????The sun rose thinly from the sea and the old man could see the other boats, low on the water and well in toward the shore, spread out across the current. Then the sun was brighter and the?

????glare came on the water and then, as it rose clear, the flat sea sent it back at his eyes so that it hurt sharply and he rowed without looking into it. He looked down into the water and watched the lines that went straight down into the dark of the water. He kept them straighter than anyone did, so that at each level in the darkness of the stream there would be a bait waiting exactly where he wished it to be for any fish that swam there. Others let them drift with the current and sometimes they were at sixty fathoms when the fishermen thought they were at a hundred.

????淡淡的太陽從海上升起，老人看見其他的船只，低低地挨著水面，離海岸不遠，和海流的方向垂直地展開著。跟著太陽越發(fā)明亮了，耀眼的陽光射在水面上，隨后太陽從地平線上完全升起，平坦的海面把陽光反射到他眼睛里，使眼睛劇烈地刺痛，因此他不朝太陽看，顧自劃著。他俯視水中，注視著那幾根一直下垂到黑魅魅的深水里的釣索。他把釣索垂得比任何人更直，這樣，在黑魅魅的灣流深處的幾個不同的深度，都會有一個魚餌剛好在他所指望的地方等待著在那兒游動的魚來吃。別的漁夫讓釣索隨著海流漂去，有時候釣索在六十英尋的深處，他們卻自以為在一百英尋的深處呢。

????But, he thought, I keep them with precision. Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.

????不過，他想，我總是把它們精確地放在適當?shù)牡胤降?。問題只在于我的運氣就此不好了。可是誰說得準呢？說不定今天就轉(zhuǎn)運。每一天都是一個新的日子。走運當然是好。不過我情愿做到分毫不差。這樣，運氣來的時候，你就有所準備了。

????The sun was two hours higher now and it did not hurt his eyes so much to look into the east. There were only three boats in sight now and they showed very low and far inshore.

????兩小時過去了，太陽如今相應地升得更高了，他朝東望時不再感到那么刺眼了。眼前只看得見三條船，它們顯得特別低矮，遠在近岸的海面上。

????All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes, he thought. Yet they are still good. In the evening I can look straight into it without getting the blackness. It has more force in the evening too. But in the morning it is painful.

????我這一輩子，初升的太陽老是刺痛我的眼睛，他想。然而眼睛還是好好的。傍晚時分，我可以直望著太陽，不會有眼前發(fā)黑的感覺。陽光的力量在傍晚也要強一些。不過在早上它叫人感到眼痛。

????Just then he saw a man-of-war bird with his long black wings circling in the sky ahead of him. He made a quick drop, slanting down on his back-swept wings, and then circled again.

????就在這時，他看見一只長翅膀的黑色軍艦鳥在他前方的天空中盤旋飛翔。它倏地斜著后掠的雙翅俯沖，然后又盤旋起來。

????"He's got something," the old man said aloud. "He's not just looking."

????"它逮住了什么東西啦，"老人說出聲來。"它不光是找找罷了。"

????He rowed slowly and steadily toward where the bird was circling. He did not hurry and he kept his lines straight up and down. But he crowded the current a little so that he was still fishing correctly though faster than he would have fished if he was not trying to use the bird.

????他慢慢劃著，直朝鳥兒盤旋的地方劃去。他并不匆忙，讓那些釣索保持著上下筆直的位置。不過他還是挨近了一點兒海流，這樣，他依然在用正確的方式捕魚，盡管他的速度要比他不打算利用鳥兒來指路時來得快。

????The bird went higher in the air and circled again, his wings motionless. Then he dove suddenly and the old man saw flying fish spurt out of the water and sail desperately over the surface.

????軍艦鳥在空中飛得高些了，又盤旋起來，雙翅紋絲不動。它隨即猛然俯沖下來，老人看見飛魚從海里躍出，在海面上拚命地掠去。

????He shipped his oars and brought a small line from under the bow. It had a wire leader and a medium-sized hook and he baited it with one of the sardines. He let it go over the side and then made it fast to a ring bolt in the stern. Then he baited another line and left it coiled in the shade of the bow. He went back to rowing and to watching the long-winged black bird who was working, now, low over the water.

????他把雙槳從槳架上取下，從船頭下面拿出一根細釣絲。釣絲上系著一段鐵絲導線和一只中號釣鉤，他拿一條沙丁魚掛在上面。他把釣絲從船舷放下水去，將上端緊系在船梢一只拳頭螺栓上。跟著他在另一根釣絲上安上了魚餌，把它盤繞著擱在船頭的陰影里。他又劃起船來，注視著那只此刻正在水面上低低地飛掠的長翅膀黑鳥。

????As he watched the bird dipped again slanting his wings for the dive and then swinging them wildly and ineffectually as he followed the flying fish. The old man could see the slight bulge in the water that the big dolphin raised as they followed the escaping fish. The dolphin were cutting through the water below the flight of the fish and would be in the water, driving at speed, when the fish dropped. It is a big school of dolphin, he thought. They are widespread and the flying fish have little chance. The bird has no chance. The flying fish are too big for him and they go too fast.

????他看著看著，那鳥兒又朝下沖，為了俯沖，把翅膀朝后掠，然后猛地展開，追蹤著飛魚，

????可是沒有成效。老人看見那些大鰍跟在那脫逃的魚后面，把海面弄得微微隆起。鰍在飛掠的魚下面破水而行，只等飛魚一掉下，就飛快地鉆進水里。這群鮮鰍真大啊，他想。它們分布得很廣，飛魚很少脫逃的機會。那只鳥可沒有成功的機會。飛魚對它來說個頭太大了，而且又飛得太快。

????He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird. That school has gotten away from me, he thought. They are moving out too fast and too far. But perhaps I will pick up a stray and perhaps my big fish is around them. My big fish must be somewhere.

????他看著飛魚一再地從海里冒出來，看著那只鳥兒的一無效果的行動。那群魚從我附近逃走啦，他想。它們逃得太快，游得太遠啦。不過說不定我能逮住一條掉隊的，說不定我想望的大魚就在它們周圍轉(zhuǎn)游著。我的大魚總該在某處地方啊。