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 close 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.
"Agua mala," the man said. "You whore."
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. They were immune to its poison. 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.
The iridescent bubbles were beautiful. But they were the falsest thing in the sea and the old man loved to see the big sea turtles eating them. The turtles saw them, approached them from the front, then shut their eyes so they were completely carapaced and ate them filaments and all. The old man loved to see the turtles eat them and he loved to walk on them on the beach after a storm and hear them pop when he stepped on them with the horny soles of his feet.
He loved green turtles and hawk-bills with their elegance and speed and their great value and he had a friendly contempt for the huge, stupid loggerheads, yellow in their armour-plating, strange in their love-making, and happily eating the Portuguese men-of-war with their eyes shut.
He had no mysticism about turtles although he had gone in turtle boats for many years. He was sorry for them all, even the great trunk backs that were as long as the skiff and weighed a ton. Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered. But the old man thought, I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs. He ate the white eggs to give himself strength. He ate them all through May to be strong in September and October for the truly big fish.
He also drank a cup of shark liver oil each day from the big drum in the shack where many of the fishermen kept their gear. It was there for all fishermen who wanted it. Most fishermen hated the taste. But it was no worse than getting up at the hours that they rose and it was very good against all colds and grippes and it was good for the eyes.
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1：重点单词/词组解析
plankton /ˈplæŋktən/ IELTS/GRE
n.浮游生物
例：The first organisms that reproduced sexually were free-floating plankton.
ineffectually
【释】adv. an ineffectual manner
【译】 无益地；无效地
【同】fruitlessly
dip
【释】make a downward movement, usually quickly
【译】 下沉
词汇辨析
dip和immerse的区别：
◈dip v.浸，浸染，蘸。多指短时地将某物部分地浸到液体中，有小心翼翼的意思。
◈immerse v.沉浸，使沉浸于。指全部浸泡在液体中达一段时间，也可指一种氛围。
bulge
【释】n.swell or protrude outwards
【译】使膨胀；使凸起
【搭】bulge with
burst out
【释】give sudden release to an expression
【译】突发，大声喊叫
【同】emerge
【熟词僻义】school n. （鱼）群
iridescent
【释】adj. varying in color when seen in different lights or from different angles
【译】彩虹色的；闪光的
【同】shot
filament
【释】n. a very slender natural or synthetic fiber
【译】灯丝，细丝
cheerfully
【释】happy, or behaving in a way that shows you are happy
【译】高兴地
immune
【释】adj. a particular disease, you cannot be affected by it.
【译】免疫的
【搭】 immune to不受影响；immune from 免除的。
slimy
【释】adj.covered with or resembling slime
【译】 黏滑的
whiplash
【释】n.a quick blow delivered with a whip or whiplike object
【译】 鞭打
carapace
【释】 n.hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
【译】壳，甲壳
【同】shell
the horny soles
【译】长满了老茧的脚掌
grippe
【释】n.the former name of influenza
【译】流行性感冒
【同】influenza
immune /ɪˈmju:n/ IELTS/TOEFL/GRE/考研
adj.免疫的;有免疫力的;不受影响的;免除…的
例：This discovery led on to studies of the immune system.
filament /ˈfɪləmənt/ IELTS/GRE/6
n.[印，纺]长丝，单纤维;[电]灯丝，丝极，游丝;细丝，丝状体;[植]（雄蕊的）花丝
例：Cold cathode sensing tubes are more rugged than the glass, hot - filament tubes.
slimy /ˈslaɪmi/ TOEFL
adj.似黏液的;黏滑的;<贬>谄媚的;虚伪的
例：Her hand touched something cold and slimy.
ivy /ˈaɪvi/
n.[植]常春藤
例：He stifled his temptation to take hold of Ivy and shake her.
whiplash /ˈwɪplæʃ/
n.鞭子的皮条，鞭绳
例：She was suffering from whiplash injuries received in a car crash.
iridescent /ˌɪrɪˈdesnt/ GRE
adj.彩虹色的;（随位置不同而）变色的，闪色的;小配件
例：a bird with iridescent blue feathers
horny /ˈhɔ:ni/
adj.角质的，角状的;坚硬的;〈美俚〉好色的，猥亵的;〈古〉半透明
例：This cuttlefish has a horny internal shell like a pen.
mysticism /ˈmɪstɪsɪzəm/
n.神秘;神秘主义;玄想（的谬说）
例：She has no inclination towards mysticism.
2：句子解析
1.The bird went higher in the air and circled again, his wings motionless.
解析：句中：motionless是静止的，不动的意思，同义词是still;；less这个后缀表示“没有的”；很多词只要在后面加上less后缀就表示没有；比如说need需求加上less,就是needless不需要的；wire线，加上less就是wireless.
译文：鸟在空中飞得更高了，并开始盘旋，翅膀纹丝不动。
2.He went back to rowing and to watching the long-winged black bird who was working, now, low over the water.
解析：这个句子中go back to doing意思是重新做某事，注意to后要加动词ing形式。
译文：他又划起船来，注视着那只此刻正在水面上低低地飞掠的长翅膀黑鸟。
3.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.
解析：句中的so did the shape of the clouds是so 引导的倒装句，完整的表述是：the shape of the clouds over the land meant good weather, too.
译文：太阳此刻升得更高了，阳光在水中变幻出奇异的光彩，说明天气晴朗，陆地上空的云块的形状也说明了这一点。
4.He also drank a cup of shark liver oil each day from the big drum in the shack where many of the fishermen kept their gear.
解析：此句中的where many of the fishermen kept their gear是定语从句，修饰shack。先行词shack棚屋表示地点状语，所以我们定语从句的引导词选用where。
译文：他每天还从不少渔夫存放家什的棚屋中一只大圆桶里舀一杯鲨鱼肝油喝。
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