When he was even with him and had the fish's head against the bow he could not believe his size.

等他跟它并拢了，并把鱼的头靠在船头边，他简直无法相信它竟这么大。

But he untied the harpoon rope from the bitt, passed it through the fish's gills and out his jaws, made a turn around his sword then passed the rope through the other gill, made another turn around the bill and knotted the double rope and made it fast to the bitt in the bow.

他从系缆柱上解下鱼叉柄上的绳子，穿进鱼鳃，从嘴里拉出来，在它那剑似的长上颚上绕了一圈，然后穿过另一个鱼鳃，在剑嘴上绕了一圈，把这双股绳子挽了个结，紧系在船头的系缆柱上。

He cut the rope then and went astern to noose the tail.

然后他割下一截绳子，走到船梢去套住鱼尾巴。

The fish had turned silver from his original purple and silver, and the stripes showed the same pale violet colour as his tail.

鱼已经从原来的紫银两色变成了纯银色，条纹和尾巴显出同样的淡紫色。

They were wider than a man's hand with his fingers spread and the fish's eye looked as detached as the mirrors in a periscope or as a saint in a procession.

这些条纹比一个人揸开五指的手更宽，它的眼睛看上去冷漠得象潜望镜中的反射镜，或者迎神行列中的圣徒像。

"It was the only way to kill him," the old man said.

“要杀死它只有用这个办法，”老人说。

He was feeling better since the water and he knew he would not go away and his head was clear.

他喝了水，觉得好过些了，知道自己不会垮，头脑很清醒。

He's over fifteen hundred pounds the way he is, he thought.

看样子它不止一千五百磅重，他想。

Maybe much more.

也许还要重得多。

If he dresses out two-thirds of that at thirty cents a pound?

如果去掉了头尾和下脚，肉有三分之二的重量，照三角钱一磅计算，该是多少?

"I need a pencil for that," he said.

“我需要一支铅笔来计算，"他说。

"My head is not that clear. But I think the great DiMaggio would be proud of me today. I had no bone spurs. But the hands and the back hurt truly."

"我的头脑并不清醒到这个程度啊。不过，我想那了不起的迪马吉奥今天会替我感到骄傲。我没有长骨刺。可是双手和背脊实在痛得厉害。"

I wonder what a bone spur is, he thought.

不知道骨刺是什么玩意儿，他想。

Maybe we have them without knowing of it.

也许我们都长着它，自己不知道。

He made the fish fast to bow and stern and to the middle thwart.

他把鱼紧系在船头、船梢和中央的座板上。

He was so big it was like lashing a much bigger skiff alongside.

它真大，简直像在船边绑上了另一只大得多的船。

He cut a piece of line and tied the fish's lower jaw against his bill so his mouth would not open and they would sail as cleanly as possible.

他割下一段钓索，把鱼的下颌和它的长上颚扎在一起，使它的嘴不能张开，船就可以尽可能干净利落地行驶了。

Then he stepped the mast and, with the stick that was his gaff and with his boom rigged, the patched sail drew, the boat began to move, and half lying in the stern he sailed south-west.

然后他竖起桅杆，装上那根当鱼钩用的棍子和下桁，张起带补丁的帆，船开始移动，他半躺在船梢，向西南方驶去。

He did not need a compass to tell him where southwest was.

他不需要罗盘来告诉他西南方在哪里。

He only needed the feel of the trade wind and the drawing of the sail.

他只消凭贸易风吹在身上的感觉和帆的动向就能知道。

I better put a small line out with a spoon on it and try and get something to eat and drink for the moisture.

我还是放一根系着匙形假饵的细钓丝到水里去，钓些什么东西来吃吃吧，也可以润润嘴。

But he could not find a spoon and his sardines were rotten.

可是他找不到匙形假饵，他的沙丁鱼也都腐臭了。

So he hooked a patch of yellow Gulf weed with the gaff as they passed and shook it so that the small shrimps that were in it fell onto the planking of the skiff.

所以他趁船经过的时候用鱼钩钩上了一簇黄色的马尾藻，把它抖抖，使里面的小虾掉在小船船板上。

There were more than a dozen of them and they jumped and kicked like sand fleas.

小虾总共有一打以上，蹦跳着，甩着脚，像沙蚤一般。

The old man pinched their heads off with his thumb and forefinger and ate them chewing up the shells and the tails.

老人用拇指和食指掐去它们的头，连壳带尾巴嚼着吃下去。

They were very tiny but he knew they were nourishing and they tasted good.

它们很小，可是他知道它们富有营养，而且味道也好。