“Can you really remember that or did I just tell it to you?”
“你当真记得那回事儿,还是我不久前刚跟你说过?”
“I remember everything from when we first went together.”
“打从我们头一回一起出海时起,什么事儿我都记得清清楚楚。”
The old man looked at him with his sun-burned, confident loving eyes.
老人用他那双常遭日晒而目光坚定的眼睛爱怜地望着他。
“If you were my boy I’d take you out and gamble,” he said. “But you are your father’s and your mother’s and you are in a lucky boat.”
“如果你是我自己的小子,我准会带你出去闯一下,”他说。“可你是你爸爸和你妈妈的小子,你搭的又是一条交上了好运的船。”
“May I get the sardines? I know where I can get four baits too.”
“我去弄沙丁鱼来好吗?我还知道上哪儿去弄四条鱼饵来。”
“I have mine left from today. I put them in salt in the box.”
“我今天还有自个儿剩下的。我把它们放在匣子里腌了。”
“Let me get four fresh ones.”
“让我给你弄四条新鲜的来吧。”
“One,” the old man said. His hope and his confidence had never gone. But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises.
“一条,”老人说。他的希望和信心从没消失过。现在可又象微风初起时那么清新了。
“Two,” the boy said.
“两条,”孩子说。
“Two,” the old man agreed. “You didn’t steal them?”
“就两条吧,”老人同意了。“你不是去偷的吧?”
“I would,” the boy said. “But I bought these.”
“我愿意去偷,”孩子说。“不过这些是买来的。”
“Thank you,” the old man said.
“谢谢你了,”老人说。
He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility.
他心地单纯,不去捉摸自己什么时候达到这样谦卑的地步。
But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.
可是他知道这时正达到了这地步,知道这并不丢脸,所以也无损于真正的自尊心。
“Tomorrow is going to be a good day with this current,” he said.
“看这海流,明儿会是个好日子,”他说。
“Where are you going?” the boy asked.
“你打算上哪儿?”孩子问。
“Far out to come in when the wind shifts. I want to be out before it is light.”
“驶到远方,等转了风才回来。我想天亮前就出发。”