他只夢見獅子

"Who is the greatest manager, really, Luque or Mike Gonzalez?"

「說真的，最偉大的教頭到底是誰，盧克還是麥克·岡薩雷茲？」

"I think they are equal."

「我看他們不相上下。」

"And the best fisherman is you."

「而最好的漁夫就是你。」

"No. I know others better."

「不是。我知道有比我強的。」

"Qué va," the boy said. "There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you."

「Qué va（哪兒的話），」男孩說。「好漁夫很多，了不起的也有幾個。可是就只有一個你。」

"Thank you. You make me happy. I hope no fish will come along so great that he will prove us wrong."

「謝謝你。你讓我高興。但願別來一條大得能證明我們錯了的魚。」

"There is no such fish if you are still strong as you say."

「只要你真像你說的那麼強壯，就沒有那種魚。」

"I may not be as strong as I think," the old man said. "But I know many tricks and I have resolution."

「我也許沒有自己想的那麼強壯，」老人說。「可是我懂得許多竅門，而且我有決心。」

"You ought to go to bed now so that you will be fresh in the morning. I will take the things back to the Terrace."

「你該去睡了，早上才有精神。東西我拿回露台去還。」

"Good night then. I will wake you in the morning."

「那就晚安了。早上我叫你。」

"You're my alarm clock," the boy said.

「你是我的鬧鐘，」男孩說。

"Age is my alarm clock," the old man said. "Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?"

「年紀是我的鬧鐘，」老人說。「老人家為什麼醒得這麼早？是為了多過一天嗎？」

"I don't know," the boy said. "All I know is that young boys sleep late and hard."

「我不知道，」男孩說。「我只知道小孩子睡得晚、睡得死。」

"I can remember it," the old man said. "I'll waken you in time."

「這我還記得，」老人說。「我會準時叫你。」

"I do not like for him to waken me. It is as though I were inferior."

「我不喜歡讓他來叫我。那感覺好像我比人低一等。」

"I know."

「我懂。」

"Sleep well, old man."

「好好睡，老頭子。」

The boy went out.

男孩走了出去。

They had eaten with no light on the table and the old man took off his trousers and went to bed in the dark.

他們吃飯的時候桌上沒點燈；老人脫下長褲，摸黑上了床。

He rolled his trousers up to make a pillow, putting the newspaper inside them.

他把長褲捲起來當枕頭，還把報紙塞進褲子裡。

He rolled himself in the blanket and slept on the other old newspapers that covered the springs of the bed.

他把自己裹進毯子，睡在鋪著舊報紙的床上——那些報紙是用來蓋住床的彈簧的。

He was asleep in a short time and he dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long golden beaches and the white beaches, so white they hurt your eyes, and the high capes and the great brown mountains.

他很快就睡著了，夢見自己還是個孩子時的非洲：長長的金色海灘，還有白色的海灘，白得刺痛你的眼睛，還有高高的岬角和褐色的大山。

He lived along that coast now every night and in his dreams he heard the surf roar and saw the native boats come riding through it.

如今他每天夜裡都住在那片海岸上，夢裡他聽見浪濤的轟響，看見土人的船乘著浪穿過來。

He smelled the tar and oakum of the deck as he slept and he smelled the smell of Africa that the land breeze brought at morning.

他睡著的時候聞得到甲板上的柏油和填縫麻絮的味道，也聞得到清晨陸風帶來的非洲的氣味。

Usually when he smelled the land breeze he woke up and dressed to go and wake the boy.

通常一聞到陸風，他就會醒過來，穿好衣服去叫那男孩。

But tonight the smell of the land breeze came very early and he knew it was too early in his dream and went on dreaming to see the white peaks of the Islands rising from the sea and then he dreamed of the different harbours and roadsteads of the Canary Islands.

可是今晚陸風的氣味來得很早，他在夢裡就知道時候還太早，於是繼續夢下去，夢見群島的白色山峰從海裡升起來，接著夢見加納利群島各個不同的港灣與泊地。

He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife.

他不再夢見暴風，不再夢見女人，不再夢見大事件，不再夢見大魚，不再夢見打架，不再夢見比力氣，也不再夢見他的妻子。

He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach.

他現在只夢見一些地方，和海灘上的獅子。

They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.

牠們在黃昏裡像小貓一樣嬉戲，他愛牠們，就像他愛那男孩一樣。

He never dreamed about the boy.

他從來不夢見那男孩。

He simply woke, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.

他就那樣醒了過來，從敞開的門望出去看月亮，把長褲攤開穿上。

He urinated outside the shack and then went up the road to wake the boy.

他在棚屋外面小解，然後沿著路上去叫那男孩。

He was shivering with the morning cold.

清晨的寒氣讓他直打哆嗦。

But he knew he would shiver himself warm and that soon he would be rowing.

可是他知道自己會抖著抖著就暖起來，而且很快就要划船了。

The door of the house where the boy lived was unlocked and he opened it and walked in quietly with his bare feet.

男孩住的那間屋子沒有上鎖，他推開門，赤著腳輕輕走了進去。

The boy was asleep on a cot in the first room and the old man could see him clearly with the light that came in from the dying moon.

男孩睡在頭一個房間的行軍床上，靠著將落的月亮透進來的光，老人看得很清楚。

He took hold of one foot gently and held it until the boy woke and turned and looked at him.

他輕輕握住男孩的一隻腳，就那樣握著，直到男孩醒過來，翻身看著他。

The old man nodded and the boy took his trousers from the chair by the bed and, sitting on the bed, pulled them on.

老人點了點頭，男孩從床邊的椅子上拿起長褲，坐在床上把它穿上。

The old man went out the door and the boy came after him.

老人走出門去，男孩跟在後面。

He was sleepy and the old man put his arm across his shoulders and said, "I am sorry."

他還睏著，老人把一隻手臂搭在他肩上，說：「對不起。」

"Qué va," the boy said. "It is what a man must do."

「Qué va，」男孩說。「這是男人該做的事。」

They walked down the road to the old man's shack and all along the road, in the dark, barefoot men were moving, carrying the masts of their boats.

他們沿著路走向老人的棚屋；一路上，黑暗中都有赤腳的男人在走動，扛著自己船上的桅杆。

When they reached the old man's shack the boy took the rolls of line in the basket and the harpoon and gaff and the old man carried the mast with the furled sail on his shoulder.

到了老人的棚屋，男孩拿起籃子裡那幾盤釣線，還有魚叉和搭鉤；老人把那根連著捲帆的桅杆扛在肩上。

"Do you want coffee?" the boy asked.

「你要喝咖啡嗎？」男孩問。

"We'll put the gear in the boat and then get some."

「先把傢伙放進船裡，再去喝。」

They had coffee from condensed milk cans at an early morning place that served fishermen.

他們在一家專做漁夫生意的早攤上，用煉乳罐喝咖啡。

"How did you sleep old man?" the boy asked.

「你睡得怎麼樣，老頭子？」男孩問。

He was waking up now although it was still hard for him to leave his sleep.

他這會兒正在醒過來，雖然還很難從睡意裡拔出來。

"Very well, Manolin," the old man said. "I feel confident today."

「很好，馬諾林，」老人說。「我今天覺得很有信心。」

"So do I," the boy said. "Now I must get your sardines and mine and your fresh baits. He brings our gear himself. He never wants anyone to carry anything."

「我也是，」男孩說。「我現在得去拿你的沙丁魚和我的，還有你的新鮮餌。我們那位自己搬傢伙。他從來不要別人幫他拿東西。」

"We're different," the old man said. "I let you carry things when you were five years old."

「我們不一樣，」老人說。「你五歲的時候我就讓你搬東西了。」

"I know it," the boy said. "I'll be right back. Have another coffee. We have credit here."

「我知道，」男孩說。「我馬上回來。你再喝一杯。我們在這裡有賒帳。」

He walked off, bare-footed on the coral rocks, to the ice house where the baits were stored.

他赤著腳踩過珊瑚礁石走開了，往存放魚餌的冰庫去。

The old man drank his coffee slowly.

老人慢慢喝著他的咖啡。

It was all he would have all day and he knew that he should take it.

這是他一整天唯一要吃的東西，他知道自己該喝下去。

For a long time now eating had bored him and he never carried a lunch.

很久以來，吃東西讓他覺得沒意思，他從不帶午飯。

He had a bottle of water in the bow of the skiff and that was all he needed for the day.

他在小船的船頭放了一瓶水，這一天他需要的就只有這個。

The boy was back now with the sardines and the two baits wrapped in a newspaper and they went down the trail to the skiff, feeling the pebbled sand under their feet, and lifted the skiff and slid her into the water.

男孩回來了，帶著沙丁魚和用報紙包著的兩條餌；他們沿著小徑走向小船，腳下踩著帶碎石的沙，然後把小船抬起來，滑進水裡。

"Good luck old man."

「祝你好運，老頭子。」

"Good luck," the old man said.

「祝你好運，」老人說。

He fitted the rope lashings of the oars onto the thole pins and, leaning forward against the thrust of the blades in the water, he began to row out of the harbour in the dark.

他把槳上的繩套套進槳栓，身子往前傾，抵著槳葉在水裡的推力，在黑暗中划出港口。

There were other boats from the other beaches going out to sea and the old man heard the dip and push of their oars even though he could not see them now the moon was below the hills.

還有別的船從別的灘頭出海，月亮已經落到山後，老人看不見他們，卻聽得見他們槳葉入水和推水的聲音。

Sometimes someone would speak in a boat.

偶爾有人在船上說一句話。

But most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars.

可是大部分的船都靜悄悄的，只有槳葉入水的聲音。

They spread apart after they were out of the mouth of the harbour and each one headed for the part of the ocean where he hoped to find fish.

出了港口以後他們就散開了，各自朝著自己指望有魚的那一片海面去。

The old man knew he was going far out and he left the smell of the land behind and rowed out into the clean early morning smell of the ocean.

老人知道自己要往遠處去；他把陸地的氣味拋在後頭，划進了清晨海洋那股乾淨的氣味裡。

He saw the phosphorescence of the Gulf weed in the water as he rowed over the part of the ocean that the fishermen called the great well because there was a sudden deep of seven hundred fathoms where all sorts of fish congregated because of the swirl the current made against the steep walls of the floor of the ocean.

他划過漁夫們叫作「大井」的那片海面時，看見水裡馬尾藻的磷光——那地方之所以叫大井，是因為海底陡然陷下去七百噚，海流沖擊著海底的陡壁形成漩渦，各種魚都聚在那裡。

Here there were concentrations of shrimp and bait fish and sometimes schools of squid in the deepest holes and these rose close to the surface at night where all the wandering fish fed on them.

這裡密集著蝦和餌魚，最深的洞裡有時還有成群的烏賊；到了夜裡牠們會浮到靠近水面的地方，所有游蕩的魚都在那兒吃牠們。

In the dark the old man could feel the morning coming and as he rowed he heard the trembling sound as flying fish left the water and the hissing that their stiff set wings made as they soared away in the darkness.

黑暗中老人感覺得到早晨正在來；他一面划，一面聽見飛魚離水時那陣顫動的聲響，還有牠們硬撐開的翅膀在黑暗裡滑翔而去時發出的嘶嘶聲。

He was very fond of flying fish as they were his principal friends on the ocean.

他非常喜歡飛魚，因為牠們是他在海上主要的朋友。

He was sorry for the birds, especially the small delicate dark terns that were always flying and looking and almost never finding, and he thought, "The birds have a harder life than we do except for the robber birds and the heavy strong ones.

他替那些鳥難過，尤其是那些又小又纖弱的深色燕鷗，牠們老是在飛、在找，卻幾乎從來找不到；他心裡想：「除了那些搶食的鳥和又大又壯的鳥以外，鳥的日子比我們還難過。

Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel?

海可以這麼殘酷，為什麼要把鳥造得像那些海燕一樣纖弱、一樣秀氣？

She is kind and very beautiful.

她仁慈，而且非常美。

But she can be so cruel and it comes so suddenly and such birds that fly, dipping and hunting, with their small sad voices are made too delicately for the sea."

可是她也可以那麼殘酷，而且來得那麼突然；那些一面飛、一面俯衝獵食、發出細小哀愁叫聲的鳥，生得太纖弱了，配不上這片海。」