夜雨聆风
《The Old Man and the Sea》Chapter 3—3
4️⃣6️⃣
老人想：有些人在乘小船航行时，会担心自己远离陆地视线的情况；并深知，在突遇恶劣天气的月份里他们的担忧不无道理。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.
但现在处于飓风季，而没有飓风时，飓风月的天气是全年中最棒的。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.
倘若有飓风来袭，人们总能在数天前便在天空中看到其征兆，倘若你正好在海上的话。If there is a hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead, if you are at sea.
人们确实无法在陆地上看到飓风登陆的迹象，因为他们不知道该留意些什么。They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for, he thought.
老人认为，陆地也必定会对云层的形态产生影响。但是，目前并无飓风将至的迹象。The land must make a difference too, in the shape of the clouds. But we have no hurricane coming now.
他望着天空，看到那些像友好的冰淇淋堆积的白色积云；高高的上方，则是细长的卷云羽毛，在九月晴朗的天空中飘荡。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.
老人说：“微风徐徐；天气对我，比对你好得多啊，大鱼。”老人的左手仍然僵硬，但正在慢慢尝试着解开它。"Light brisa," he said. "Better weather for me than for you, fish." His left hand was still cramped, but he was unknotting it slowly.
老人心想：我讨厌抽筋，那是对自己身体的一种背叛。I hate a cramp, he thought. It is a treachery of one's own body.
因食物中毒，而导致腹泻；或因中毒，而呕吐；这些，会令人在别人面前感到难堪。It is humiliating before others to have a diarrhoea from ptomaine poisoning or to vomit from it.
但抽筋——老人将其称为“calambre”——则尤其令自己感到羞辱，特别是在独处的时候。But a cramp, he thought of it as a calambre, humiliates oneself especially when one is alone.
老人想：如果男孩在这里，他或许可以帮我揉一揉，把肘部前臂的肌肉放松下来。If the boy were here he could rub it for me and loosen it down from the forearm, he thought.
尽管它终将松开。But it will loosen up.
4️⃣7️⃣
接着，老人用右手感受了一下线绳拉力上的变化；这才注意到，水面的倾斜角度已然发生了改变。Then, with his right hand he felt the difference in the pull of the line before he saw the slant change in the water.
随后，当他倚靠着线绳、用左手用力且快速地拍打大腿时，便看到了线绳正缓缓向上倾斜。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.
老人说：“大鱼要上浮了；来吧，我的手，请赶快恢复过来。”("He's coming up," he said. "Come on hand. Please come on.")
鱼线，缓缓而平稳地上升着；接着，海面在船前方隆起，鱼儿随之浮出水面。The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out.
它不断游出，身体两侧的水不断涌出。He came out unendingly and water poured from his sides.
它在阳光下显得格外明亮，头部和背部呈深紫色；而在阳光下，两侧的条纹显得格外宽阔，呈浅淡淡的紫色。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.
它的剑身，长如棒球棒；并且，像匕首一样渐细、削尖；它从水中完全浮起，然后又平稳地重新沉入水里；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 reentered it,
它的动作，如潜水员一般丝滑、流畅；老人看到其尾巴末端上的大镰刀状“刀刃”沉入水中，鱼线随即开始飞速向外延伸。smoothly, like a diver and the old man saw the great scytheblade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out.
老人说道：“它的身长，比这小艇足足长了两英尺。”鱼线正快速而平稳地向外延伸，鱼儿却始终未表现出惊慌的迹象。"He is two feet longer than the skiff," the old man said. The line was going out fast but steadily and the fish was not panicked.
老人正竭尽全力，用双手将鱼线保持在接近极限强度的范围内。The old man was trying with both hands to keep the line just inside of breaking strength.
他知道，如果不能通过持续的拉力来减缓鱼的速度，它可能会将整条鱼线全部拉出、并打破平衡。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.
老人心想：它是一条了不起的鱼，我必须设法说服它。绝不能让其知晓自己的实力，以及一旦发起猛攻会发生什么。He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought. I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run.
如果我是它的话，一定会全力以赴，直到最后一刻。If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke.
但谢天谢地，它们并不像我们这些捕杀者一样聪明；尽管它们更加高贵，能力更强。But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.
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老人见过太多巨大的鱼。
The old man had seen many great fish.
他见过很多像这条，重逾一千磅的鱼；而他一生中只捕到过两条同样大小的鱼，但从未单独捕获过。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.
如今，他孤身一人在海上，远离着陆地视线、紧追着有史以来见过的最大的鱼；并且，这条鱼比他以往所听闻的任何鱼都要大许多；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,
此时，老人左手依然保持着如同“紧握鹰爪”般的紧实状态。(抽筋还未结束！)and his left hand was still as tight as the gripped claws of an eagle.
老人想：抽筯的手，必定会放松下来。没错，它会放松下来，以助右手一臂之力。It will uncramp though, he thought. Surely it will uncramp to help my right hand.
有三样东西是形影不离的：鱼儿和我的一双手。抽筋的手，必将放松下来。让手处于拘束状态，是不合情理的。There are three things that are brothers: the fish and my two hands. It must uncramp. It is unworthy of it to be cramped.
鱼儿再次放慢了速度，开始以其惯常的步调前行。The fish had slowed again and was going at his usual pace.
我不明白它为何会跳下去，老人心想。它跳动的样子，几乎像是在向我展示它的力量。I wonder why he jumped, the old man thought. He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was.
不管怎样，我现在明白了，老人想。真希望我能向它展示自己是个什么样的人。I know now, anyway , he thought. I wish I could show him what sort of man I am.
但那样，它就会看到我那局促的手了。就让它以为我比实际更强大吧，因为事实的确如此。But then he would see the cramped hand. Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.
老人想：我真希望，自己能变成那条鱼；那般强大，却只能对抗我的意念和才智。I wish I was the fish, he thought, with everything he has against only my will and my intelligence.
老人舒适地靠在木头上，坦然接受着他所遭受的这一切；鱼儿悠然地游动，小船缓缓地穿行于黑暗的水域之中。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.
………………未完待续………………