Sometimes someone would speak in a boat.

偶尔一只船上有人在说话。

But most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars.

但是除了荡桨的声音以外，大多数船只都是静悄悄的。

They spread apart after they were out of the mouth of the harbour and each one headed for the part of the ocean where he hoped to find fish.

他们一出港口就分散开来，每一个人直向他希望找到鱼的那一块海面上驶去。

The old man knew he was going far out and he left the smell of the land behind and rowed out into the clean early morning smell of the ocean.

老头儿知道他越走越远了，他已经把陆地的气息抛在后面，驶进了黎明时分海洋的清新气息里。

He saw the phosphorescence of the Gulf weed in the water as he rowed over the part of the ocean that the fishermen called the great well，

在海里划过一段地方的时候，他看见从湾流的野草里发出的磷光，渔人们把那一段地方叫做大井，

because there was a sudden deep of seven hundred fathoms where all sorts of fish congregated because of the swirl that the current made against the steep walls of the floor of the ocean.

因为那儿有一个突然下陷七百英寻的深渊，由于海流碰在海底的峭壁上造成漩涡，各种鱼都聚集在那儿。

Here there were concentrations of shrimp and bait fish and sometimes schools of squid in the deepest holes and these rose close to the surface at night where all the wandering fish fed on them.

在这深不可测的水穴里，聚集了小虾、小鱼，有时候还有成群的乌贼，这些小鱼在夜里游到靠近水面的地方，大鱼游到那儿就把它们吃掉。

In the dark the old man could feel the morning coming，

老头儿在黑暗里可以感觉到早晨来到，

and as he rowed he heard the trembling sound as flying fish left the water and the hissing that their stiff set wings made as they soared away in the darkness.

他一面摇桨，一面听见飞鱼出水时的颤声，听见它们在黑暗里凌空而去的时候从绷紧的翅膀上发出咝咝的声音。

He was very fond of flying fish as they were his principal friends on the ocean.

他非常喜欢飞鱼，因为它们是他在海洋上主要的朋友。

He was sorry for the birds, especially the small delicate dark terns that were always flying and looking and almost never finding,

他替鸟雀们伤心，特别是那弱不禁风的黑色小海燕，它们永远在飞翔，永远在张望，然而多半是永远找不到任何东西。

and he thought, the birds have a harder life than we do except for the robber birds and the heavy strong ones.

他想，“鸟儿的日子过得比我们还要苦，除非是鹰鹫和那些强大的鸟儿。

Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel?

为什么海洋有时候这样残忍，而像海燕一类的鸟儿却又给弄得那么柔弱，那么纤细呢?

She is kind and very beautiful.

海洋是仁慈的，十分美丽。

But she can be so cruel and it comes so suddenly and such birds that fly, dipping and hunting, with their small sad voices are made too delicately for the sea.

但是她有时竟会这样的残忍，来得这样突然，那些在海面上飞翔的鸟儿，不得不一面点水搜寻，一面发出微细而凄惨的叫喊，这种鸟儿啊，生来就柔弱得没有抗拒海水的力量。”

He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.

他一向把海叫做la mar(译者注：西班牙文la mar是把海当做阴性的称呼，el mar是把海当做阳性的称呼)，那是人们爱海的时候用西班牙话叫她的一个字眼儿。

Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman.

爱海的人们有时候也说些对海不满的话，但是他们的口气里总是把海当做一个女性。

Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats,

一些年轻的渔人，用浮标当做支持钩丝的浮子、

bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as el mar which is masculine.

并且在鲨鱼肝卖了很多钱以后买了小汽艇的，都把海洋叫做男性的el mar。

They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy.

他们把海当做一个竞争者，或者当做一个地方，甚至当做一个敌人。

But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours,

但是老头儿总是把海当做一个女性，当做施宠或者不施宠的一个女人，

and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them.

要是她做了鲁莽或者顽皮的事儿呢，那是因为她情不自禁。

The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.

他想：月亮迷住了她像迷住了女人一样。

He was rowing steadily and it was no effort for him since he kept well within his speed and the surface of the ocean was flat except for the occasional swirls of the current.

这时，他不慌不忙地划着船，也不需要使出多大力气，因为他保持着一定速度，同时除了海流偶然打个旋儿以外，海面是一平如镜。

He was letting the current do a third of the work and as it started to be light he saw he was already further out than he had hoped to be at this hour.

他让海流替他做三分之一的工作，天快亮的时候，他才知道他已经来到远远超过他希望在此刻能驶到的地方了。

I worked the deep wells for a week and did nothing, he thought.

他想：我在深渊上面花了一个星期的工夫，可是没有一点儿收获。

Today I'll work out where the schools of bonito and albacore are and maybe there will be a big one with them.

今天我一定要找出鲣鱼和大青花鱼的鱼群在什么地方，也许会有一条大鱼跟它们在一起呢。