The Old Man and the Sea

Vocabulary

welt n. 鞭痕，殴打，贴边

But men were not and when same of the filaments would catch on a line and rest there slimy and purple while the old man was working a fish, he would have welts and sores on his arms and hands of the sort that poison ivy or poison oak can give. But these poisonings from the agua mala came quickly and struck like a whiplash.

treachery n. 背叛，背叛行为

When once, through my treachery, it had been necessary to him to make a choice, the old man thought.

lurch n./v. 突然倾斜，蹒跚，挫折

I wonder what he made that lurch for, he thought. The wire must have slipped on the great hill of his back.

spat out 吐出

He ate the other part of the piece that he had cut in two. He chewed it carefully and then spat out the skin.

of one's own accord 自动地，自愿地，自然而然

But I do not want to open it now by force. Let it open by itself and come back of its own accord.

undulation n. 波动，起伏

He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now. But he could see the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the strange undulation of the calm.

近形异义词

annual adj. 每年的，年度的

annul v. 废除

Expression

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

man-of-war bird 军舰鸟  circle v. 盘旋  back-swept adj. 向后倾斜的

make a quick drop，使用drop名词形式衬托动作的迅猛

From where he swung lightly against his oars he looked down into the water and saw the tiny fish that were coloured like the trailing filaments and swam between them and under the small shade the bubble made as it drifted.

流畅的长句。

From介词+从句+主句（and）+定语从句（and+and） +as

He could not see the green of the shore now but only the tops of the blue hills that showed white as though they were snow-capped and the clouds that looked like high snow mountains above them. The sea was very dark and the light made prisms in the water. The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the high sun and it was only the great deep prisms in the blue water that the old man saw now with his lines going straight down into the water that was a mile deep.

颜色反差：white与dark（prism棱镜，增加色彩感，high sun 提升亮度）

myriad adj. 无数的 fleck n. 半点，微粒，小片 annul v. 废除

that was a mile deep 最后一个定语从句用得非常精妙，只是描写深度（a mile deep），就能传神地表现出海水的清澈与宁静。

Then he began to pity the great fish that he had hooked. He is wonderful and strange and who knows how old he is, he thought. Never have I had such a strong fish nor one who acted so strangely. Perhaps he is too wise to jump. He could ruin me by jumping or by a wild rush. But perhaps he has been hooked many times before and he knows that this is how he should make his fight. He cannot know that it is only one man against him, nor that it is an old man. But what a great fish he is and what will he bring in the market if the flesh is good. He took the bait like a male and he pulls like a male and his fight has no panic in it. I wonder if he has any plans or if he is just as desperate as I am?

这一段作者的心理“独白”太美了，读起来像诗歌一样婉转流畅，特别喜欢。

His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries.

为什么作者接二连三使用的and不会令人感到厌烦？

“You’re feeling it now, fish,” he said. “And so, God knows, am I.”

so am I中间有God knows切分开，有趣。

Shifting the weight of the line to his left shoulder and kneeling carefully he washed his hand in the ocean and held it there, submerged, for more than a minute watching the blood trail away and the steady movement of the water against his hand as the boat moved.

又是一句流畅的长句。

Summary

老人出海了，带着他的乐观与自信，驶向了他深爱的大海。这一次老人的运气不错，他捕到了一只巨大的马哈鱼。对此，老人先是喜悦，想着自己的噩运终于终结；而后同情大鱼，为大鱼感到遗憾；再后把鱼当做一个值得钦佩的敌人，和大鱼作斗争；最后感动，为大鱼的死而黯然神伤。

Thought

老人在船上的时候一直在思念着男孩，呼喊着“要是男孩也在就好了”，希望男孩在船上协助，分享他的喜悦与成就。

“I wish I had the boy” the old man said aloud. “I’m being towed by a fish and I’m the towing bitt.

Then he said aloud, “I wish I had the boy. To help me and to see this.”

“I wish the boy was here,” he said aloud and settled himself against the rounded planks of the bow and felt the strength of the great fish through the line he held across his shoulders moving steadily toward whatever he had chosen.

“I wish the boy were here and that I had some salt,” he said aloud.

“I told the boy I was a strange old man,” he said.

注意，这几句全部都用的“said”，而不是“thought”，可见老人的孤独之深。在茫茫大海之中，他终于转运，捕到了大鱼。但他的体力不足以支撑把鱼从水里提出来，他的成就无人分享，他的伤痛无人治愈，空留寂寞和遗憾。心中悲苦的他，只能一遍一遍地呼唤，希望他唯一的朋友男孩此时能陪伴在身边。