读点经典：
The Old Man And the Sea
《老人与海》
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast. The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.（为引发思考，译文放在文末）
通过分析句子，来体验一下，英语和汉语的不同。
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.
整体来说这句话是A andB 结构。
先解决部分生词
alone 独自
skiff 小型帆船（捕鱼用的）
the Gulf Stream 墨西哥暖流（寒暖流交汇处鱼比较多）
without 没有
我们先用完全的英语顺序来看这句话。
He was an old man 他是一个老人
who fished alone（他）独自钓鱼
in a skiff 在一个小帆船上
in the Gulf Stream 在墨西哥暖流里
接下来就是好玩的连词成句。
他是一个在墨西哥暖流的小帆船上独自钓鱼的老人。
接下来就是考验我们中文能力的时刻了。
1. 墨西哥暖流太过于细节，中文对此比较宽松。可以稍作简化，湾流
2. 为强调老人是独自一人，“独自”提前突出一下。
修改后
他是个独自在湾流中一条小船上钓鱼的老人
A解决了，接下来看Bhe had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.
这里的had gone 里有文章，这是一个“过去完成时”，直接说结果吧，这个时态包含时间+动作——已经过去。
he had gone eighty-four days 他已经过去84天了
now 如今（时间）
without taking a fish. 没有抓住一条鱼
连词成句试试，
如今他已经连续84天没有抓到一条鱼了。
按照汉语习惯调整一下时间位置
至今已去了八十四天，一条鱼也没逮住。
整体看起来
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.
他是个独自在湾流中一条小船上钓鱼的老人，至今已去了八十四天，一条鱼也没逮住。
再看看吴劳老师的译本（最接近真实文本的翻译版本）
他是个独自在湾流中一条平底xiao'f小帆船上钓鱼的老人，这一回已去了八十四天，没逮上一条鱼。
最后把整段译文提前放在这里，供参考。
他是个独自在湾流中一条小船上钓鱼的老人，至今已去了八十四天，一条鱼也没逮住。头四十天里，有个男孩子跟他在一起。可是，过了四十天还没捉到一条鱼，孩子的父母对他说，老人如今准是十足地"倒了血霉"，这就是说，倒霉到了极点，于是孩子听从了他们的吩咐，上了另外一条船，头一个礼拜就捕到了三条好鱼。孩子看见老人每天回来时船总是空的，感到很难受，他总是走下岸去，帮老人拿卷起的钓索，或者鱼钩和鱼叉，还有绕在桅杆上的帆。帆上用面粉袋片打了些补丁，收拢后看来象是一面标志着永远失败的旗子。
