Chapter 10 Three Sticks 三根钓竿

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. 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.

I worked the deep wells for a week and did nothing, he thought. Today I'll work out where the schools of bonito and albacore are and maybe there will be a big one with them.

Before it was really light he had his baits out and was drifting with the current. One bait was down forty fathoms. The second was at seventy-five and the third and fourth were down in the blue water at one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five fathoms . Each bait hung head down with the shank of the hook inside the bait fish, tied and sewed solid and all the projecting part of the hook, the curve and the point, was covered with fresh sardines. Each sardine was hooked through both eyes so that they made a half-garland on the projecting steel. There was no part of the hook that a great fish could feel which was not sweet smelling and good tasting.

The boy had given him two fresh small tunas , or albacores , which hung on the two deepest lines like plummets and, on the others, he had a big blue runner and a yellow jack that had been used before; but they were in good condition still and had the excellent sardines to give them scent and attractiveness. Each line, as thick around as a big pencil, was looped onto a green-sapped stick so that any pull or touch on the bait would make the stick dip and each line had two forty-fathom coils which could be made fast to the other spare coils so that, if it were necessary, a fish could take out over three hundred fathoms of line.

Now the man watched the dip of the three sticks over the side of the skiff and rowed gently to keep the lines straight up and down and at their proper depths. It was quite light and any moment now the sun would rise.

The sun rose thinly from the sea and the old man could see the other boats, low on the water and well in toward the shore, spread out across the current. Then the sun was brighter and the glare came on the water and then, as it rose clear, the flat sea sent it back at his eyes so that it hurt sharply and he rowed without looking into it. He looked down into the water and watched the lines that went straight down into the dark of the water. He kept them straighter than anyone did, so that at each level in the darkness of the stream there would be a bait waiting exactly where he wished it to be for any fish that swam there. Others let them drift with the current and sometimes they were at sixty fathoms when the fishermen thought they were at a hundred.

But, he thought, I keep them with precision . Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.

The sun was two hours higher now and it did not hurt his eyes so much to look into the east . There were only three boats in sight now and they showed very low and far inshore .

All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes, bethought. Yet they are still good. In the evening I can look straight into it without getting the blackness . It has more force in the evening too. But in the morning it is painful.

中文翻译：

他不慌不忙地划着，因为他恰到好处把速度控制在自己正常速度的范围之内，所以对于他来说并不吃力。除了偶尔有几处水流旋涡儿之外，海面平静安宁。他正让海流帮他干三分之一的活儿的时候，天色渐亮，他发现，与预想此时到达的地方相比，自己划远了。

我在这“深井”里打了一个礼拜的鱼，却空手而归，他想，今天，我要找到那些鲣鱼和长鳍金枪鱼群在什么地方，说不定还有条大鱼跟它们在一块呢。

天色还没大亮，他就放出了一个又一个鱼饵，让船随着海流漂着。一个鱼饵沉到了四十英寻深的地方。第二个在七十五英寻的地方，第三个和第四个分别在蓝色海水中一百英寻和一百二十五英寻的地方。每个鱼饵都是由新鲜沙丁鱼做的，个个头朝下，钓钩的钩身穿进小鱼的身体，被扎紧缝牢了。钓钩的所有突出部分，包括弯钩和尖端，都包裹在鱼肉里。每一条沙丁鱼都用钓钩穿过双眼，这样一来，鱼的身子在突出的钢钩上构成了半个圆形，不论大鱼接触到钓钩的哪部分，都是香浓美味的。

孩子给了他两条新鲜的小金枪鱼，或者叫长鳍金枪鱼，它们正像测深锤似地挂在那两根最深的钓线上。他在其余钓线挂了一条蓝色的大西洋大蓝鲹鱼和一条黄色的狗鱼，这些钓饵以前都用过，但保存完好，更不用说还有质量上乘的沙丁鱼给它们增添香味和吸引力。每根钓线有粗铅笔那么粗，钓线的一端都缠在一根被侵蚀成绿色的钓竿上，这样，只要鱼一拉或者一碰鱼饵，钓竿就会沉下来。而每根钓线有两个四十英寻长的钓线卷，可以牢牢地系在其他备用的钓线卷上，这一来，需要的时候，一条鱼可以拉出三百多英寻长的钓线来。

此时此刻，老人一面紧盯着在小船边伸出的那三根钓竿，观察着动静，一面轻轻地划着小船，保持钓索垂直向下，深度适宜。天光已经大亮，太阳随时都会喷薄而起。

太阳从海上升起来了，阳光微弱。老人看见其他船只，朝着海岸的方向，低低地贴着水面，与海流呈垂直角度散开。接下来，太阳愈见明亮起来，耀眼的阳光照在海面上。再接着，太阳完完全全地升起了，一平如镜的海面把阳光反射到他的双眼，双眼刺痛得很厉害，所以，他没有直视太阳，而是埋头划船。他俯视水里，观察着那几根垂到黑漆漆的深水里的钓线。他把钓线垂得比谁都要直，这样在黑漆漆的湾流深处的每个不同深度，都会有一个鱼饵刚好在他所预期的地方等待着游到那里的鱼。其他渔夫任由钓线随着海流漂来荡去，有时候他们以为钓线在一百英寻的深处，其实只到了六十英寻的地方。

他想，我把钓线总能放在准确的地方，只是我点儿背罢了。不过谁又能说得准呢？说不定今天就是转运的日子。每一天都是新的，撞大运自然再好不过，不过我宁愿做到准确，这样运气到了的时候，你就准备好了。

现在两个小时过去了，太阳也升得更高了，他朝东方望去，已不觉得像刚才那么刺眼了。此时此刻，他的视线之内只有三条船，又低又远地靠在海岸旁。

我活了一辈子，初升的太阳把我的眼睛刺了一辈子，他想，不过，我的眼睛还没被刺坏。傍晚时分，我可以直视着太阳，眼前也不会发黑。傍晚的阳光穿透力更强一些，不过只有清晨的阳光才会刺痛眼睛。