He is an old man fishing alone in a small boat in the Gulf Stream. He has been there for eighty-four days and has not caught a single fish. For the first forty days, a boy stayed with him. However, after forty days passed without catching a fish, the child's parents told him that the old man must now be completely "bad luck," that is, extremely unlucky, so the child obeyed their instructions and Got on another boat and caught three good fish in the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man coming back every day with the boat empty, and he would always go down to the shore and help the old man get the coiled line, or the hook and harpoon, or the sail around the mast. The sail was patched with scraps of flour sacks, and when furled it looked like a flag marking eternal defeat.

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The old man is thin and haggard, with some deep wrinkles on his neck. There were brown spots on my cheeks, benign skin cancer caused by the sun's rays reflecting off the tropical sea. Brown spots ran down the sides of his face, where his hands used ropes to haul in large fish, leaving deep scars. But none of these scars are new. They are as old as eroded spots in a fishless desert. Everything about him looked ancient except his eyes, which were as blue as the sea and were cheerful and unwilling to admit defeat.

① Refers to the Gulf Stream, which flows eastward through the Florida Strait between the southern tip of Florida and Cuba, and flows northeast along the east coast of North America. The temperature of this warm current is 0.0°C higher than that of the sea water on both sides. The widest point is up to several miles long. It is deep blue in color and very spectacular. It is a place where fish gather. The protagonist of this book is a fisherman from a small harbor near Havana, the capital of Cuba, who often sails into the Gulf Stream to fish.

"Santiago," the child said to him as they climbed ashore from where the boat was moored. "I can go out to sea with you again. My family has made some money."

The old man taught the child how to fish, and the child loved him.

"No," said the old man. "You've caught a lucky boat. Stay with them."

"But you should remember that once you didn't catch a fish for eighty-seven days, and then for three weeks, We caught big fish every day."

"I remember," the old man said. "I know you didn't leave me because you were unsure."

"Dad told me to leave. I am a child and I have to obey him."

"I understand. " said the old man. "That's as it should be."

"He doesn't have much confidence."

"Yes," said the old man. "But we do. Don't we?"

"Yes," said the child. "I'll invite you to have a beer at the Terrace Restaurant, and then we'll take the fishing gear back together."

"That's a good idea," the old man said. "They are all fishermen."

They were sitting on the terrace of the hotel. Many fishermen made fun of the old man, but the old man was not angry. Some other older fishermen looked at him and felt uncomfortable. But they didn't show it, they just talked politely about the currents, how deep they had sent their lines, how fine the weather had always been, and what they had seen. The fishermen who had succeeded in fishing that day had all come back, cut open the big marlin, and arranged the whole pieces on two wooden boards. One end of each wooden board was carried by two people, and they were staggered to the fish collecting station. There they wait for refrigerated trucks to take them to the market in Havana. The people who caught the sharks had sent them to the shark processing factory on the other side of the bay, where they were hung on a compound pulley, the livers were removed, the fins were cut off, the skin was peeled off, and the fish meat was cut into strips for pickling.

When the east wind blows, the shark processing plant sends a scent across the bay; but today there is only a faint scent, because the wind has turned to the north and then died down,

The hotel The terrace is lovely and sunny.

"Santiago," the child said.

"Oh," said the old man. He was holding the wine glass and thinking about what happened many years ago.

"Want me to get some sardines for you tomorrow?"

"No. Let's play baseball. I can row a boat and Rogelio will cast the net for me. "

"I would like to go fishing with you, but I would also like to do something for you."

"You bought me a beer. " said the old man. "You are already an adult."

"How old was I when you took me on board for the first time?"

"When I was five years old, that day I made a live dragon dance alive. The fish was dragged onto the boat and it almost smashed the boat to pieces and almost killed you."

"I remember the tail slapping and the seat on the boat. The board was broken, and there was the sound of the stick hitting the fish. I remember you pushing me towards the bow, where the wet reel of fishing line lay. I felt the whole boat shaking and heard you snapping. The sound of hitting fish with a stick is like cutting down a tree, and I still remember the sweet smell of blood all over my body."

"You really remember that, or I just talked to you not long ago. "You said it?" "I remember everything clearly from the first time we went to sea together."

The old man looked at her with affection and firm eyes that were often exposed to the sun. Looking at him.

"If you were my own boy, I would take you out for a while," he said. "But you're your father and your mother's boy, and you're on another lucky boat."

"How about I go get sardines? I know where to get them. Here are four fish baits."

"I have some leftovers today. I put them in the box and marinated them."

"Let me get you four fresh ones. Come on."

"One," said the old man. His hope and confidence never faded. Now it's as fresh as when the breeze first started.

"Two," said the child.

"Just two," the old man agreed. "You're not going to steal, are you?"

"I'm willing to steal," the child said. "But these were bought."

"Thank you," the old man said. He is simple-minded and does not try to figure out when he has reached such a state of humility. But he knew that he had reached this point, knew that it was not shameful, and therefore it did not damage his true self-esteem.

"Look at the current, it's going to be a good day tomorrow," he said.

"Where are you going?" the child asked.

"Sail far away and wait until the wind turns before coming back. I want to set off before dawn."

"I want to try to ask the owner of the boat to sail far away too," the child said. "This way, if you do catch a big fish, we can rush to help you."

"He won't be willing to sail very far."

"Yes Ah," said the child. "But I will see something that he can't see, such as a bird circling in the sky, and I will tell him to chase the dolphin."

"Is his eyes so bad?"

"It's a blind man."

"That's strange," said the old man. "He's never caught a turtle before. This stuff hurts the eyes."

"You have been hunting turtles off the coast of Mosquito for many years, so your eyesight is pretty good. ”

“I am an unusual old man”

“But do you still have the strength to deal with a really big fish now?”

“Me. I think there are more. Besides, there are a lot of tricks available."

"Let's take the things home," the child said. "So I can take the fishing net and catch sardines."

They picked up the fishing equipment from the boat. The old man hoisted the mast onto his shoulders, and the boy held the wooden box containing the coils of tightly braided brown fishing line, the fishhook, and the harpoon with the pole. The box containing the bait was hidden under the stern of the boat, and there was also the stick used to control the big fish when they were dragged to the side of the boat. No one would come to steal the old man's things, but he still kept the mast and those It was better to take the heavy line home, for dew was not good for such things, and, although the old man was sure that no one in the area would come and steal his things, he thought it would be prudent to leave a hook and a harpoon in the boat. It's an unnecessary temptation.

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They walked along the road to the old man's shack and walked in through the open door. The old man leaned the mast around the sail against the wall, and the boy placed the wooden box and other household items beside it. The mast is almost as long as the single room in this shack. The shack was made of the tough bracts of a large coconut tree called guano and contained a bed, a table, a chair and a place on the dirt floor for cooking with charcoal.

① Located in the eastern part of Nicaragua in Central America, it is a low-lying coastal area on the Gulf of Mexico, covered with shrubs. It is the place where the Mosquito tribe of Indians live, hence the name.

On the brown wall, which is flattened and laminated with fibrous "guano", there is a colorful picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus① and another picture of Our Lady of Cobre. This is a relic of his wife. There had once been a tinted photograph of his wife on the wall, but he had taken it down because he felt too lonely looking at it, and it now sits on a corner shelf, under one of his clean shirts.

"Is there anything to eat?"

"There is a pot of fish and yellow rice. Do you want something to eat?"

"No. I'm going home. Eat. Do you want me to make a fire for you?"

"No. I'll just eat it later."

"I'll take the fish net. ?"

"Of course."

There is no fishing net, and the child still remembers when they sold it. Yet they tell one lie every day. There is no fish cooked with yellow rice, and the children know this.

"Eighty-five is an auspicious number," the old man said. "Do you want to see me catch a fish that weighs more than a thousand pounds with all its legs removed?"

"I'm going to catch sardines with a fishing net. How about you sit at the door and bask in the sun?" < /p>

"Okay. I have yesterday's newspaper, and I'll take a look at the baseball news." The child didn't know if yesterday's newspaper was also in vain. But the old man took it out from under the bed.

① French nun Margaret Marie Alacoque (-) initiated the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in the 19th century, which spread widely in Catholic countries.

② Cobre is a small town in the southeast of Cuba. There is the Shrine of Our Lady of Cobre on the hill south of the town, and every month and day is a pilgrimage day.

"Perico gave it to me in the grocery store," he explained.

"I'll be back when I get the sardines. I'm going to put your fish on ice with mine, and we can share it tomorrow morning. When I get back, you can tell me the baseball news."

"The Yankees can't lose."

"But I'm afraid the Cleveland Indians will win."

"Believe in the Yankees, Good boy. Don't forget about the great DiMaggio. "②

"I'm worried about the Detroit Tigers, and I'm worried about the Cleveland Indians."

"Be careful. Otherwise, you will have to worry about the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox."

"Read the newspaper carefully and tell me when I get back."

"Do you think we should buy a lottery ticket with eighty-five at the end? Tomorrow is the eighty-fifth day."

"That'll do," said the child. "But your last record was eighty-seven days, what do you mean?"

"This will never happen again. Do you think you can get one with eighty-five at the end?" ”

“I can order one.”

“It costs two and a half yuan.”

"It's easy. I can always borrow two and a half dollars."

① This New York City baseball team is a strong team in the American professional baseball world.

② Joe DiMaggio (-) joined the Yankees in 2001 and is known for his ability to hit the ball and score. He bid farewell to baseball after the baseball season.

"I guess I can borrow it too. But I don't want to borrow money. The first step is to borrow money. The next step is to beg for food."

"Wear warmer clothes , old man,” said the child. "Don't forget, we are in September."

"It's the month when the big fish show up," the old man said. "In May, everyone can be a good fisherman."

"I'm going to fish for sardines now," said the child.

When the child came back, the old man was fast asleep in the chair and the sun had gone down. The child picked up an old military blanket from the bed, spread it on the back of the chair, and covered the old man's shoulders. These two shoulders are quite strange. Although the man is very old, his shoulders are still strong and his neck is still strong. Moreover, when the old man falls asleep and his head is drooped forward, the wrinkles are not so obvious. His shirt had been patched so many times that it looked like his sail. The patches had been faded by the sun into many different shades of color. The old man's head was very old, his eyes were closed, and his face was lifeless at all. The newspaper was spread out on his knees, held down by one of his arms to prevent it from blowing away in the evening breeze. His feet were bare.

The child left the old man and left. When he came back, the old man was still asleep.

"Wake up, old man," the child said, putting a hand on the old man's knee. The old man opened his eyes, and for a moment he felt as if he was coming back from a far away place. Then he smiled.

"What did you bring?" he asked.

"Dinner," said the child. "Let's just eat."

"I'm not very hungry."

"Come on, let's eat. You can't just fish and not eat."

"I've done it before," the old man said, standing up, picking up the newspaper, and folding it. Follow his lead and start folding the blanket.

"Put the blanket over you," said the child. "As long as I live, you will never go fishing without eating."

"So, I wish you a long life and take care of yourself," the old man said. "What should we eat?"

"Black beans, rice, fried bananas, and some pure vegetables." ①

The children put these meals in double-layer lunch boxes from the terrace restaurant Brought it. In his pocket were two sets of knives, forks and spoons, each wrapped in a paper napkin.

"Who gave this to you."

"Martin. The boss."

"I have to thank him."

< p>"I've already thanked you," the child said. "You don't have to thank him."

"I'm going to give him a piece of meat from the belly of the big fish," the old man said. "Has he helped us like this more than once?"

"I think so."

"In this case, I should give him something besides fish belly and meat. He He really cares about us."

"He also gave me two bottles of beer."

"I like canned beer."

"I know. But this is bottled Artuai beer, and I have to send the bottle back."

"How thoughtful of you," said the old man. "Shall we just eat?"

"I've already asked you," the child said to him gently. "Until you are ready,

①These are the staple foods of the people in the Caribbean.

I am not willing to open the lunch box."

"I Ready," the old man said. "I just have to wash my hands and face." Where are you going to wash your hands? the child thought. The village water tap is on the corner of the second crossroad on the main road.

I should have brought water here for him to use, the child thought, along with a bar of soap and a clean towel. Why am I so careless? I should get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter, some shoes, and a blanket.

"This stew is croaking," said the old man.

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"Tell me about the baseball game," the child begged him.

"In the American League, it's always the Yankees, I told you," the old man said cheerfully.

"They lost today," the child told him.

"This is nothing, the great DiMaggio has returned to his true colors."

"There are other good players on their team."

"It goes without saying. But with him it's different. In another league ②, take Brooklyn and Philadelphia, I believe in Brooklyn. But then again "I haven't forgotten Dick Sisler and the shots he hit in that old park." He plays

①The American professional baseball world is divided into two organizations: the major league and the minor league. The American League is one of the two major leagues, and the Yankees are the leader.

< p>②Refers to another major league, the National League. Each of these two major leagues selects a winning team through competition, and takes turns competing at the venues of both sides in the first half of October, called the "World Series". /p>

③ Refers to Sibe Park in Philadelphia, which is the main venue for the city's baseball team.

Farthest."

"Do you remember that he used to come to the Terrace Hotel? I wanted to go fishing with him, but I didn't dare to say anything to him, so I asked you to tell him, but you didn't dare either. "

"I remember. We really miscalculated. He might have gone to sea with us. "

"I'm satisfied. I want to go fishing with that great DiMaggio," the old man said. "People say that his father was also a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as us at the beginning and would understand our thoughts."

"The great Sisler's father never lived in poverty. , His father was playing in the league when he was my age. "①

"When I was your age, I was an ordinary sailor on a square sailing ship to Africa. I still see him. Come to the beach in the evening."

"I know."

"Let's talk about Africa or baseball?"

< p>"Let's talk about baseball," the kid said. "Tell me about the great John J. McGraw." He pronounced the J as "Hotta."

"In the past, he sometimes came to the Terrace Hotel. But when he drank, he became rude, hurtful, and had an awkward temper. He was thinking about baseball and horse racing. . At least he always had a racing list in his pocket, often referring to George Harold Sisler (-), who started playing in the major leagues in 2001 and won his first The title of "The Most Valuable Player in the American League" that year

②McGraw (-) began to be a professional baseball player in 2006, and joined the New York Giants in 2006 and served as the team's manager until 2008. The team became a famous strong team. He stopped playing in the game after the year.

③J is the initials of Joseph, pronounced "Hota" in Spanish.

< p>Often mentioning the names of some horses on the phone."

"He's a great manager," the kid said. "My dad thinks he's the greatest."

"That's because he comes here the most," the old man said. "If Dorothy keeps coming here every year, your dad will think he's the greatest manager."

"Seriously, who's the greatest manager, Luke or Mike?" Gonzalez? "③

"I think they are equal."

"The best fisherman is you."

"No. I know there are many who are better than me."

"Where!" said the child. "There are many good fishermen, and some of them are great. But you are the best."

"Thank you. It makes me happy. I hope there won't be a big fish that I can't handle." , that means we are wrong."

"There is no such fish, as long as you are as strong as you said."

"I may not be as strong as I think I am. So strong," the old man said. "But I know a lot of tricks and I'm determined."

"You should go to bed so that you will be full of energy in the morning. I want to make these

①Leo· Dorocher (-) was a famous baseball star in the 1930s. He became the manager of the New York Giants in 1999, making it a first-class team.

②Adolfo Luque was born in Havana in 1999. , worked as a player and later manager for Boston, Cincinnati, Brooklyn and the New York Giants.

③ In the late 1940s, he twice served as the manager of the St. Louis Red Baseball Team.

Send the things back to the Terrace Hotel. "

"Then I wish you good night. I'll wake you up in the morning.

"You are my alarm clock," said the child.

"Age is my alarm clock," said the old man. "Why does the old man wake up so early?" Is it to make the day longer? "

"I can't tell," the child said. "I only know that the boy slept deeply and got up late. "

"I will keep it in mind," the old man said. "I will wake you up when the time comes. "

"I don't want the owner of the boat to wake me up. It seems like I'm worse than him. ”

“I understand. ”

“Sleep peacefully, old man. "

The child walked out of the house. When they were eating, there was no light on the table, so the old man took off his trousers and went to bed in the dark. He rolled up his trousers to use as a pillow and stuffed the newspaper Inside. He wrapped himself in a blanket and fell asleep on other old newspapers spread on the spring mattress.

He fell asleep soon, dreaming of the Africa he had seen when he was a child. The golden beaches and white beaches were dazzlingly white, as well as the towering headlands and brown mountains. He returned to that coast every night, and in his dreams he heard the rumbling of the waves and saw the natives sailing across it. As he slept, he smelled the smell of tar and wadding on the deck, and the smell of Africa brought by the morning wind from the land. The wind blew, so he woke up, put on his clothes and went to wake up the child. However, the smell of the wind on the land came very early tonight. He knew in his dream that it was still early, so he continued to dream and saw the white color of the islands. The summit rose from the sea, and then he dreamed of the harbors and anchorages of the Canary Islands.

He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great events. He no longer dreamed of big fish, no longer dreamed of fighting, no longer dreamed of wrestling, no longer dreamed of his wife, he only dreamed of places and lions playing like kittens in the dusk. Playing, he loved them as much as he had never dreamed of this child. He just woke up, looked at the moon outside the open door, spread out his trousers and put them on outside the shack. Pee, and then walked along the road to wake up the child. He was shivering from the cold in the morning, but he knew that he would feel warm after shivering for a while, and he would go boating soon.

The door of the house where the child lived had no upper bunk. He opened the door and walked in quietly with bare feet. The child was fast asleep on a cot outside. The old man could see clearly by the light of the waning moon coming in from outside. He. He gently held one of the child's feet until the child woke up and turned to look at him. The old man nodded, and the child picked up his trousers from the chair next to the bed and sat on the edge of the bed. Put on pants. The old man walked out, the child followed him. He was still sleepy. The old man put his arm around his shoulders and said, "I'm sorry." ”

“Where! "The boy said. "That's what a man should do. "

They walked along the road towards the old man's shack. Along the way, some barefoot men were walking in the darkness, carrying the mast of their ship.

They walked in In the old man's shack, the child picked up the reel of fishing line in the basket, as well as the harpoon and hook, and the old man carried the mast around the sail on his shoulders.

① In the eastern part of the North Atlantic. A volcanic archipelago southwest of Morocco that was not yet independent from Spain

“Want some coffee? " asked the child.

"Let's put our belongings in the boat and have a drink. "

They were drinking coffee in a can of condensed milk in an early-morning snack bar that catered to fishermen.

"How did you sleep, old man? " asked the child. He was awake now, although it was not easy for him to get rid of the Sandman completely.

"Sleep well, Manolin," the old man said. "I feel quite sure today. "

"Me too," said the boy. "Now it's time for me to get the sardines for you and me, and fresh bait for you. He always took the belongings on that boat himself. He never asked others to carry things for him. "

"We are different," the old man said. "I asked you to help get things when you were only five years old. "

"I remember," the child said. "I'll be back soon. Have another cup of coffee. We can hang up our accounts here. "

He left, walking barefoot on the corridor paved with coral stones toward the refrigerator where the fish erbium was kept.

The old man drank coffee slowly. This is what he For the whole day he knew he should drink it. Eating had bored him for a long time, so he kept a bottle of water on the bow of the boat and only needed it all day. This was enough.

The children came back with sardines and two pieces of bait wrapped in newspapers. They walked along the path to the boat. They felt the pebbles embedded in the sand under their feet. They lifted the boat. Let it slip into the water.

"Good luck, old man. ”

“Good luck to you,” said the old man.

He put the rope loop on the oar around the nail on the oar seat, rushed forward to offset the resistance encountered by the oar blade in the water, and began to row out of the harbor in the dark. There were other boats out to sea on the other beaches, and the old man heard the sound of their oars hitting the water, although the moon was now behind the mountains and he could not see them clearly.