登陆注册
724800000017

第17章 英文版 (7)

“Yes,” he said. “Yes,” and shipped his oars without bumping the boat. He reached out for the line and held it softly between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. He felt no strain nor weight and he held the line lightly. Then it came again. This time it was a tentative pull, not solid nor heavy, and he knew exactly what it was. One hundred fathoms down a marlin was eating the sardines that covered the point and the shank of the hook where the hand-forged hook projected from the head of the small tuna.

The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick. Now he could let it run through his fingers without the fish feeling any tension.

This far out, he must be huge in this month, he thought. Eat them, fish. Eat them. Please eat them. How fresh they are and you down there six hundred feet in that cold water in the dark. Make another turn in the dark and come back and eat them.

He felt the light delicate pulling and then a harder pull when a sardine’s head must have been more difficult to break from the hook. Then there was nothing.

“Come on,” the old man said aloud. “Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren’t they lovely?

Eat them good now and then there is the tuna. Hard and cold and lovely. Don’t be shy, fish. Eat them.”

He waited with the line between his thumb and his finger, watching it and the other lines at the same time for the fish might have swum up or down. Then came the same delicate pulling touch again.

“He’ll take it,” the old man said aloud. “God help him to take it.”

He did not take it though. He was gone and the old man felt nothing.

“He can’t have gone,” he said. “Christ knows he can’t have gone. He’s making a turn. Maybe he has been hooked before and he remembers something of it.

Then he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy.

“It was only his turn,” he said. “He’ll take it.”

He was happy feeling the gentle pulling and then he felt something hard and unbelievably heavy. It was the weight of the fish and he let the line slip down, down, down, unrolling off the first of the two reserve coils. As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man’s fingers, he still could feel the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible.

“What a fish,” he said. “He has it sideways in his mouth now and he is moving off with it.”

Then he will turn and swallow it, he thought. He did not say that because he knew that if you said a good thing it might not happen. He knew what a huge fish this was and he thought of him moving away in the darkness with the tuna held crosswise in his mouth. At that moment he felt him stop moving but the weight was still there. Then the weight increased and he gave more line. He tightened the pressure of his thumb and finger for a moment and the weight increased and was going straight down.

“He’s taken it,” he said. “Now I’ll let him eat it well.”

He let the line slip through his fingers while he reached down with his left hand and made fast the free end of the two reserve coils to the loop of the two reserve coils of the next line. Now he was ready. He had three forty-fathom coils of line in reserve now, as well as the coil he was using.

“Eat it a little more,” he said. “Eat it well.”

Eat it so that the point of the hook goes into your heart and kills you, he thought. Come up easy and let me put the harpoon into you. All right. Are you ready? Have you been long enough at table?

“Now!” he said aloud and struck hard with both hands, gained a yard of line and then struck again and again, swinging with each arm alternately on the cord with all the strength of his arms and the pivoted weight of his body.

Nothing happened. The fish just moved away slowly and the old man could not raise him an inch. His line was strong and made for heavy fish and he held it against his hack until it was so taut that beads of water were jumping from it. Then it began to make a slow hissing sound in the water and he still held it, bracing himself against the thwart and leaning back against the pull. The boat began to move slowly off toward the north-west.

The fish moved steadily and they travelled slowly on the calm water. The other baits were still in the water but there was nothing to be done.

“I wish I had the boy,” the old man said aloud. “I’m being towed by a fish and I’m the towing bitt. I could make the line fast. But then he could break it. I must hold him all I can and give him line when he must have it. Thank God he is travelling and not going down.”

What I will do if he decides to go down, I don’t know. What I’ll do if he sounds and dies I don’t know. But I’ll do something. There are plenty of things I can do.

He held the line against his back and watched its slant in the water and the skiff moving steadily to the north-west.

This will kill him, the old man thought. He can’t do this forever. But four hours later the fish was still swimming steadily out to sea, towing the skiff, and the old man was still braced solidly with the line across his back.

“It was noon when I hooked him,” he said. “And I have never seen him.”

He had pushed his straw hat hard down on his head before he hooked the fish and it was cutting his forehead. He was thirsty too and he got down on his knees and, being careful not to jerk on the line, moved as far into the bow as he could get and reached the water bottle with one hand. He opened it and drank a little. Then he rested against the bow. He rested sitting on the un-stepped mast and sail and tried not to think but only to endure.

同类推荐
  • 安娜·卡列宁娜(上)

    安娜·卡列宁娜(上)

    安娜是一个上流社会的贵妇人,年轻漂亮,追求个性解放和爱情自由,而她的丈夫却是一个性情冷漠的“官僚机器 ”。
  • 当时明月在

    当时明月在

    如风的少年如花的女子情愫暗生,正当青年的爷爷爱上了名份是自己继母的少女花萝。少男少女心绪千转百回,可是乡村伦理正如悬头之剑,如何担起那“乱伦”的骂名……
  • 头发里的鬼

    头发里的鬼

    外婆说,女孩的头发一定要留长一点,如果太短,脑袋的灵气就会打开,被邪鬼入侵,最后就会活不成……为什么头发总是能和鬼七拐八拐的扯上关系?那尼姑、和尚则相反吗?
  • 怒放

    怒放

    (水木年华首次独家披露与青春有关的音乐记忆。卢庚戌进军文坛的第一部小说。汪峰、李健、老狼、叶世荣鼎力推荐。)一个陌生而意外的电话,“打搅”了马路平凡、无聊的生活。电话的主人是李爱,马路的旧情人,因感情问题从美归国。旧情人回国,与马路产生情感纠葛。在相亲网站给人情感帮助的马路因此陷入情感危机。他不得不向侯亮、郑天亮等朋友求助,几个多年好友因此打开记忆的大门。
  • 风情女谍秘史

    风情女谍秘史

    在第二次世界大战期间,苏、美、英、德、日等国为了不同的利益,向敌对国甚至盟国派遣了大量特工以获取情报。其中有一批女间谍,她们或清丽可人,或妖艳性感,或本领高超,本书从当时众多的女间谍中选取了最具影响的十位女性,以纪实的方式加以客观记述。
热门推荐
  • 尸心不改

    尸心不改

    控尸门的欢乐二缺弟子江篱炼了一具美得人神共愤引得天雷阵阵的男尸,以为好日子开始了,结果没想到门派惨遭灭门。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 尸心不改

    尸心不改

    控尸门的欢乐二缺弟子江篱炼了一具美得人神共愤引得天雷阵阵的男尸,以为好日子开始了,结果没想到门派惨遭灭门。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 目的性修炼:人生要做的第1件事

    目的性修炼:人生要做的第1件事

    任何事物的发展都不是笔直的。一个目的性强的人能够看出其中的直中之曲和典中之直,并不失时机地把握事物迂回发展的规律,迂回应变,从而达成既定目的。如果你曾对生活中的种种纷扰不知所措,看不清未来的方向;或者做事不知从何下手,办事效率迟迟提不上去,不妨阅读本书,它会给你一个满意的答案。
  • 倾歌天下

    倾歌天下

    一场声势浩大、旷年持久的纷争,一曲悲欢千愁、家国兴衰的咏叹!一切的一切,皆起源于这个被满门抄斩,株连五族被贬黜冷宫,终身不孕更被奴才凌辱而死的女子!父兄势力的丧失,使她从贵妃沦为了废妃一道圣旨,更将她从妃嫔变为了和亲女一万石粮食,她就仅只这一万石粮食的价值?!是谁在爱恨中迷失了前路?又是谁在权势下臣服了欲望?用血铺成的复仇之路,又是谁,握紧了死神的利刃?……三国之乱,始于此女,亦终于此女。赔百姓千万人之命,丧军士之血染风延山脉万里雪红。后人称其,倾歌天下!—————————————————————————————凌晚蓝,百折而后强大起来的奇女子:“尊严诚可贵,生命价更高。若为自由故,二者皆可抛!”利飘雪,胤国的四王爷,满头白发的阴霾男子:“你想要的不就是自由吗?只要你助我夺得大胤、乃至于这天下,我给你!”楚御天,大楚的皇帝,幼年为质的变态皇帝:“朕幼年在衡国为质时,哪一天不被你这个高贵的相国千金欺负个三五回的,现在好不容易有了机会,岂能轻易便放了你?朕的爱妃!”宇文飞逸,衡国的皇帝,忍辱负重的少年天子:“朕立你作皇贵妃,无非是看着你那野心勃勃的父兄的兵权罢了,现在他们既然已死,你于朕,又还有什么意义呢?能换得一万石粮食,也算是物尽其用了!”推荐瑜自己的完结红楼V文《红影黛姿潇湘月》:强力推荐金多多巨彪悍巨好看的文《冷宫虐妃》:好友沧海明珠的红楼新文《红楼之黛色倾城》:好友银色月光的新文《娥妃》:好友诺诺宝贝超级无敌彪悍的好看文文:《血色妖瞳》精妙林兮巨好看的现代文:《美人宠》(瑜天天追的文,就是她丫的更新太慢,哎!)好友落花楼主的精彩正剧新文:《狠轻绝》(精彩不容错过哦!)四川老乡好友殷紫的青春幽默搞笑新文:《天杀的冤家》
  • 鬼马宝宝:娘子矜持点

    鬼马宝宝:娘子矜持点

    “男神,已经去使者行宫了。几年后宝贝看着再次怒火中烧的爹爹,他发誓一定要改掉她的男神病他脸色阴沉的往行宫走去,那个该死的女子竟然跑得无影无踪。气的他发誓,就算抬她尸体也要抬回来。“爹爹。,放心吧!我会乖乖跟你走的。娘亲听说几国的皇帝很帅,“朕要了的女人,看谁还敢接手。”他的怒火只换来她纯洁的一笑。”一个转身在他帝后大婚之时,小人儿的眼睛中散发着浓浓的狡猾。”
  • 销售话术是设计出来的

    销售话术是设计出来的

    能说,会说,说中客户需求;能讲,会讲,讲出高效业绩;正确,错误,对比才知有效;心到,口到,订单轻松拿到。乔拉拉编著的《销售话术是设计出来的》从多个角度展现了销售人员在工作中可能会遇到的许多销售情景,针对每个情景,分别提供了销售人员需要掌握的沟通技巧与方法,将情景对话与技巧说明相结合,是销售人员提升沟通能力的实务工具书。千里之行,始于足下。当你通过本书掌握了相应的口才理论与技能后,就需要在销售实战中去运用它,去不断地完善它,因为你的说话能力是能够通过不断实践而炼就的。
  • 我在雨中等你

    我在雨中等你

    肖唯一:我将最美好的时光用来暗恋你,却不能和你在一起,杨新泽,你是不是我一生的劫,要不然,怎么会让我如此辗转反侧。几年的时间,一直以来的等待,等到最后你是否会明白?杨新泽:有些人总是在我们不注意的时候就消失在茫茫人海,无论以前有多么的亲密,我忽然有一天发现,肖唯一就是我这一辈子的变数,在不知不觉间,那个会傻傻的看着我笑的女孩子已然成长。杨旭:走了一圈才发现,有些人早已经刻在了灵魂的最深处,舍不得放下亦不肯放下,这一次,我不会再用退让来成全你一个未知的幸福。本文青春写意,没有虐恋情深,没有阴谋诡计,只有青春时期淡淡的忧伤与迷茫。我想说的是,谁青春年少时没有爱过一个不可能的人,也会想着与伊人相伴到老,世事无常,有的人很幸运,与所爱之人白头偕老,有的人只能看着伊人消失在茫茫人海,还带着祝福的微笑。你呢,会是那哪种情况?肖唯一不知道她的未来会怎样,她只是固执的站在风雨中,一直,一直。
  • 妖艳太子不过期

    妖艳太子不过期

    他是前朝太子,亦是武林的幕后黑手。拥有绝美之容颜,倾国之财富。却心系易主的江山。费尽心机,倾尽所有。即将得天下时却被那个名叫莫忆苍的女子打乱心神。之后,他的记忆中只有她的一颦一笑。可是,她却对他说,“今生,我莫忆苍绝对不会嫁于帝王!”究竟是要天下,还是她?
  • 明治天皇:孝明帝驾崩卷(下册)

    明治天皇:孝明帝驾崩卷(下册)

    《明治天皇》再现了日本从幕末走向明治维新的历史变革,以优美的文笔,宏大的场景,详细描绘了日本近代决定国运的倒幕运动的整个过程。本书塑造了一个个鲜活的日本近代史人物形象,以及他们的坚定信念,对“安政大狱”、“樱田门之变”等重大历史事件的描述详实生动,是一部了解近代日本不可多得的佳作。
  • 婚后的誘惑

    婚后的誘惑

    天,又黑了。向夕阳却没有一点睡意,她坐在沙发上,双手抱紧自己的双脚。夕阳抬起头,看着墙壁上的大钟。12点了……已经是半夜了,即使是再忙碌的工作也该休息了,可,她的却丈夫还没有回来。以往无论工作有多忙,潘凯易都会在八点前回家,然后让夕阳给他准备饭菜,再准备洗澡水。这两个多月来,潘凯易变了,他开始经常大半夜才回家,不然就是彻夜不归。这些举动当然让夕阳警惕起来。……