我生來就是為了這個

"Agua mala," the man said. "You whore."

「Agua mala（壞水），」那人說。「你這婊子。」

From where he swung lightly against his oars he looked down into the water and saw the tiny fish that were coloured like the trailing filaments and swam between them and under the small shade the bubble made as it drifted.

他一面輕輕地搖著槳，一面往水裡看，看見那些小魚——牠們的顏色和那些拖曳的觸絲一樣，就在觸絲之間游動，也游在那浮泡漂過時投下的一小塊陰影底下。

They were immune to its poison.

牠們不怕牠的毒。

But men were not and when some of the filaments would catch on a line and rest there slimy and purple while the old man was working a fish, he would have welts and sores on his arms and hands of the sort that poison ivy or poison oak can give.

人可不行；要是老人正在跟一條魚周旋的時候，有幾根觸絲纏上了釣線、黏答答紫幽幽地掛在那兒，他的手臂和手上就會起腫痕和爛瘡，跟毒藤或毒橡樹弄出來的那種一樣。

But these poisonings from the agua mala came quickly and struck like a whiplash.

只不過 agua mala 的毒發作得很快，抽下來像一鞭子。

The iridescent bubbles were beautiful.

那些泛著虹彩的浮泡很美。

But they were the falsest thing in the sea and the old man loved to see the big sea turtles eating them.

可是牠們是海裡最虛假的東西；老人最愛看大海龜吃牠們。

The turtles saw them, approached them from the front, then shut their eyes so they were completely carapaced and ate them filaments and all.

海龜看見牠們，從正面靠過去，然後把眼睛閉起來，讓自己整個縮進甲殼裡，連觸絲一起吃下去。

The old man loved to see the turtles eat them and he loved to walk on them on the beach after a storm and hear them pop when he stepped on them with the horny soles of his feet.

老人愛看海龜吃牠們，也愛在暴風過後走在沙灘上踩牠們，用長滿硬繭的腳底踩下去，聽牠們啵地爆開。

He loved green turtles and hawks-bills with their elegance and speed and their great value and he had a friendly contempt for the huge, stupid loggerheads, yellow in their armour-plating, strange in their love-making, and happily eating the Portuguese men-of-war with their eyes shut.

他愛綠蠵龜和玳瑁，愛牠們的優雅、速度和高昂的身價；對那些又大又蠢的赤蠵龜，他懷著一種善意的輕蔑——牠們的甲殼是黃的，交配的樣子古怪，還閉著眼睛津津有味地吃僧帽水母。

He had no mysticism about turtles although he had gone in turtle boats for many years.

他跑了好多年海龜船，對海龜卻沒有半點神祕主義的想法。

He was sorry for them all, even the great trunk backs that were as long as the skiff and weighed a ton.

他替牠們全都難過，連那些跟小船一樣長、重達一噸的大革龜也不例外。

Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered.

多數人對海龜狠得下心，因為龜被剖開、宰殺之後，心臟還會跳上好幾個鐘頭。

But the old man thought, I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs.

可是老人心裡想：我也有那樣一顆心，而且我的手腳跟牠們的一樣。

He ate the white eggs to give himself strength.

他吃那些白色的龜蛋，好讓自己有力氣。

He ate them all through May to be strong in September and October for the truly big fish.

整個五月他都在吃，為的是九月和十月有力氣對付真正的大魚。

He also drank a cup of shark liver oil each day from the big drum in the shack where many of the fishermen kept their gear.

他每天還喝一杯鯊魚肝油，油裝在許多漁夫存放傢伙的那間棚屋裡的大桶中。

It was there for all fishermen who wanted it.

那桶油擺在那兒，哪個漁夫想喝都可以喝。

Most fishermen hated the taste.

多數漁夫討厭那個味道。

But it was no worse than getting up at the hours that they rose and it was very good against all colds and grippes and it was good for the eyes.

可是那並不比他們每天起床的那個鐘點更難受，而且它治各種感冒和流行性感冒都很有效，對眼睛也好。

Now the old man looked up and saw that the bird was circling again.

這時老人抬頭一看，發現那隻鳥又在盤旋了。

"He's found fish," he said aloud.

「牠找到魚了，」他出聲說。

No flying fish broke the surface and there was no scattering of bait fish.

沒有飛魚破水，也沒有餌魚四散奔逃。

But as the old man watched, a small tuna rose in the air, turned and dropped head first into the water.

可是就在老人看著的時候，一條小鮪魚躍到空中，翻了個身，頭朝下落回水裡。

The tuna shone silver in the sun and after he had dropped back into the water another and another rose and they were jumping in all directions, churning the water and leaping in long jumps after the bait.

那鮪魚在陽光下閃著銀光；牠落回水裡之後，又一條、又一條躍起來，四面八方地跳，把水攪得翻騰，長長地躍起來追那些餌魚。

They were circling it and driving it.

牠們把餌魚圍起來，往前趕。

If they don't travel too fast I will get into them, the old man thought, and he watched the school working the water white and the bird now dropping and dipping into the bait fish that were forced to the surface in their panic.

只要牠們跑得不太快，我就能鑽進去，老人想；他看著那群魚把水攪成白花花的一片，也看著那隻鳥這會兒一次次落下、一頭扎進那些驚慌之下被逼到水面的餌魚裡。

"The bird is a great help," the old man said.

「這鳥幫了大忙，」老人說。

Just then the stern line came taut under his foot, where he had kept a loop of the line, and he dropped his oars and felt the weight of the small tuna's shivering pull as he held the line firm and commenced to haul it in.

就在這時，船尾那條線在他腳下繃緊了——他一直用腳踩著那條線的一個圈；他丟開槳，握緊線開始往回拉，感覺到那條小鮪魚顫抖的拉力和重量。

The shivering increased as he pulled in and he could see the blue back of the fish in the water and the gold of his sides before he swung him over the side and into the boat.

他往回拉的時候那顫動越來越強，他還沒把牠甩過船舷弄進船裡，就已經看見水裡那條魚藍色的背和牠身側的金光。

He lay in the stern in the sun, compact and bullet shaped, his big, unintelligent eyes staring as he thumped his life out against the planking of the boat with the quick shivering strokes of his neat, fast-moving tail.

牠躺在船尾的陽光下，結實得像顆子彈，那雙又大又沒有靈性的眼睛直瞪著，用牠那條俐落而急速的尾巴一下一下顫抖著拍打船板，把自己的命拍打出去。

The old man hit him on the head for kindness and kicked him, his body still shuddering, under the shade of the stern.

老人敲了牠的頭，算是仁慈，然後把牠踢到船尾的陰影底下，牠的身子還在抽搐。

"Albacore," he said aloud. "He'll make a beautiful bait. He'll weigh ten pounds."

「長鰭鮪，」他出聲說。「這會是條漂亮的餌。牠該有十磅重。」

He did not remember when he had first started to talk aloud when he was by himself.

他不記得自己是什麼時候開始，一個人的時候會出聲說話的。

He had sung when he was by himself in the old days and he had sung at night sometimes when he was alone steering on his watch in the smacks or in the turtle boats.

從前一個人的時候他會唱歌，有時候夜裡在漁船或海龜船上獨自輪值掌舵，他也唱。

He had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left.

他大概是男孩離開以後，才開始一個人出聲說話的。

But he did not remember.

可是他不記得了。

When he and the boy fished together they usually spoke only when it was necessary.

他和男孩一起打魚的時候，通常只有必要才開口。

They talked at night or when they were storm-bound by bad weather.

他們是在夜裡說話，或是被壞天氣困住的時候說話。

It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea and the old man had always considered it so and respected it.

在海上不說廢話被當成一種美德，老人一向也這麼認為，而且遵守它。

But now he said his thoughts aloud many times since there was no one that they could annoy.

可是現在他常常把心裡想的說出聲來，反正也沒有人會被吵到。

"If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy," he said aloud.

「要是別人聽見我大聲自言自語，會以為我瘋了，」他出聲說。

"But since I am not crazy, I do not care. And the rich have radios to talk to them in their boats and to bring them the baseball."

「可是既然我沒瘋，我就不在乎。何況有錢人在船上有收音機陪他們說話，還給他們播棒球。」

Now is no time to think of baseball, he thought.

現在不是想棒球的時候，他想。

Now is the time to think of only one thing.

現在只該想一件事。

That which I was born for.

那件我生來就是為了它的事。

There might be a big one around that school, he thought.

說不定那群魚附近有一條大的，他想。

I picked up only a straggler from the albacore that were feeding.

我只從正在覓食的長鰭鮪群裡撿到一條落單的。

But they are working far out and fast.

可是牠們往遠處去，而且跑得快。

Everything that shows on the surface today travels very fast and to the north-east.

今天凡是浮到水面上的東西，跑得都很快，而且都往東北去。

Can that be the time of day? Or is it some sign of weather that I do not know?

會是時辰的關係嗎？還是某種我不懂的天氣徵兆？

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.

這會兒他看不見岸上的綠色了，只看得見藍色丘陵的頂，白得像是覆著雪，還有那些懸在丘陵上方、像高聳雪山的雲。

The sea was very dark and the light made prisms in the water.

海很暗，光在水裡造出一道道稜光。

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.

日頭高了，浮游生物那千千萬萬的細點被抹掉了；老人現在看見的，只有藍水裡那些又大又深的稜光，而他的釣線就筆直垂進這片一哩深的水裡。

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.

那些鮪魚——漁夫把那一族的魚一律叫作鮪魚，只有要賣或要換餌的時候才用各自的正式名字分開來稱呼——又沉下去了。

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.

太陽這會兒很烈，老人感覺到它曬在他後頸上，也感覺到汗水順著背脊往下淌，而他還在划。

I could just drift, he thought, and sleep and put a bight of line around my toe to wake me.

我大可以就這麼漂著，他想，睡一覺，用一個線圈套住腳趾，好把我叫醒。

But today is eighty-five days and I should fish the day well.

可是今天是第八十五天，我該把這一天好好打完。

Just then, watching his lines, he saw one of the projecting green sticks dip sharply.

就在這時，他盯著自己那幾條線，看見伸出去的青枝裡有一根猛地往下一沉。

"Yes," he said. "Yes," and shipped his oars without bumping the boat.

「有了，」他說。「有了。」他收起槳，沒讓船晃一下。

He reached out for the line and held it softly between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

他伸手去拿那條線，用右手的拇指和食指輕輕捏著。

He felt no strain nor weight and he held the line lightly.

他沒感覺到拉力，也沒感覺到重量，就那麼輕輕地捏著。

Then it came again.

接著又來了。

This time it was a tentative pull, not solid nor heavy, and he knew exactly what it was.

這一次是試探性的一拉，不紮實也不沉，而他完全明白那是什麼。

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.

一百噚底下，一條馬林魚正在吃那些沙丁魚——那些包住鉤尖和鉤柄的沙丁魚，而那枚手工鍛打的鉤子，正從那條小鮪魚的頭上穿出來。