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"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。”
"I'll try to get him to work far out," the boy said.
“我要想法叫船主人也驶到远方，”孩子说。
"Then if you hook something truly big, we can come to your aid."
“这样，如果你确实钓到了大鱼，我们可以赶去帮你的忙。”
"He does not like to work too far out."
“他可不会愿意驶到很远的地方。”
"No," the boy said. "But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin."
“是啊，”孩子说。“不过我会看见一些他看不见的东西，比如说有只鸟儿在空中盘旋，我就会叫他赶去追鲯鳅的。”
"Are his eyes that bad?"
“他眼睛这么不行吗？”
"He is almost blind."
“简直是个瞎子。”
"It is strange," the old man said. "He never went turtle-ing. That is what kills the eyes."
“这可怪了，”老人说。“他从没捕过海龟。这才是伤眼睛的活儿。”
"But you went turtle-ing for years off the Mosquito Coast and your eyes are good."
“你可在莫斯基托海岸外捕了好多年海龟，你的眼力还是挺好的嘛。”
"I am a strange old man"
“我是个不同寻常的老头儿。”
"But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?"
“不过你现在还有力气对付一条真正大的鱼吗？”
"I think so. And there are many tricks."
“我想还有。再说有不少窍门可用呢。”
"Let us take the stuff home," the boy said.
“我们把家什拿回家去吧，”孩子说。
"So I can get the cast net and go after the sardines."
“这样我可以拿了鱼网去逮沙丁鱼。”
They picked up the gear from the boat.
他们从船上拿起打鱼的家伙。
The old man carried the mast on his shoulder and the boy carried the wooden box with the coiled, hard-braided brown lines, the gaff and the harpoon with its shaft.
老人把桅杆扛上肩头，孩子拿着编得很紧密的褐色钓索卷儿的木箱、鱼钩和带杆子的鱼叉。
The box with the baits was under the stern of the skiff along with the club that was used to subdue the big fish when they were brought alongside.
盛鱼饵的匣子给藏在小船的船梢下面，那儿还有那根在大鱼被拖到船边时用来收服它们的棍子。
No one would steal from the old man but it was better to take the sail and the heavy lines home as the dew was bad for them
谁也不会来偷老人的东西，不过还是把桅杆和那些粗钓索带回家去的好，因为露水对这些东西不利。
and though he was quite sure no local people would steal from him, the old man thought that a gaff and a harpoon were needless temptations to leave in a boat.
再说，尽管老人深信当地不会有人来偷他的东西，但他认为，把一把鱼钩和一支鱼叉留在船上实在是不必要的引诱。
They walked up the road together to the old man's shack and went in through its open door.
他们顺着大路一起走到老人的窝棚，从敞开的门走进去。
The old man leaned the mast with its wrapped sail against the wall and the boy put the box and the other gear beside it.
老人把绕着帆的桅杆靠在墙上，孩子把木箱和其他家伙搁在它的旁边。
The mast was nearly as long as the one room of the shack.
桅杆跟这窝棚内的单间屋子差不多一般长。
The shack was made of the tough bud shields of the royal palm which are called guano and in it there was a bed, a table, one chair, and a place on the dirt floor to cook with charcoal.
窝棚用大椰子树的叫做“海鸟粪”的坚韧的苞壳做成，里面有一张床、一张桌子、一把椅子和泥地上一处用木炭烧饭的地方。
On the brown walls of the flattened, overlapping leaves of the sturdy fibered guano there was a picture in color of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and another of the Virgin of Cobre.
在用纤维结实的“海鸟粪”展平了叠盖而成的褐色墙壁上，有一幅彩色的耶稣圣心图和另一幅科布莱圣母图。
These were relics of his wife.
这是他妻子的遗物。
Once there had been a tinted photograph of his wife on the wall but he had taken it down because it made him too lonely to see it and it was on the shelf in the corner under his clean shirt.
墙上一度挂着幅他妻子的着色照，但他把它取下了，因为看了觉得自己太孤单了，它如今在屋角搁板上，在他的一件干净衬衫下面。
"What do you have to eat?" the boy asked.
“有什么吃的东西？”孩子问。
"A pot of yellow rice with fish.
“有锅鱼煮黄米饭。
Do you want some?"
要吃点吗？”
"No. I will eat at home. Do you want me to make the fire?"
“不。我回家去吃。要我给你生火吗？”
"No. I will make it later on. Or I may eat the rice cold."
“不用。过一会儿我自己来生。也许就吃冷饭算了。”
"May I take the cast net?"
“我把鱼网拿去好吗？”
"Of course."
“当然好。”
There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it.
实在并没有鱼网，孩子还记得他们是什么时候把它卖掉的。
But they went through this fiction every day.
然而他们每天要扯一套这种谎话。
There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too.
也没有什么鱼煮黄米饭，这一点孩子也知道。
