Chapter 11 Man-of-war Bird 军舰鸟

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.

"He's got something," the old man said aloud. "He's not just looking."

He rowed slowly and steadily toward where the bird was circling. He did not hurry and he kept his lines straight up and down . But he crowded the current a little so that he was still fishing correctly though faster than he would have fished if he was not trying to use the bird.

The bird went higher in the air and circled again, his wings motionless . Then he dove suddenly and the old man saw flying fish spurt out of the water and sail desperately over the surface.

"Dolphin ," the old man said aloud. "Big dolphin."

He shipped his oars and brought a small line from under the bow. It had a wire leader and a medium-sized hook and he baited it with one of the sardines. He let it go over the side and then made it fast to a ring bolt in the stern. Then he baited another line and left it coiled in the shade of the bow. He went back to rowing and to watching the long-winged black bird who was working, now, low over the water.

As he watched the bird dipped again slanting his wings for the dive and then swinging them wildly and ineffectually as he followed the flying fish. The old man could see the slight bulge in the water that the big dolphin raised as they followed the escaping fish. The dolphin were cutting through the water below the flight of the fish and would be in the water, driving at speed , when the fish dropped. It is a big school of dolphin, he thought. They are widespread and the flying fish have little chance. The bird has no chance. The flying fish are too big for him and they go too fast.

He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird. That school has gotten away from me, he thought. They are moving out too fast and too far. But perhaps I will pick up a stray and perhaps my big fish is around them. My big fish must be somewhere.

The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green line with the gray blue hills behind it. The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost purple. As he looked down into it he saw the red sifting of the plankton in the dark water and the strange light the sun made now. He watched his lines to see them go straight down out of sight into the water and he was happy to see so much plankton because it meant fish. The strange light the sun made in the water, now that the sun was higher, meant good weather and so did the shape of the clouds over the land. But the bird was almost out of sight now and nothing showed on the surface of the water but some patches of yellow, sun-bleached Sargasso weed and the purple, formalized , iridescent , gelatinous bladder of a Portuguese man-of-war floating dose beside the boat. It turned on its side and then righted itself. It floated cheerfully as a bubble with its long deadly purple filaments trailing a yard behind it in the water.

中文翻译：

就在这时，他看见一只军舰鸟扑扇着长长的黑色翅膀在他前方的天空盘旋飞翔。突然，它斜斜地俯冲下来，双翅后掠，然后再次盘旋起来。

“它一定是相中什么啦，”老人道出了心中的想法，“它不只是瞧瞧看看那么简单。”

他悠悠缓缓、稳稳当当地朝鸟儿盘旋的地方划去。他一点儿也不慌张，让那些钓线保持着上下笔直的样子。他还是靠海流略微近了些，这样他就可以继续用正确的方式捕鱼，不过，因为他要利用鸟儿来指路，所以速度加快了。

军舰鸟在空中飞得更高了，又盘旋起来，双翅却一动不动。接着，它突然俯冲下来，老人看见从海里跃出了一条飞鱼，拼命掠过海面。

“鲯鳅，”老人把心里想到的说了出来，“大鲯鳅。”

他把双桨收回船舱，从船头下面拿出一根细细的钓线。钓线上系着一段钢丝接钩绳和一只中号钓钩，他把一条沙丁鱼挂在钓钩上。他把钓线顺着船沿溜下水去，将钓线的另一端系在船尾的一个带圈的螺栓上。接下来，他给另一根钓线上也装上了鱼饵，把卷成团的钓线丢到船头的暗影里。他继续划船，观察着那只黑色的、翅膀长长的鸟，此时此刻，它正在水面上低低地掠过。

他正观察着，只见那只鸟又俯冲下来，为了加快俯冲的速度，翅膀朝后掠起，随后疯狂地扑扇着翅膀追踪飞鱼，却没追上。老人看见海面微微隆起，那是那些大鲯鳅追赶脱逃的飞鱼扇起来的。飞鱼飞掠海面，鲯鳅在鱼的下方破水前行，单等飞鱼一掉下，就迅速地扎入水里。好大一群鲯鳅啊，他想。它们四散得到处都是，飞鱼脱逃的机会太少。那只鸟哪里有成功的机会，飞鱼比它个头大得多，飞的速度也快得多。

他看着飞鱼一次又一次地从海里冒出来，看着那只鸟一次又一次地徒劳无功。那群鲯鳅已经从我身边逃走了，他想，它们逃得太快，游得太远啦，不过说不定我能逮住一条掉队的，说不定我预想的大鱼就在它们周围呢，我的大鱼总该在一个什么地方啊。

此时此刻，陆地上升起山样的云彩，海岸空余一条绿色的长线，一些淡蓝色的小山掩映在后。此时此刻，海水呈深蓝色，深得近乎于紫色了。他低头看着海水，只见深蓝色的海水里散布着红色的浮游生物，星星点点，闪闪烁烁，此时此刻，阳光在水中变幻出奇异的光彩。他盯着那几根钓线，小心翼翼地让它们垂直向下没入深不见底的水里。看到这么多浮游生物，他心中大悦，因为这意味着此处有鱼。此时此刻，太阳升得更高了，阳光在水中变幻出奇异的光彩，说明天气晴好，陆地上空的云彩的形状也说明了这一点。不过，此时此刻，那只鸟儿差不多淡出了视线，海面上什么都不见了，只剩下几摊被太阳晒得泛白的黄色马尾藻和一个僧帽水母。这个僧帽水母胶质的浮囊呈紫色，生得有形有款，闪耀着七色光彩，紧靠着船沿浮动着。它向一侧一翻，然后又竖直了身体。它喜滋滋地像个气泡似地浮动着，身后拖着那些长长的要命的紫色触须，在水中拖了有一码长。