她是 la mar

He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.

他心裡的海永遠是 la mar——西班牙語裡，愛她的人就是這樣叫她的。

Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman.

愛她的人有時也說她的壞話，可是那些話說出來的口氣，總像是在說一個女人。

Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as el mar which is masculine.

有些年輕一點的漁夫——就是那些拿浮標當釣線浮子、有馬達船的人，那些船是鯊魚肝賣了大錢的時候買的——把她叫作 el mar，陽性的。

They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy.

他們談起她的口氣，像在談一個對手、一個地方，甚至一個敵人。

But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them.

可是老人心裡她永遠是陰性的，是那種會賜予、也會收回大恩惠的東西；而如果她做出狂野或惡毒的事，那是因為她克制不住。

The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.

月亮影響她，就像影響一個女人一樣，他心裡想。

He was rowing steadily and it was no effort for him since he kept well within his speed and the surface of the ocean was flat except for the occasional swirls of the current.

他划得很穩，一點也不費力，因為他把速度控制在自己有餘裕的範圍內，而海面除了偶爾有海流打的漩渦以外都是平的。

He was letting the current do a third of the work and as it started to be light he saw he was already further out than he had hoped to be at this hour.

他讓海流替他做掉三分之一的工；天開始亮的時候，他發現自己已經比原先指望的這個鐘點該到的位置還要遠了。

I worked the deep wells for a week and did nothing, he thought.

我在那幾個深井待了一個禮拜，什麼也沒撈著，他想。

Today I'll work out where the schools of bonita and albacore are and maybe there will be a big one with them.

今天我要往鰹魚和長鰭鮪成群的地方去，說不定會有一條大的跟著牠們。

Before it was really light he had his baits out and was drifting with the current.

天還沒真正亮，他就把餌都放下去了，隨著海流漂。

One bait was down forty fathoms.

一條餌下在四十噚。

The second was at seventy-five and the third and fourth were down in the blue water at one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five fathoms.

第二條在七十五噚，第三第四條沉在藍水裡，一百噚和一百二十五噚。

Each bait hung head down with the shank of the hook inside the bait fish, tied and sewed solid and all the projecting part of the hook, the curve and the point, was covered with fresh sardines.

每條餌都頭朝下垂著，鉤柄藏在餌魚身體裡，紮緊縫死；鉤子露在外面的部分——鉤彎和鉤尖——全用新鮮的沙丁魚包住。

Each sardine was hooked through both eyes so that they made a half-garland on the projecting steel.

每條沙丁魚都從兩隻眼睛穿過去，在那截露出來的鋼上結成半個花環。

There was no part of the hook that a great fish could feel which was not sweet smelling and good tasting.

大魚碰得到的每一寸鉤，沒有一處不是香的、好吃的。

The boy had given him two fresh small tunas, or albacores, which hung on the two deepest lines like plummets and, on the others, he had a big blue runner and a yellow jack that had been used before; but they were in good condition still and had the excellent sardines to give them scent and attractiveness.

男孩給了他兩條新鮮的小鮪魚——也就是長鰭鮪——像鉛錘一樣掛在最深的那兩條線上；另外兩條線上是一條大藍鰺和一條黃鰺，都是用過的了，不過還很好，加上那些上等的沙丁魚給牠們添了氣味和吸引力。

Each line, as thick around as a big pencil, was looped onto a green-sapped stick so that any pull or touch on the bait would make the stick dip and each line had two forty-fathom coils which could be made fast to the other spare coils so that, if it were necessary, a fish could take out over three hundred fathoms of line.

每條線都有一枝粗鉛筆那麼粗，套在一根還帶著青汁的木棍上，這樣餌上只要有一點拉扯或碰觸，木棍就會往下一沉；每條線還備有兩盤四十噚的線，必要時可以接上其他備用的線盤，讓一條魚拉走三百多噚。

Now the man watched the dip of the three sticks over the side of the skiff and rowed gently to keep the lines straight up and down and at their proper depths.

這會兒他盯著船舷外那三根木棍的動靜，輕輕地划，好讓幾條線筆直上下、各自停在該停的深度。

It was quite light and any moment now the sun would rise.

天已經很亮了，太陽隨時都會升上來。

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.

太陽薄薄地從海裡升起來，老人看得見別的船，低低地伏在水面上、遠遠地靠近岸邊，橫著海流散開。

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.

接著太陽更亮了，水面上起了刺眼的反光；等它整個升上來，平坦的海把光反射回他眼睛裡，刺得他生疼，他就不看那邊，只顧划。

He looked down into the water and watched the lines that went straight down into the dark of the water.

他低頭看著水裡，看那幾條筆直垂進黑暗中的線。

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.

他把線垂得比任何人都直，這樣在那道暗流的每一層深度上，都會有一條餌不多不少停在他要它停的地方，等著任何游經那裡的魚。

Others let them drift with the current and sometimes they were at sixty fathoms when the fishermen thought they were at a hundred.

別人任由線隨海流漂，有時候漁夫以為線在一百噚，其實只在六十噚。

But, he thought, I keep them with precision.

可是，他想，我做得精準。

Only I have no luck any more.

只是我再也沒有運氣了。

But who knows? Maybe today.

可是誰知道呢？也許就今天。

Every day is a new day.

每一天都是新的一天。

It is better to be lucky.

運氣好當然好。

But I would rather be exact.

可是我寧可做得準。

Then when luck comes you are ready.

這樣運氣一來的時候，你是準備好的。

The sun was two hours higher now and it did not hurt his eyes so much to look into the east.

太陽又高了兩個鐘頭，往東邊看已經不那麼刺眼了。

There were only three boats in sight now and they showed very low and far inshore.

現在看得見的只剩三條船，低低的，遠遠地靠著岸。

All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes, he thought.

我這輩子，清晨的太陽都刺我的眼睛，他想。

Yet they are still good.

可是眼睛還是好的。

In the evening I can look straight into it without getting the blackness.

傍晚我可以直直地看著它，眼前也不會發黑。

It has more force in the evening too.

何況傍晚的太陽勁道還更足。

But in the morning it is painful.

可是早上就叫人難受。

Just then he saw a man-of-war bird with his long black wings circling in the sky ahead of him.

就在這時，他看見一隻軍艦鳥，張著又長又黑的翅膀，在他前方的天上盤旋。

He made a quick drop, slanting down on his back-swept wings, and then circled again.

牠猛地往下一落，翅膀後掠著斜斜俯衝，接著又盤旋起來。

"He's got something," the old man said aloud. "He's not just looking."

「牠找到東西了，」老人出聲說。「牠不是在找而已。」

He rowed slowly and steadily toward where the bird was circling.

他慢慢地、穩穩地朝那隻鳥盤旋的地方划過去。

He did not hurry and he kept his lines straight up and down.

他不急，還是讓幾條線筆直上下。

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.

不過他稍微搶了一點流，這樣他還是照規矩在打魚，只是比不打算利用那隻鳥的時候快了些。

The bird went higher in the air and circled again, his wings motionless.

那鳥飛得更高，又盤旋起來，翅膀一動也不動。

Then he dove suddenly and the old man saw flying fish spurt out of the water and sail desperately over the surface.

接著牠突然俯衝，老人看見飛魚噴出水面，沒命地掠過水面滑行。

"Dolphin," the old man said aloud. "Big dolphin."

「鬼頭刀，」老人出聲說。「大鬼頭刀。」

He shipped his oars and brought a small line from under the bow.

他把槳收進船裡，從船頭底下拿出一條小線。

It had a wire leader and a medium-sized hook and he baited it with one of the sardines.

線上有鋼絲前導和一枚中號鉤子，他拿一條沙丁魚掛上去做餌。

He let it go over the side and then made it fast to a ring bolt in the stern.

他把它放過船舷，再繫牢在船尾的一個環栓上。

Then he baited another line and left it coiled in the shade of the bow.

接著他又掛好一條線，盤起來擱在船頭的陰影裡。

He went back to rowing and to watching the long-winged black bird who was working, now, low over the water.

然後他回頭去划船，一面看著那隻長翅膀的黑鳥——牠這會兒正貼著水面幹活。

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.

他看著那鳥又斜起翅膀俯衝下去，接著又拚命地、卻毫無用處地亂拍翅膀，追著那些飛魚。

The old man could see the slight bulge in the water that the big dolphin raised as they followed the escaping fish.

老人看得見那群大鬼頭刀追著逃竄的飛魚時，在水面拱起的那點微微的隆起。

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.

鬼頭刀在飛魚滑行的路線底下破水前進，等魚一落水，牠們正好全速衝到。

It is a big school of dolphin, he thought.

這是一大群鬼頭刀，他想。

They are wide spread and the flying fish have little chance.

牠們散得很開，飛魚沒什麼機會。

The bird has no chance.

那鳥更沒機會。

The flying fish are too big for him and they go too fast.

飛魚對牠來說太大了，而且跑得太快。

He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird.

他看著飛魚一次又一次地衝出水面，也看著那鳥徒勞無功的動作。

That school has gotten away from me, he thought.

這群魚甩掉我了，他想。

They are moving out too fast and too far.

牠們跑得太快、跑得太遠。

But perhaps I will pick up a stray and perhaps my big fish is around them.

不過也許我能撿到一條落單的，也許我那條大魚就在牠們附近。

My big fish must be somewhere.

我那條大魚一定在某個地方。

The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green line with the gray blue hills behind it.

陸地上空的雲這會兒堆得像山，海岸只剩下一道長長的綠線，後頭是灰藍色的丘陵。

The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost purple.

水已經是深藍的了，深到幾乎發紫。

As he looked down into it he saw the red sifting of the plankton in the dark water and the strange light the sun made now.

他往下看，看見浮游生物在暗水裡篩下的紅色細末，還有此刻陽光造出的那種奇異的光。

He watched his lines to see them go straight down out of sight into the water and he was happy to see so much plankton because it meant fish.

他看著自己那幾條線筆直沉進水裡、直到看不見，浮游生物這麼多讓他高興，因為那意味著有魚。

The strange light the sun made in the water, now that the sun was higher, meant good weather and so did the shape of the clouds over the land.

太陽升高以後在水裡造出的那種奇異的光，意味著好天氣；陸地上空那些雲的形狀也是。

But the bird was almost out of sight now and nothing showed on the surface of the water but some patches of yellow, sun-bleached Sargasso weed and the purple, formalized, iridescent, gelatinous bladder of a Portuguese man-of-war floating close beside the boat.

可是那隻鳥這會兒幾乎看不見了，水面上什麼也沒有，只有幾團被太陽曬白的黃色馬尾藻，還有一隻僧帽水母——紫色的、形狀規整的、虹彩的、膠質的浮囊，就漂在船邊。

It turned on its side and then righted itself.

牠翻了個身，又把自己扶正。

It floated cheerfully as a bubble with its long deadly purple filaments trailing a yard behind it in the water.

牠像個氣泡一樣快活地漂著，身後在水裡拖著一碼長的、致命的紫色觸絲。