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.

现在他看不见绿色的海岸了，他所看到的只是青青的山和那仿佛白雪皑皑的山峰，以及山峰上面的白云，那白云看去像是高耸的雪山似的。

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

海水是黑黝黝的，阳光在水里映出五彩斑斓的光柱。

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.

游走的生物所幻成的万点霞光，已经被高空的太阳所淹没，在老头儿把他的钓丝笔直地插入一英里深的水里时，他所看到的也只是从深邃蔚蓝的海水里映出的辉煌夺目的光柱。

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.

金枪鱼(打鱼的把所有这一族的鱼都叫做金枪鱼，只在把它们售卖或者用它们交换鱼食的时候，才叫它们各自的正式名字)又沉到海底去了。

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.

现在太阳灼热起来，老头儿后颈脖子上感觉到太阳的热力，划船的时候汗珠一滴一滴从脊背上留下来。

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

他想，我大可以让船自在地漂流，我睡觉去，用一个绳扣儿系在我的脚趾上，让它随时把我弄醒。

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

不过今天是八十五天了，我应该在这一天好好儿钓鱼才成。

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

正当他目不转睛地望着钓丝的时候，他看见伸在水面上的一根绿色的竿子急速地坠到水里去。

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

“好啊，”他说。“好啊，”说着连船也没撞一下就把桨放在桨架上。

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

他伸手去拿钓丝，把它放在右手大拇指和食指的中间轻轻地握着。

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

他觉得钓丝不紧，也不重，攥在手里很轻松的。

Then it came again.

接着钓丝又动了一下。

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

这一次是试探性的一拉，拉得既不硬又不猛，他确切地知道这是怎么一回事儿了。

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.

下面一百英寻的深处，一条马林鱼正在吃着盖在钩尖和钩把子上的沙丁鱼，手制的钩子就是从那儿的小金枪鱼的头上伸出来的。

The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick.

老头儿灵巧地握着钓丝，同时用左手把它从竿子上轻轻地解下来。

Now he could let it run through his fingers without the fish feeling any tension.

现在他可以让它从他的手指上滑动，不使鱼感到丝毫的拉力。

This far out, he must be huge in this month, he thought. Eat them, fish. Eat them.

他想：躲在这么远的地方，它这个月一定会长得肥肥的了。吃吧，鱼啊。

Please eat them.

吃吧，请你吃吧。

How fresh they are and you down there six hundred feet in that cold water in the dark.

那些小鱼儿长得多嫩，可你偏要躲在下面六百英尺的地方，躲在那黑黝黝的冷水里。

Make another turn in the dark and come back and eat them.

从黑暗里再转一个身，回来把它们吃掉吧。

He felt the light delicate pulling and then a harder pull when a sardine's head must have been more difficult to break from the hook.

他感觉到轻轻的、小心的一扯，接着又是猛烈的一拉，这时一定有一个沙丁鱼的头不容易从钩子上扯去。

Then there was nothing.

然而结果却没有半点儿踪影。

"Come on," the old man said aloud.

“来啊，”老头儿敞开了嗓门说。

"Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren't they lovely? Eat them good now and then there is the tuna. Hard and cold and lovely. Don't be shy, fish. Eat them."

“再来一次吧，闻一闻它们看。那些小鱼儿不是很美吗?趁着新鲜的时候马上把它们吃下去，回头还有金枪鱼呢。又结实，又清凉，又美丽。别害臊了吧，鱼儿，把它们吃下去吧。”