魚啊，我會跟你耗到死

Then he said aloud, "I wish I had the boy. To help me and to see this."

接著他出聲說：「我希望男孩在這裡。幫我一把，也看看這個。」

No one should be alone in their old age, he thought.

人老了不該一個人，他想。

But it is unavoidable.

可是這沒辦法避免。

I must remember to eat the tuna before he spoils in order to keep strong.

我一定要記得趁那條鮪魚還沒壞的時候把牠吃了，好保持力氣。

Remember, no matter how little you want to, that you must eat him in the morning.

記住，不管你多不想吃，早上都非吃牠不可。

Remember, he said to himself.

記住了，他對自己說。

During the night two porpoise came around the boat and he could hear them rolling and blowing.

夜裡有兩隻鼠海豚繞到船邊來，他聽得見牠們翻滾和噴氣的聲音。

He could tell the difference between the blowing noise the male made and the sighing blow of the female.

他分辨得出公的噴氣聲和母的那種像嘆息似的噴氣聲有什麼不同。

"They are good," he said. "They play and make jokes and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish."

「牠們是好東西，」他說。「牠們玩耍、開玩笑、彼此相愛。牠們是我們的兄弟，跟飛魚一樣。」

Then he began to pity the great fish that he had hooked.

接著他開始可憐起自己鉤住的那條大魚。

He is wonderful and strange and who knows how old he is, he thought.

牠了不起，牠奇怪，誰知道牠多大歲數了，他想。

Never have I had such a strong fish nor one who acted so strangely.

我從來沒碰過這麼強的魚，也沒碰過表現得這麼奇怪的。

Perhaps he is too wise to jump.

說不定牠聰明得不肯躍出水面。

He could ruin me by jumping or by a wild rush.

牠只要一跳，或者狂衝一下，就能把我毀了。

But perhaps he has been hooked many times before and he knows that this is how he should make his fight.

可是說不定牠從前被鉤過很多次，知道這一仗該這麼打。

He cannot know that it is only one man against him, nor that it is an old man.

牠不可能知道對手只有一個人，更不知道那是個老人。

But what a great fish he is and what he will bring in the market if the flesh is good.

可是牠是多了不起的一條魚啊，要是肉質好，在市場上又能賣多少錢。

He took the bait like a male and he pulls like a male and his fight has no panic in it.

牠咬餌的樣子像條公魚，拉起線來也像條公魚，牠打起來一點都不慌。

I wonder if he has any plans or if he is just as desperate as I am?

不知道牠有沒有什麼盤算，還是牠跟我一樣，只是走投無路？

He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin.

他想起有一次，他鉤到一對馬林魚裡的一條。

The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male had stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface.

公魚總是讓母魚先吃，所以上鉤的是那條母魚；她狂亂、驚慌、絕望地掙扎，很快就把自己耗盡了，而那條公魚自始至終守在她身邊，越過釣線，陪著她在水面上繞圈。

He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape.

牠靠得那麼近，老人真怕牠會用尾巴把線割斷——那條尾巴像把長柄大鐮刀一樣鋒利，大小和形狀也差不多。

When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy's aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat.

老人用搭鉤鉤住她、用棍子打她，一手抓著她那把邊緣粗得像砂紙的細劍似的長吻，一下一下打她的頭頂，打到她的顏色變得幾乎像鏡子的背面；後來他和男孩合力把她吊上了船——那條公魚還一直守在船邊。

Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male fish jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing.

後來，就在老人清理釣線、準備魚叉的時候，那條公魚在船邊高高地躍到空中，看清楚母魚在哪裡，然後深深地潛了下去，牠那對淡紫色的翅膀——也就是牠的胸鰭——張得大開，滿身寬寬的淡紫條紋全都露了出來。

He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed.

牠很美，老人記得，而且牠留下來了。

That was the saddest thing I ever saw with them, the old man thought.

那是我跟牠們打交道以來見過最傷心的事，老人想。

The boy was sad too and we begged her pardon and butchered her promptly.

男孩也很難過，我們求了她原諒，然後迅速把她宰了。

"I wish the boy was here," he said aloud and settled himself against the rounded planks of the bow and felt the strength of the great fish through the line he held across his shoulders moving steadily toward whatever he had chosen.

「我希望男孩在這裡，」他出聲說，一面把身子安頓在船頭那些弧形的木板上，一面透過橫在肩上的那條線，感覺到那條大魚的力量——牠正穩穩地朝著牠自己選定的什麼地方走去。

When once, through my treachery, it had been necessary to him to make a choice, the old man thought.

當初透過我的詭計，牠不得不做一個選擇的時候，老人想。

His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries.

牠的選擇是留在深邃黑暗的水裡，遠遠地在一切圈套、陷阱和詭計之外。

My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people.

我的選擇是到那裡去找牠，到所有人都到不了的地方去。

Beyond all people in the world.

到這世上所有人都到不了的地方。

Now we are joined together and have been since noon.

現在我們連在一起了，從中午到現在都是。

And no one to help either one of us.

而沒有人來幫我們任何一個。

Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought.

說不定我根本就不該當漁夫，他想。

But that was the thing that I was born for.

可是那正是我生來就是為了它的事。

I must surely remember to eat the tuna after it gets light.

天亮以後我一定得記得把那條鮪魚吃了。

Some time before daylight something took one of the baits that were behind him.

天亮前的某個時候，他後面那幾條餌裡有一條被什麼東西咬走了。

He heard the stick break and the line begin to rush out over the gunwale of the skiff.

他聽見木棍啪地斷了，線開始從船舷上緣呼呼地竄出去。

In the darkness he loosened his sheath knife and taking all the strain of the fish on his left shoulder he leaned back and cut the line against the wood of the gunwale.

黑暗中他鬆開鞘裡的刀，把大魚全部的拉力都移到左肩上，身子往後仰，在船舷的木頭上把那條線割斷。

Then he cut the other line closest to him and in the dark made the loose ends of the reserve coils fast.

接著他又割斷離他最近的另一條線，在黑暗裡把備用線盤的活頭都繫牢。

He worked skillfully with the one hand and put his foot on the coils to hold them as he drew his knots tight.

他單手俐落地做著，一面用腳踩住線盤，一面把結拉緊。

Now he had six reserve coils of line.

現在他有六盤備用線了。

There were two from each bait he had severed and the two from the bait the fish had taken and they were all connected.

他割掉的每條餌線各出兩盤，加上被那條魚咬走的餌線上的兩盤，全都接了起來。

After it is light, he thought, I will work back to the forty-fathom bait and cut it away too and link up the reserve coils.

天亮以後，他想，我要挪回去把那條四十噚的餌線也割掉，再把備用線盤接上。

I will have lost two hundred fathoms of good Catalan cordel and the hooks and leaders.

我會損失兩百噚上好的加泰隆尼亞釣線，還有那些鉤子和前導線。

That can be replaced.

那些東西可以再買。

But who replaces this fish if I hook some fish and it cuts him off?

可是要是我鉤到什麼魚、讓牠把這條大魚弄斷了，誰能賠我這條魚？

I don't know what that fish was that took the bait just now.

我不知道剛才咬走餌的是什麼魚。

It could have been a marlin or a broadbill or a shark.

可能是馬林魚，可能是劍旗魚，也可能是鯊魚。

I never felt him.

我根本沒感覺到牠。

I had to get rid of him too fast.

我甩掉牠甩得太快了。

Aloud he said, "I wish I had the boy."

他出聲說：「我希望男孩在這裡。」

But you haven't got the boy, he thought.

可是你沒有男孩，他想。

You have only yourself and you had better work back to the last line now, in the dark or not in the dark, and cut it away and hook up the two reserve coils.

你只有你自己，而你最好現在就挪回去弄最後那條線，管它黑不黑，把它割掉，再把那兩盤備用線接上。

So he did it.

於是他就去做了。

It was difficult in the dark and once the fish made a surge that pulled him down on his face and made a cut below his eye.

黑暗中很不好做；有一次那魚猛地一竄，把他拉得臉朝下摔倒，眼睛下方割破了一道口子。

The blood ran down his cheek a little way.

血順著臉頰往下流了一小段。

But it coagulated and dried before it reached his chin and he worked his way back to the bow and rested against the wood.

可是還沒流到下巴就凝住乾了；他挪回船頭，靠著木板歇著。

He adjusted the sack and carefully worked the line so that it came across a new part of his shoulders and, holding it anchored with his shoulders, he carefully felt the pull of the fish and then felt with his hand the progress of the skiff through the water.

他把麻布袋調了調，小心地把線挪到肩膀上還沒磨過的一塊地方；用肩膀把線定住之後，他小心地感覺那魚的拉力，再用手感覺小船在水裡前進的情形。

I wonder what he made that lurch for, he thought.

不知道牠剛才那一竄是為了什麼，他想。

The wire must have slipped on the great hill of his back.

一定是那根鋼絲在牠背上那座大山丘上滑了一下。

Certainly his back cannot feel as badly as mine does.

牠的背總不至於像我的背這麼難受吧。

But he cannot pull this skiff forever, no matter how great he is.

可是不管牠多了不起，牠總不能永遠拖著這條小船。

Now everything is cleared away that might make trouble and I have a big reserve of line; all that a man can ask.

現在可能惹麻煩的東西都清乾淨了，而我有一大批備用的線；一個人能求的也就這些了。

"Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead."

「魚啊，」他輕輕地出聲說，「我會跟你耗到死。」

He'll stay with me too, I suppose, the old man thought and he waited for it to be light.

我想牠也會跟我耗下去，老人想，然後他就等著天亮。

It was cold now in the time before daylight and he pushed against the wood to be warm.

天亮前的這段時候很冷，他抵著木板取暖。

I can do it as long as he can, he thought.

牠撐多久我就撐多久，他想。

And in the first light the line extended out and down into the water.

第一道曙光裡，那條線伸出去，往下沒入水中。

The boat moved steadily and when the first edge of the sun rose it was on the old man's right shoulder.

船穩穩地走著；太陽的第一道邊緣升上來的時候，它在老人的右肩上。

"He's headed north," the old man said.

「牠往北走，」老人說。

The current will have set us far to the eastward, he thought.

海流一定已經把我們帶到很東邊了，他想。

I wish he would turn with the current.

但願牠肯順著海流轉向。

That would show that he was tiring.

那就表示牠累了。

When the sun had risen further the old man realized that the fish was not tiring.

太陽再升高一些之後，老人明白了：那魚根本沒累。

There was only one favorable sign.

只有一個跡象是好的。

The slant of the line showed he was swimming at a lesser depth.

線的斜度顯示牠游得比較淺了。

That did not necessarily mean that he would jump.

那不一定表示牠會跳。

But he might.

可是牠可能會。