第3章 The Old Man on the Sea[第1頁/共17頁]

I could just drift,he thought,and sleep and put a bight of line around my toe to wake me.But today is eighty-five days and I should fish the day well.

“Dolphin,”the old man said aloud.“ Big dolphin.”

He was rowing steadily and it was no effort for him since he kept well within his speed and the surface of the ocean was flat except for the occasional swirls of the current.He was letting the current do a third of the work and as it started to be light he saw he was already further out than he had hoped to be at this hour.

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.

The tuna,the fishermen called all the fish of that species tuna and only distinguished among them by their proper names when they came to sell them or to trade them for baits, were down again.The sun was hot now and the old man felt it on the back of his neck and felt the sweat trickle down his back as he rowed.