疼痛算不了什麼

This is what we waited for, he thought.

這正是我們等的，他想。

So now let us take it.

那麼現在，就接住它吧。

Make him pay for the line, he thought.

讓牠為那些線付出代價，他想。

Make him pay for it.

讓牠付出代價。

He could not see the fish's jumps but only heard the breaking of the ocean and the heavy splash as he fell.

他看不見那魚跳，只聽見海面炸開的聲音，和牠落下時重重的水花聲。

The speed of the line was cutting his hands badly but he had always known this would happen and he tried to keep the cutting across the calloused parts and not let the line slip into the palm nor cut the fingers.

線飛竄的速度把他兩隻手割得很慘，可是他一向知道會有這一天，於是設法讓線割在長繭的地方，別讓它滑進掌心，也別割到手指。

If the boy was here he would wet the coils of line, he thought.

要是男孩在這裡，他會把那幾盤線淋濕，他想。

Yes. If the boy were here. If the boy were here.

對。要是男孩在這裡。要是男孩在這裡。

The line went out and out and out but it was slowing now and he was making the fish earn each inch of it.

線一直出、一直出、一直出，可是這會兒慢下來了，而他讓那條魚為每一寸線都掙得辛苦。

Now he got his head up from the wood and out of the slice of fish that his cheek had crushed.

他這才把頭從木板上抬起來，從被臉頰壓爛的那片魚肉裡抬起來。

Then he was on his knees and then he rose slowly to his feet.

接著他跪了起來，然後慢慢地站直。

He was ceding line but more slowly all the time.

他還在讓出線，可是越來越慢。

He worked back to where he could feel with his foot the coils of line that he could not see.

他往後挪，挪到腳能摸到那些他看不見的線盤的地方。

There was plenty of line still and now the fish had to pull the friction of all that new line through the water.

線還多得很，而現在那魚得拖著所有這些新放出去的線，在水裡承受它們的摩擦。

Yes, he thought.

對，他想。

And now he has jumped more than a dozen times and filled the sacks along his back with air and he cannot go down deep to die where I cannot bring him up.

而且牠現在已經跳了十幾次，把背脊旁那些氣囊灌滿了空氣，牠沒辦法再潛到我撈不上來的深處去死了。

He will start circling soon and then I must work on him.

牠很快就會開始繞圈，到那時我就得對牠下功夫了。

I wonder what started him so suddenly?

不知道是什麼讓牠這麼突然發作？

Could it have been hunger that made him desperate, or was he frightened by something in the night?

是飢餓讓牠走投無路了嗎？還是牠在夜裡被什麼東西嚇著了？

Maybe he suddenly felt fear.

說不定牠突然感覺到了恐懼。

But he was such a calm, strong fish and he seemed so fearless and so confident.

可是牠是那麼鎮定、那麼強壯的一條魚，看起來那麼無所畏懼、那麼有把握。

It is strange.

真是奇怪。

"You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man," he said.

「你自己最好也無所畏懼、有點把握，老頭子，」他說。

"You're holding him again but you cannot get line. But soon he has to circle."

「你又把牠拉住了，可是你收不回線。不過牠很快就非繞圈不可。」

The old man held him with his left hand and his shoulders now and stooped down and scooped up water in his right hand to get the crushed dolphin flesh off of his face.

老人這會兒用左手和兩肩扛住牠，彎下腰去，用右手捧起水來，把臉上壓爛的鬼頭刀肉沖掉。

He was afraid that it might nauseate him and he would vomit and lose his strength.

他怕那東西會讓他反胃，害他嘔吐、流失力氣。

When his face was cleaned he washed his right hand in the water over the side and then let it stay in the salt water while he watched the first light come before the sunrise.

臉洗乾淨以後，他把右手伸出船舷在水裡洗，就讓它泡在鹹水裡，一面看著日出前的第一道光。

He's headed almost east, he thought.

牠幾乎朝正東走了，他想。

That means he is tired and going with the current.

那表示牠累了，正順著海流走。

Soon he will have to circle.

很快牠就非繞圈不可。

Then our true work begins.

到那時，我們真正的活兒才開始。

After he judged that his right hand had been in the water long enough he took it out and looked at it.

等他判斷右手泡得夠久了，就把它拿出來看。

"It is not bad," he said. "And pain does not matter to a man."

「不算太糟，」他說。「而疼痛，對一個男人來說算不了什麼。」

He took hold of the line carefully so that it did not fit into any of the fresh line cuts and shifted his weight so that he could put his left hand into the sea on the other side of the skiff.

他小心地握住線，讓它不要卡進任何一道新的割傷裡，再挪動重心，好把左手伸進船另一邊的海水裡。

"You did not do so badly for something worthless," he said to his left hand. "But there was a moment when I could not find you."

「以一個沒用的東西來說，你剛才表現得不算差，」他對他的左手說。「可是有那麼一下子，我找不到你。」

Why was I not born with two good hands? he thought.

為什麼我不是生來就有兩隻好手呢？他想。

Perhaps it was my fault in not training that one properly.

說不定是我的錯，沒有把那一隻好好訓練起來。

But God knows he has had enough chances to learn.

可是天知道，牠有過夠多的機會可以學了。

He did not do so badly in the night, though, and he has only cramped once.

不過牠昨晚表現得不算差，而且只抽了一次筋。

If he cramps again let the line cut him off.

要是牠再抽筋，就讓那條線把牠割斷算了。

When he thought that he knew that he was not being clear-headed and he thought he should chew some more of the dolphin.

他這麼一想，就知道自己腦子不清楚了，也想到自己該再嚼點鬼頭刀。

But I can't, he told himself.

可是我不行，他對自己說。

It is better to be light-headed than to lose your strength from nausea.

寧可頭暈，也不要因為反胃而流失力氣。

And I know I cannot keep it if I eat it since my face was in it.

而且我知道，那片肉我的臉埋過，吃了也留不住。

I will keep it for an emergency until it goes bad.

我要把它留著應急，留到它壞掉為止。

But it is too late to try for strength now through nourishment.

不過現在才想靠吃東西補力氣，已經太遲了。

You're stupid, he told himself.

你真蠢，他對自己說。

Eat the other flying fish.

把另外那條飛魚吃了。

It was there, cleaned and ready, and he picked it up with his left hand and ate it chewing the bones carefully and eating all of it down to the tail.

那條魚就在那裡，已經清理好、備妥了；他用左手把牠拿起來吃了，仔細嚼著骨頭，一路吃到尾巴，一點沒剩。

It has more nourishment than almost any fish, he thought.

牠比幾乎任何魚都有營養，他想。

At least the kind of strength that I need.

至少是我需要的那種力氣。

Now I have done what I can, he thought.

現在我能做的都做了，他想。

Let him begin to circle and let the fight come.

讓牠開始繞圈吧，讓那場仗來吧。

The sun was rising for the third time since he had put to sea when the fish started to circle.

自從他出海以來，太陽第三次升起的時候，那條魚開始繞圈了。

He could not see by the slant of the line that the fish was circling.

他還沒辦法從線的斜度看出那魚在繞圈。

It was too early for that.

那還太早。

He just felt a faint slackening of the pressure of the line and he commenced to pull on it gently with his right hand.

他只是感覺到線上的壓力有一絲微弱的鬆弛，就用右手輕輕地拉起來。

It tightened, as always, but just when he reached the point where it would break, line began to come in.

線像往常一樣繃緊了，可是就在他拉到快斷的那一點上，線開始回來了。

He slipped his shoulders and head from under the line and began to pull in line steadily and gently.

他把肩膀和頭從線底下抽出來，開始穩穩地、輕輕地收線。

He used both of his hands in a swinging motion and tried to do the pulling as much as he could with his body and his legs.

他雙手擺盪著收，盡量用身體和雙腿去出力。

His old legs and shoulders pivoted with the swinging of the pulling.

他那雙老腿和老肩，隨著拉扯的擺盪轉動著。

"It is a very big circle," he said. "But he is circling."

「這是個很大的圈，」他說。「可是牠在繞圈了。」

Then the line would not come in any more and he held it until he saw the drops jumping from it in the sun.

接著線再也收不回來了，他就撐著，撐到看見水珠在陽光下從線上彈跳出來。

Then it started out and the old man knelt down and let it go grudgingly back into the dark water.

然後線又開始往外走，老人跪下來，很不情願地讓它回到那片暗水裡去。

"He is making the far part of his circle now," he said.

「牠正在繞那個圈的遠端，」他說。

I must hold all I can, he thought.

我得盡我所能撐住，他想。

The strain will shorten his circle each time.

這股拉力每一次都會讓牠的圈縮短一點。

Perhaps in an hour I will see him.

說不定一個鐘頭之後我就看得見牠了。

Now I must convince him and then I must kill him.

現在我得說服牠，然後我得殺了牠。

But the fish kept on circling slowly and the old man was wet with sweat and tired deep into his bones two hours later.

可是那魚繼續慢慢地繞；兩個鐘頭以後，老人渾身是汗，累進了骨子裡。

But the circles were much shorter now and from the way the line slanted he could tell the fish had risen steadily while he swam.

不過那些圈這會兒短了很多，而且從線的斜度看得出來，那魚一面游一面穩穩地往上升。

For an hour the old man had been seeing black spots before his eyes and the sweat salted his eyes and salted the cut over his eye and on his forehead.

有一個鐘頭了，老人眼前一直有黑點；汗水醃著他的眼睛，也醃著他眼睛上方和額頭上的傷口。

He was not afraid of the black spots.

那些黑點他不怕。

They were normal at the tension that he was pulling on the line.

在他拉線的這種張力下，那是正常的。

Twice, though, he had felt faint and dizzy and that had worried him.

不過他有兩次覺得虛脫暈眩，那讓他擔心。

"I could not fail myself and die on a fish like this," he said.

「我不能對不起自己，死在這樣一條魚身上，」他說。

"Now that I have him coming so beautifully, God help me endure.

「現在牠來得這麼漂亮，求上帝幫我撐下去。

I'll say a hundred Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys.

我要念一百遍天主經和一百遍聖母經。

But I cannot say them now."

可是我現在念不了。」

Consider them said, he thought.

就當我念過了吧，他想。

I'll say them later.

我等一下再念。

Just then he felt a sudden banging and jerking on the line he held with his two hands.

就在這時，他雙手握著的那條線上突然傳來猛烈的撞擊和抽動。

It was sharp and hard-feeling and heavy.

那感覺又尖銳、又堅硬、又沉重。

He is hitting the wire leader with his spear, he thought.

牠在用牠的長吻撞那根鋼絲前導線，他想。

That was bound to come.

這遲早要來的。

He had to do that.

牠非這麼做不可。

It may make him jump though and I would rather he stayed circling now.

不過這可能會讓牠跳起來，而我現在寧可牠繼續繞圈。

The jumps were necessary for him to take air.

那些跳躍是牠吸空氣所必需的。

But after that each one can widen the opening of the hook wound and he can throw the hook.

可是在那之後，每跳一次都可能把鉤傷的洞撐大，牠就能把鉤子甩掉。

"Don't jump, fish," he said. "Don't jump."

「別跳，魚，」他說。「別跳。」

The fish hit the wire several times more and each time he shook his head the old man gave up a little line.

那魚又撞了那根鋼絲好幾次，每一次牠搖頭，老人就讓出一點線。