The shark was not an accident. He had come up from deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea. He had come up so fast and absolutely without caution that he broke the surface of the blue water and was in the sun. Then he fell back into the sea and picked up the scent and started swimming on the course the skiff and the fish had taken.

這條鯊魚的出現(xiàn)不是偶然的。當(dāng)一大片暗黑色的血在一英里深的海里下沉、擴(kuò) 散的時候，它就從深水底下躥上來了。它躥得很快，完全無所顧忌，嘩的一聲沖出藍(lán)色的水面，來到了陽光里。接著它又落進(jìn)海里，嗅到了臭跡，就順著船和魚所走的路線游來。

Sometimes he lost the scent. But he would pick it up again, or just have a trace of it, and he swam fast and hard on the course. He was a very big Mako shark(1) built to swim as fast as the fastest fish in the sea and everything about him was beautiful except his jaws. His back was as blue as a sword fish’s and his belly was silver and his hide was smooth and handsome. He was built as a sword fish except for his huge jaws which were tight shut now as he swam fast, just under the surface with his high dorsal fin knifing through the water without wavering. Inside the closed double lip of his jaws all of his eight rows of teeth were slanted inwards. They were not the ordinary pyramid-shaped teeth of most sharks. They were shaped like a man’s fingers when they are crisped like claws. They were nearly as long as the fingers of the old man and they had razor-sharp cutting edges on both sides. This was a fish built to feed on all the fishes in the sea, that were so fast and strong and well armed that they had no other enemy. Now he speeded up as he smelled the fresher scent and his blue dorsal fin cut the water.

有時候它迷失了那臭跡。但是它總會重新嗅到，或者只嗅到一點點臭跡，然后就迅疾地緊追上去。這是一條巨大的灰鯖鯊，天生就能游得跟海里最快的魚一樣快，渾身除了上下顎以外，處處都很優(yōu)美。它的背像劍魚的一樣藍(lán)，肚子是 銀白色的，皮又光滑又漂亮。它長得像劍魚一樣，所不同的是它那巨大的兩顎，眼下它就在水面下迅疾地游著，雙顎緊閉，高聳的背鰭像刀子一般劃破水面，絲毫也不晃動。在它緊閉的雙唇里，八排牙齒全都向內(nèi)傾斜。跟大多數(shù)鯊魚不同，它的牙齒不是角錐形的。從形狀來看，這些牙就像人蜷成爪狀的手指。它們幾乎跟老人的手指一樣長，兩邊都有剃刀般鋒利的刃子。這種魚天生要吃海里所有的魚，盡管那些魚游得那么快，長得那么壯，裝備那么齊全，以至于沒有任何別的對手。這時它嗅出了新的臭跡，加快游起來，藍(lán)色的背鰭劃開了水面。

（1） 灰鯖鯊,尖吻鯖鯊。

When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished. He prepared the harpoon and made the rope fast while he watched the shark come on. The rope was short as it lacked what he had cut away to lash the fish.

老人一見它來了，就知道它是一條毫不畏懼、為所欲為的鯊魚。他準(zhǔn)備好了魚叉，把繩子系緊，一面瞅著那鯊魚游向前來。繩子短了，缺了他割下用來綁魚的那一段。

The old man’s head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in. He might as well have been a dream, he thought(2). I cannot keep him from hitting me but maybe I can get him. Dentuso(3), he thought. Bad luck to your mother.

這時老人的頭腦清醒好使，決心也大，但是不抱多少希望。好景不長，他想。他瞅著鯊魚逼近的時候，望了望那條大魚。這是一場夢就好了，他想。我沒法阻止它來襲擊我，但是也許我能弄死它。dentuso，他想。讓你媽倒霉去吧。

（2）作者在描寫老人的心理活動時,經(jīng)常插入 he thought(他想)二字,譯者總是嚴(yán)格 遵照原文的語序來擺放這二字的位置,以便忠實再現(xiàn)原文的思維軌跡和內(nèi)在節(jié)奏。 

（3）西班牙語 dentudo 一詞的變體,系當(dāng)?shù)厝藢阴涻彽乃追Q。全書共有 22 處西班牙語, 譯者如數(shù)加以保留,并加腳注說明其意義。

The shark closed fast astern and when he hit the fish the old man saw his mouth open and his strange eyes and the clicking chop of the teeth as he drove forward in the meat just above the tail. The shark’s head was out of water and his back was coming out and the old man could hear the noise of skin and flesh ripping on the big fish when he rammed the harpoon down onto the shark’s head at a spot where the line between his eyes intersected with the line that ran straight back from his nose. There were no such lines. There was only the heavy sharp blue head and the big eyes and the clicking, thrusting all-swallowing jaws. But that was the location of the brain and the old man hit it. He hit it with his blood mushed hands driving a good harpoon with all his strength. He hit it without hope but with resolution and complete malignancy.

鯊魚飛速地逼近船尾，它襲擊大魚的時候，老人看見它張開了嘴，一雙眼睛好奇異，牙齒咔嚓一聲朝魚尾上方的肉猛咬進(jìn)去。鯊魚的頭鉆出了水面，背也露出水來，老人聽見鯊魚撕開大魚皮肉的聲音，便用魚叉朝下猛地扎進(jìn)鯊魚的腦 袋，正扎在兩眼之間的那條線和從鼻子筆直通到腦后的那條線的交叉點上。其實并不存在這兩條線。只有那又粗又尖的藍(lán)色腦袋，兩只大眼睛，和那咔嚓作響、伸得長長的、吞噬一切的兩顎。不過那正是腦子的所在，老人刺了個正著。他使出全身力氣，用沾滿鮮血的雙手，把一支鋒利的魚叉扎了進(jìn)去。他扎下去時并不抱什么希望，但是滿懷決心和狠毒。

The shark swung over and the old man saw his eye was not alive and then he swung over once again, wrapping himself in two loops of the rope. The old man knew that he was dead but the shark would not accept it. Then, on his back, with his tail lashing and his jaws clicking, the shark plowed over the wa- ter as a speed-boat does. The water was white where his tail beat it and three quarters of his body was clear above the water when the rope came taut, shivered, and then snapped. The shark lay quietly for a little while on the surface and the old man watched him. Then he went down very slowly.

鯊魚翻過身來，老人看出它的眼珠已經(jīng)沒有生氣了，接著它又翻了個身，身上纏了兩圈繩子。老人知道它沒命了，可鯊魚卻不肯認(rèn)輸。這時它肚皮朝上，尾巴噼里啪啦撲打著，兩顎發(fā)出咔嚓咔嚓的響聲，像快艇一樣劃破水面。海水被它的尾巴拍打起一片白浪，它身子的四分之三脫出了水面，這時繩子繃緊了，顫抖著，隨即啪地斷了。鯊魚在水面上靜靜地躺了一會兒，老人瞅著它。然后它就慢慢沉下去了。

“He took about forty pounds,” the old man said aloud. He took my harpoon too and all the rope, he thought, and now my fish bleeds again and there will be others.

“它吃掉了大約四十磅肉?！崩先舜舐曊f道。它把我的魚叉也帶走了，還有整條繩子，他想，而眼下我的魚又在淌血，還會有別的鯊魚來。

He did not like to look at the fish anymore since he had been mutilated. When the fish had been hit it was as though he himself were hit.

他不愿再看這條魚了，因為它已經(jīng)給咬得殘缺不全了。魚遭到襲擊時，就好像他自己遭到了襲擊。

But I killed the shark that hit my fish, he thought. And he was the biggest dentuso that I have ever seen. And God knows that I have seen big ones.

可是我把襲擊我這條魚的鯊魚給宰了，他想。它可是我見到過的最大的dentuso。天曉得我也見過不少大魚呢。

It was too good to last, he thought. I wish it had been a dream now and that I had never hooked the fish and was alone in bed on the newspapers.

好景不長，他想。但愿這是一場夢，但愿我壓根兒沒釣到這條魚，正獨自墊著報紙?zhí)稍诖采稀?/span>

“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”(4) I am sorry that I killed the fish though, he thought. Now the bad time is coming and I do not even have the harpoon. The dentuso is cruel and able and strong and intelligent. But I was more intelligent than he was. Pehaps not, he thought. Perhaps I was only better armed.

不過人不是生來要給打敗的，”他說，“人盡可被毀滅，但不可被打敗。”不過我很難過，把這條魚給殺死了，他想?，F(xiàn)在倒霉的時刻快到了，可我連魚叉也沒有。這條dentuso又殘忍，又能干，又強(qiáng)壯，又聰明。但是我比它更聰明。也許不是這樣，他想。也許我僅僅是裝備比它強(qiáng)。

（4） 這句話初版譯為:“人盡可被毀滅,但是不會被打敗。”在新版中,譯者將之修訂為: “人盡可被毀滅,但不可被打敗?！弊x起來更加簡潔有力,鏗鏘有聲。

“Don’t think, old man,” he said aloud. “Sail on this course and take it when it comes.”

“別想啦，老家伙，” 他大聲說道，“順著這條航線行駛吧，有了事情就擔(dān)當(dāng)著?！?/span>

But I must think, he thought. Because it is all I have left. That and baseball. I wonder how the great DiMaggio(5) would have liked the way I hit him in the brain? It was no great thing, he thought. Any man could do it. But do you think my hands were as great a handicap as the bone spurs? I cannot know. I never had anything wrong with my heel except the time the sting ray stung it when I stepped on him when swimming and paralyzed the lower leg and made the unbearable pain.

但是我一定要想，他想。因為我只剩下這件事可干了。這件事，還有棒球。不知道了不起的迪馬喬喜不喜歡我那樣扎中它的腦子？這不是什么了不起的事，他想。什么人都做得到。但是，你是不是認(rèn)為我的手像骨刺一樣給我招來很大 的麻煩呢？我可說不準(zhǔn)。我的腳后跟從沒出過毛病，只有一次游泳時踩在一條刺鰩上，腳后跟給扎了一下，小腿就麻木了，痛得受不了。

（5）(1914—1999),當(dāng)時美國最受追捧的棒球巨星。

“Think about something cheerful, old man,” he said. “Every minute now you are closer to home. You sail lighter for the loss of forty pounds.” 

“想點愉快的事情吧，老家伙，” 他說，“ 每過一分鐘，你就離家近一點。丟了四十磅負(fù)重，船行駛起來就輕快些了?！?nbsp;

He knew quite well the pattern of what could happen when he reached the inner part of the current. But there was nothing to be done now. 

他很清楚，等他把船駛進(jìn)海流中間時，會出現(xiàn)什么情況?？墒茄巯乱稽c辦法也沒有。 

“Yes there is,” he said aloud. “I can lash my knife to the butt of one of the oars.” 

“不，有辦法，” 他大聲說道，“我可以把刀子綁在一支槳柄上?！?nbsp;

So he did that with the tiller under his arm and the sheet of the sail under his foot. 

于是他腋下夾著舵柄，一只腳踩住帆腳繩，把刀子綁在一支槳柄上。 

“Now,” he said, “I am still an old man. But I am not unarmed.” 

“瞧，”他說，“我依舊是個老頭。不過我不是手無寸鐵了。” 

The breeze was fresh now and he sailed on well. He watched only the forward part of the fish and some of his hope returned. 

這時又刮起了清風(fēng)，船順利地往前駛著。他只管瞧著魚的前半身，又恢復(fù)了一點希望。 

It is silly not to hope, he thought.

不抱希望才蠢哪，他想。