他是我的兄弟

"Be patient, hand," he said. "I do this for you."

「忍著點，手，」他說。「我是為了你才這麼做的。」

I wish I could feed the fish, he thought.

我真希望能餵那條魚，他想。

He is my brother.

牠是我的兄弟。

But I must kill him and keep strong to do it.

可是我非殺牠不可，而且得保持力氣才殺得成。

Slowly and conscientiously he ate all of the wedge-shaped strips of fish.

他慢慢地、認認真真地把那些楔形的魚肉條全部吃完。

He straightened up, wiping his hand on his trousers.

他直起身子，在褲子上把手擦乾淨。

"Now," he said. "You can let the cord go, hand, and I will handle him with the right arm alone until you stop that nonsense."

「好了，」他說。「你可以放開那條線了，手，我用右臂一個人對付牠，等你不再鬧這個彆扭為止。」

He put his left foot on the heavy line that the left hand had held and lay back against the pull against his back.

他把左腳踩在原先左手握著的那條粗線上，身子往後仰，用背抵住那股拉力。

"God help me to have the cramp go," he said. "Because I do not know what the fish is going to do."

「求上帝幫我把這抽筋弄走，」他說。「因為我不知道那條魚接下來會做什麼。」

But he seems calm, he thought, and following his plan.

可是牠看起來很鎮定，他想，而且照著牠自己的計畫在走。

But what is his plan, he thought.

可是牠的計畫是什麼呢，他想。

And what is mine?

我的又是什麼？

Mine I must improvise to his because of his great size.

我的計畫只能看著牠的隨機應變，因為牠實在太大了。

If he will jump I can kill him.

只要牠肯跳，我就能殺牠。

But he stays down forever.

可是牠就一直待在下面不上來。

Then I will stay down with him forever.

那我就一直陪牠待在下面。

He rubbed the cramped hand against his trousers and tried to gentle the fingers.

他把那隻抽筋的手在褲子上搓，試著把手指哄開。

But it would not open.

可是它就是不肯張開。

Maybe it will open with the sun, he thought.

說不定曬了太陽它就會張開，他想。

Maybe it will open when the strong raw tuna is digested.

說不定等那些強壯的生鮪魚消化了它就會張開。

If I have to have it, I will open it, cost whatever it costs.

要是我非用它不可，我就把它掰開，不管代價是什麼。

But I do not want to open it now by force.

可是我現在不想硬把它掰開。

Let it open by itself and come back of its own accord.

讓它自己張開、自己回來。

After all I abused it much in the night when it was necessary to free and unite the various lines.

畢竟昨天夜裡需要解開、接上那幾條線的時候，我把它虐待得夠慘了。

He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now.

他望向海面，知道自己此刻有多孤單。

But he could see the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the strange undulation of the calm.

可是他看得見深邃暗水裡的稜光，看得見那條往前伸出去的線，也看得見這片平靜奇異的起伏。

The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea.

雲正在為信風堆積起來；他往前看，看見一列野鴨在水面上方的天空把自己刻出輪廓，接著模糊，接著又刻了出來——於是他知道，在海上從來沒有人是孤獨的。

He thought of how some men feared being out of sight of land in a small boat and knew they were right in the months of sudden bad weather.

他想起有些人怕坐小船跑到看不見陸地的地方，也知道在天氣說變就變的那幾個月裡，他們怕得有道理。

But now they were in hurricane months and, when there are no hurricanes, the weather of hurricane months is the best of all the year.

可是現在正是颶風的月份，而沒有颶風的時候，颶風季的天氣是一年裡最好的。

If there is a hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead, if you are at sea.

要是有颶風，只要你人在海上，好幾天前就一定看得見天上的徵兆。

They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for, he thought.

岸上的人看不見，因為他們不知道該看什麼，他想。

The land must make a difference too, in the shape of the clouds.

陸地一定也有影響，會改變雲的形狀。

But we have no hurricane coming now.

不過現在沒有颶風要來。

He looked at the sky and saw the white cumulus built like friendly piles of ice cream and high above were the thin feathers of the cirrus against the high September sky.

他望著天空，看見白色的積雲堆得像一堆堆友善的冰淇淋，更高的地方，卷雲那些細細的羽毛襯在九月高遠的天上。

"Light brisa," he said. "Better weather for me than for you, fish."

「微風（brisa），」他說。「這天氣對我比對你好，魚。」

His left hand was still cramped, but he was unknotting it slowly.

他的左手還在抽筋，不過他正慢慢把它解開來。

I hate a cramp, he thought.

我恨抽筋，他想。

It is a treachery of one's own body.

那是自己身體的一種背叛。

It is humiliating before others to have a diarrhoea from ptomaine poisoning or to vomit from it.

在別人面前因為食物中毒拉肚子、或者吐出來，是很丟臉的事。

But a cramp, he thought of it as a calambre, humiliates oneself especially when one is alone.

可是抽筋——他心裡想的是 calambre 這個字——是自己羞辱自己，尤其當你只有一個人的時候。

If the boy were here he could rub it for me and loosen it down from the forearm, he thought.

要是男孩在這裡，他可以替我搓一搓，從前臂那邊把它揉開，他想。

But it will loosen up.

不過它會鬆開的。

Then, with his right hand he felt the difference in the pull of the line before he saw the slant change in the water.

接著，他還沒看見水裡線的斜度有變化，右手就先感覺到拉力不一樣了。

Then, as he leaned against the line and slapped his left hand hard and fast against his thigh he saw the line slanting slowly upward.

接著，就在他抵著線、用左手又重又快地拍打自己大腿的時候，他看見那條線慢慢地往上斜了。

"He's coming up," he said. "Come on hand. Please come on."

「牠要上來了，」他說。「來啊，手。求你來啊。」

The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out.

線緩緩地、穩穩地升上來，接著船前方的海面隆了起來，那條魚出來了。

He came out unendingly and water poured from his sides.

牠出來得沒完沒了，水從牠兩側傾瀉而下。

He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender.

牠在陽光下閃著光，頭和背是深紫色的，陽光裡牠身側的條紋顯得又寬又淡紫。

His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier and he rose his full length from the water and then re-entered it, smoothly, like a diver and the old man saw the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out.

牠那把劍跟一根球棒一樣長，像細劍那樣往前收細；牠整個身子直挺挺地升出水面，然後又平滑地回到水裡，像個跳水的人；老人看見牠那把大鐮刀似的尾巴沒進水中，線就開始飛竄出去。

"He is two feet longer than the skiff," the old man said.

「牠比這條小船還長兩英尺，」老人說。

The line was going out fast but steadily and the fish was not panicked.

線出得很快，可是很穩，那魚並不慌。

The old man was trying with both hands to keep the line just inside of breaking strength.

老人正用雙手把線控制在剛好不到斷裂強度的地方。

He knew that if he could not slow the fish with a steady pressure the fish could take out all the line and break it.

他知道，要是他不能用穩定的壓力把魚拖慢，那魚可以把線全部拉光，然後扯斷它。

He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought.

牠是一條了不起的魚，我必須說服牠，他想。

I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run.

我絕不能讓牠知道自己有多強，也不能讓牠知道要是牠放開來衝會怎麼樣。

If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke.

要是我是牠，我現在就會豁出全部，一直衝到有什麼東西斷掉為止。

But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.

可是，謝天謝地，牠們沒有我們這些殺牠們的人聰明；儘管牠們更高貴，也更有能耐。

The old man had seen many great fish.

老人見過許多大魚。

He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone.

他見過許多超過一千磅的，這輩子也親手抓到過兩條那種大小的，可是從來沒有一次是獨自一人。

Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to the biggest fish that he had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of, and his left hand was still as tight as the gripped claws of an eagle.

現在他孤身一人，看不見陸地，繫在一條他這輩子見過最大、而且比他聽說過的都還要大的魚上——而他的左手還像老鷹抓緊的爪子一樣僵著。

It will uncramp though, he thought.

不過它會鬆開的，他想。

Surely it will uncramp to help my right hand.

它一定會鬆開，好幫我的右手。

There are three things that are brothers: the fish and my two hands.

有三樣東西是兄弟：那條魚，和我的兩隻手。

It must uncramp.

它非鬆開不可。

It is unworthy of it to be cramped.

抽筋這種事，配不上它。

The fish had slowed again and was going at his usual pace.

那魚又慢了下來，回到牠平常的速度。

I wonder why he jumped, the old man thought.

不知道牠為什麼要跳，老人想。

He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was.

牠跳的樣子，簡直像是要讓我看看牠有多大。

I know now, anyway, he thought.

反正現在我知道了，他想。

I wish I could show him what sort of man I am.

我真希望也能讓牠看看我是怎樣的一個人。

But then he would see the cramped hand.

可是那樣牠就會看見這隻抽筋的手。

Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.

讓牠以為我比實際上更像個男人吧，那我就會是。

I wish I was the fish, he thought, with everything he has against only my will and my intelligence.

我真希望我就是那條魚，他想，用牠所有的本錢，來對付我這僅有的意志和智慧。

He settled comfortably against the wood and took his suffering as it came and the fish swam steadily and the boat moved slowly through the dark water.

他舒舒服服地靠著木板安頓下來，受苦來了就受著；那魚穩穩地游，船慢慢地在暗水裡前進。

There was a small sea rising with the wind coming up from the east and at noon the old man's left hand was uncramped.

東邊起了風，海面微微湧了起來；到了中午，老人的左手不抽筋了。

"Bad news for you, fish," he said and shifted the line over the sacks that covered his shoulders.

「對你是壞消息了，魚，」他說，一面把線挪到蓋著肩膀的麻布袋上頭。

He was comfortable but suffering, although he did not admit the suffering at all.

他很舒服，卻也在受苦——儘管他一點也不承認自己在受苦。

"I am not religious," he said. "But I will say ten Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys that I should catch this fish, and I promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgen de Cobre if I catch him. That is a promise."

「我不信教，」他說。「可是我要念十遍天主經和十遍聖母經，好讓我抓到這條魚；而且我答應，要是抓到牠，我就去科夫雷聖母那裡朝聖。這是個承諾。」

He commenced to say his prayers mechanically.

他開始機械地念起禱詞。

Sometimes he would be so tired that he could not remember the prayer and then he would say them fast so that they would come automatically.

有時候他累得記不起禱詞，就念快一點，好讓它自動跑出來。

Hail Marys are easier to say than Our Fathers, he thought.

聖母經比天主經好念，他想。

"Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

「萬福瑪利亞，妳充滿聖寵，主與妳同在。妳在婦女中受讚頌，妳的親子耶穌同受讚頌。天主聖母瑪利亞，求妳現在和我們臨終時，為我們罪人祈求天主。阿們。」

Then he added, "Blessed Virgin, pray for the death of this fish. Wonderful though he is."

接著他又加了一句：「至聖童貞聖母，請為這條魚的死亡祈禱。儘管牠是那麼了不起。」