英文书摘精选 不朽名著07：老人与海

The Old Man and the Sea



老人与海



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 1 when the fishermen thought they were at a hundred.



淡淡的太阳从海上升起，老人看见其他船只低低地挨着水面，朝海岸漂去，向海浪垂直的方向分散开。接着，太阳更明亮了，刺眼的强光照在水面上。当太阳从地平线上完全升起，平坦的海面把阳光反射到他眼睛里，使他的眼睛剧烈地刺痛，所以他划着船，不朝太阳看。他俯视水中，注视着那几根一直垂到漆黑的深水里的钓索。他把钓索垂得比任何人更直，这样，在黑暗的湾流深处的几个不同的深度，都会有一个鱼饵刚好在他所指望的地方等待着游动的鱼来觅食。别的渔夫让钓索顺水漂流，有时钓索在六十英寻的深处，他们却自以为在一百英寻的深处呢。



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.



但是，他想，我总是把它们放在精确的地方。只是我没有运气，可谁知道呢？也许今天就有好运。每天都是新的一天。走运当然更好，但我宁愿做得精确。那么运气来的时候，你就准备好了。



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.



两个小时过去了，太阳升得更高了，朝东望去，眼睛没有刺痛得那么厉害。现在只能看见三艘船，它们显得很低，靠近海岸。



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.



这一辈子，初升的太阳总是刺痛我的眼睛，他心想。然而，眼睛仍然是好好的。傍晚时分，我能直视它，不会有眼前发黑的感觉。阳光在傍晚要更强烈些，不过在早上它叫人感到痛苦。



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 2 down on his back-swept wings, and then circled again.



就在这时，他看见一只军舰鸟，有着黑色的长翅膀，在他前方的天空中盘旋。它斜着后掠的双翅迅速俯冲下来，然后又盘旋起来。



“He’s got something,” the old man said aloud. “He’s not just looking.”



“他逮到东西了，”老人大声说，“他不只是看看。”



He rowed slowly and steadily 3 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.



他缓慢而坚定地划向鸟儿盘旋的地方。他并不匆忙，使钓索保持着上下垂直的位置。不过他朝海流靠近了一点，这样他依然在用正确的方式捕鱼，尽管他的速度要比不打算利用鸟儿来引路时来得快。



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 4 out of the water and sail desperately 5 over the surface.



鸟儿在空中飞得更高了，再次盘旋起来，翅膀纹丝不动。然后它猛然俯冲下来，老人看见飞鱼跃出水面，拼命地在海面上掠过。



“Dolphin,” the old man said aloud. “Big dolphin.”



“海豚，”老人大声说道’ “大海豚。”



He shipped his oars 6 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 7. 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.



他取下桨，从船头下面拿出一根细钓丝。钓丝上系着铁丝导线和一只中号钓钩，他把一条沙丁鱼挂在上面，顺着船舷放下水，然后将丝紧紧地系在船尾一只带环螺栓上。接着他在另一根线上安上鱼饵，把它盘绕着搁置在船头的阴影里。他又划起船，看着长翅黑鸟，它此刻正在水面上低飞。



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 8 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.



他正看着，鸟儿又斜起翅膀准备俯冲，它向下冲来，然后又猛烈地扇动着双翼，追踪飞鱼，但是没有成效。老人看见大海豚在追赶飞鱼时海面微微隆起的水浪。海豚在飞掠的鱼下面破水而行，等鱼一落下，海豚就会飞速潜人水中。这群海豚真大呀！他想。它们分散开去，飞鱼很少有机会逃脱。军舰鸟也没有机会，飞鱼对它来说太大了，并且它们速度太快。



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.



他看着飞鱼一次次地跃出水面，鸟儿的行为也一无所获。那群海豚要远离我了，他想着。它们动作太快，游得太远。但是，也许我会逮住一条掉队的，也许我的大鱼就在它们周围。我的大鱼一定在某个地方。



课堂笔记：

1.这一部分用作宾语“boats”的补足语，起补充说明的作用。短语“well in toward the shore”中，“in”用作副词表示方位，意思是“朝里面，朝岸边”，副词“well”用于强调。分词短语“spread out across the current”表示状态，“across”有“横穿，穿越”之意，故而说明船只移动的方向与海浪的方向垂直。

2.这是“so that”引导的结果状语从句。从句中还包含另外两个从句，一个是“where”引导的地点状语从句，修饰动词“wait”;另一个是“that”引导的定语从句，修饰先行词“fish”。

3.连词though引导让步状语从句，表示“尽管，虽然”。从句句首省略了主谓部分“he was fishing”。

4.“see, hear, watch, feel, taste, observe”等感官动词后接动词原形时，表示动作的完整性，表示该动作已经结束；当其后接动词的ing形式时，表示该动作正在进行。此句谓语为感官动词“watch”，宾语由“and”并列构成，第一个宾语为“the flying fish burst out”，不定式“burst out”用作“fish”的补语，“burst”以原形出现，表示这个动作已经完成。“watch” 的第二个宾语为 “the ineffectual movements of the bird”，中心词为 “movement”。

5.情态动词“must”的使用，表示极其肯定的语气，该句虽然由六个词汇构成，简单短小，但足以显示出老人坚定的信念和他持之以恒的决心。