The breeze was steady.

风持续地吹着。

It had backed a little further into the north-east and he knew that meant that it would not fall off.

它稍微转向东北方，他明白这表明它不会停息。

The old man looked ahead of him but he could see no sails nor could he see the hull nor the smoke of any ship.

老人朝前方望去，不见一丝帆影，也看不见任何一只船的船身或冒出来的烟。

There were only the flying fish that went up from his bow sailing away to either side and the yellow patches of Gulf weed.

只有从他船头下跃起的飞鱼，向两边逃去，还有一摊摊黄色的马尾藻。

He could not even see a bird.

他连一只鸟也看不见。

He had sailed for two hours, resting in the stern and sometimes chewing a bit of the meat from the marlin, trying to rest and to be strong, when he saw the first of the two sharks.

他已经航行了两个钟点，在船梢歇着，有时候从大马林鱼身上撕下一点肉来咀嚼着，努力休息，保持精力，这时他看到了两条鲨鱼中首先露面的那一条。

"Ay," he said aloud.

“Ay，"他说出声来。

There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.

这个词儿是没法翻译的，也许不过是一声叫喊，就象一个人觉得钉子穿过他的双手，钉进木头时不由自主地发出的声音。

"Galanos," he said aloud.

“加拉诺鲨，"他说出声来。

He had seen the second fin now coming up behind the first and had identified them as shovel-nosed sharks by the brown, triangular fin and the sweeping movements of the tail.

他看见另一个鳍在第一个的背后冒出水来，根据这褐色的三角形鳍和甩来甩去的尾巴，认出它们正是铲鼻鲨。

They had the scent and were excited and in the stupidity of their great hunger they were losing and finding the scent in their excitement.

它们嗅到了血腥味，很兴奋，因为饿昏了头，它们激动得一会儿迷失了臭迹，一会儿又嗅到了。

But they were closing all the time.

可是它们始终在逼近。

The old man made the sheet fast and jammed the tiller.

老人系紧帆脚索，卡住了舵柄。

Then he took up the oar with the knife lashed to it.

然后他拿起上面绑着刀子的桨。

He lifted it as lightly as he could because his hands rebelled at the pain.

他尽量轻地把它举起来，因为他那双手痛得不听使唤了。

Then he opened and closed them on it lightly to loosen them.

然后他把手张开，再轻轻捏住了桨，让双手松弛下来。

He closed them firmly so they would take the pain now and would not flinch and watched the sharks come.

他紧紧地把手合拢，让它们忍受着痛楚而不致缩回去，一面注视着鲨鱼在过来。

He could see their wide, flattened, shovel-pointed heads now and their white tipped wide pectoral fins.

他这时看得见它们那又宽又扁的铲子形的头，和尖端呈白色的宽阔的胸鳍。

They were hateful sharks, bad smelling, scavengers as well as killers, and when they were hungry they would bite at an oar or the rudder of a boat.

它们是可恶的鲨鱼，气味难闻，既杀害其他的鱼，也吃腐烂的死鱼，饥饿的时候，它们会咬船上的一把桨或者舵。

It was these sharks that would cut the turtles' legs and flippers off when the turtles were asleep on the surface, and they would hit a man in the water, if they were hungry, even if the man had no smell of fish blood nor of fish slime on him.

就是这些鲨鱼，会趁海龟在水面上睡觉的时候咬掉它们的脚和鳍状肢，如果碰到饥饿的时候，也会在水里袭击人，即使这人身上并没有鱼血或黏液的腥味。

"Ay," the old man said. "Galanos. Come on galanos."

“Ay，”老人说。“加拉诺鲨。来吧，加拉诺鲨。”

They came.

它们来啦。

But they did not come as the Mako had come.

但是它们来的方式和那条灰鲭鲨的不同。

One turned and went out of sight under the skiff and the old man could feel the skiff shake as he jerked and pulled on the fish.

一条鲨鱼转了个身，钻到小船底下不见了，它用嘴拉扯着死鱼，老人觉得小船在晃动。

The other watched the old man with his slitted yellow eyes and then came in fast with his half circle of jaws wide to hit the fish where he had already been bitten.

另一条用它一条缝似的黄眼睛注视着老人，然后飞快地游来，半圆形的上下颚大大地张开着，朝鱼身上被咬过的地方咬去。

The line showed clearly on the top of his brown head and back where the brain joined the spinal cord and the old man drove the knife on the oar into the juncture, withdrew it, and drove it in again into the shark's yellow cat-like eyes.

它褐色的头顶以及脑子跟脊髓相连处的背脊上有道清清楚楚的纹路，老人把绑在桨上的刀子朝那交叉点扎进去，拔出来，再扎进这鲨鱼的黄色猫眼。

The shark let go of the fish and slid down, swallowing what he had taken as he died.

鲨鱼放开了咬住的鱼，身子朝下溜，临死时还把咬下的肉吞了下去。