧ overlapping: 重叠
的,重复的
⑨ sturdy: 结实的
⑩ tinted: 带色彩的
50 周年纪念版
85
was on the shelf in the corner under his clean
shirt.
“What do you have to eat?” the boy asked.
“A pot of yellow rice with fi sh. Do you want
some?”
“No. I will eat at home. Do you want me to
make the fi re①?”
“No. I will make it later on. Or I may eat the
rice cold.”
“May I take the cast net②?”
“Of course.”
Th e r e wa s n o c a s t n e t a n d t h e b o y
remembered when they had sold it. But they
went through this fiction③ everyday. There
was no pot of yellow rice and fi sh and the boy
knew this too.
“Eighty-fi ve is a lucky number,” the old man
said. “How would you like to see me bring one
in that dressed out④ over a thousand pounds?”
“I’ll get the cast net and go for sardines⑤.
Will you sit in the sun in the doorway?”
“Yes. I have yesterday’s paper and I will read
the baseball.”
The boy did not know whether yesterday’s
paper was a fi ction too. But the old man brought
it out from under the bed.
“Perico⑥ gave it to me at the bodega⑦,” he
① make the fi re: 生火
② cast net: 渔网
③ went through this
fi ction: 把故事演
一遍
④ dressed out: 去掉
内脏等部分
⑤ go for sardine: 捕
沙丁鱼
⑥ Perico: 西班牙语,
佩里科(人名)
⑦ bodega: 小杂货铺
老 人 与 海
86
The Old Man and the Sea
explained. “I’ll be back when I have the sardines.
I’ll keep yours and mine together on ice and we
can share them in the morning. When I come
back you can tell me about the baseball.”
“The Yankees cannot lose.”
“But I fear① the Indians of Cleveland.”
“Have faith in② the Yankees③ my son.
Think of the great DiMaggio.”
“I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the
Indians of Cleveland.”
“Be careful or you will fear④ even the Reds
of Cincinnati and the White Sax of Chicago.”
“You study it and tell me when I come back.”
“Do you think we should buy a terminal⑤ of
the lottery⑥ with an eighty-five⑦? Tomorrow
is the eighty-fi fth day.”
“We can do that,” the boy said. “But what
about the eighty-seven of your great record?”
“It could not happen twice. Do you think you
can fi nd an eighty-fi ve?”
“I can order one.
”One sheet. That’s two dollars and a half.
Who can we borrow that from?”
‘That’s easy. I can always borrow two dollars
and a half.”
“I think perhaps I can too. But I try not to
borrow. First you borrow. Then you beg⑧.”
① fear: 担心,害怕
② have faith in: 相信
③ Yankees: 美国人,
美国佬
④ or you will fear: 别
连…都要害怕
⑤ terminal: 终点的,
末端的
⑥ lottery: 彩票,博彩
⑦ with an eighty-fi ve:
尾号是85
⑧ First you borrow.
Then you beg.: 今
天借钱,明天就
得讨饭。
50 周年纪念版
87
“Keep warm① old man,” the boy said.
“Remember we are in September.”
“The month when the great fish come,” the
old man said. “Anyone can be a fi sherman in
May②.”
“I go now for the sardines,” the boy said.
When the boy came back the old man was
asleep in the chair and the sun was down. The
boy took the old army blanket③ off the bed
and spread it over the back of the chair and over
the old man’s shoulders. They were strange
shoulders, still powerful although very old, and
the neck was still strong too and the creases
did not show so much when the old man was
asleep and his head fallen forward. His shirt had
been patched④ so many times that it was like
the sail⑤ and the patches were faded⑥ to many
different shades by the sun. The old man’s head
was very old though and with his eyes closed
there was no life in his face. The newspaper
lay across his knees and the weight of his arm
held it there in the evening breeze⑦. He was
barefooted⑧.
The boy left him there and when he came
back the old man was still asleep.
“Wake up old man,” the boy said and put his
hand on one of the old man’s knees.
__