第67章 人生的回归是种无人能够违抗的自然规律（1）

　　Section One　The Return of One’s life Is a Natural Law Nobody Can Disobey

　　从科学角度看，所有活着的生物都有生命的终结，那是自然的恩惠之一，事实如此。所以，我们说万物方生方死，是至理名言。这也是为什么我们说人生的回归是种无人能够违抗的自然规律，死亡正如出生一样自然。

　　From a scientific perspective， all living things have the close of life as one of the boons of nature. Suchis the fact. That’s why we say it is a famous dictum that all living things start dying as soon as they were born.

　　That’s also why we say that the return of one’s life is a natural law nobody can disobey， and it is as natural todie as to be born.

　　这里的“自然”是什么意思？它与人及其生死有什么关系？这是近来越来越多人很感兴趣的问题，我们最好要心里明白。

　　What does Nature mean here？ What is the relationship between Nature and human beings and theirlives and deaths？ This is a question more and more people are very interested in recently. We’d better have aclear idea in our minds.

　　《朗文当代英语辞典》（最新版）定义“自然”是“物质世界里不受人控制的一切东西，如野生植物、动物、泥土、岩石和气候”。《新牛津英语词典》定义“自然”。为“物质世界共同的各种现象，包括植物、动物、地形及地球上的各种产物与人或人造物相对照的总称”。人及其生死与自然的关系十分密切：植物给予我们呼吸的新鲜空气；动物和植物供给我们需要的食物；生物和微生物净化空气、调节洪水、再循环利用废物和控制疾病及有害生物或植物。人类社会依赖很多自然界的资源——如水、动物、植物等等。这些东西常被称为“可更新的资源”，因为在健全的生态系统中他们随着时间的增长自动地更新。然而，如果这些可更新的资源消费失去了平衡或过度了，就有被耗尽的危险。现在很多动植物物种正以惊人的速度在消失。很多物种如熊猫、老虎、海龟、蓝鲸、灰狼、白头鹰等正处于被灭绝的危险之中。人类活动和污染是物种灭绝的重要原因。共享相同自然环境的所有物种互相依赖并互相影响。生物多样化的重要性就在于所有物种分享着相同的环境或生长地，互相依靠而生存。我们人类对自然环境的损害已加速到威胁着我们自身生存的程度了。我们产生的各种垃圾——塑料袋、家庭废物、工业废物等污染了江河、湖泊和海洋、农场、草地和森林、陆地、土壤和地球——那意味着毒害地球就会毒害我们自己。特别是工业革命以来，技术的发展在改善人们生活的同时带来了很多自然环境的污染问题——水污染、光污染、噪音污染、空气污染。结果，可更新资源的变质变坏、土壤的退化和沙漠化、森林遭过度砍伐、农作物的基因改变和基因改变的各种食品、气候改变如全球变暖、大气层中温室气体的浓度迅速增加、海平面升高、洪水泛滥、疾病传播，尤其是大气层的臭氧减少和温室效应是人类的灾难，因为臭氧减少不仅导致人类的皮肤癌和白内障的产生，而且摧毁浮游生物，那是我们人类赖以生存的食物链的第一环。总而言之，当今世界，越来越多的人死于奇怪的疾病，如各种癌症或不知原因的传染病，或死于各种自然灾害，如地震或海啸等，这一切都与严重的自然环境污染有关。

　　Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Third Edition 1995) defines Nature as“everything inthe physical world that is not controlled by humans， such as wild plants and animals， earth and rocks， and theweather”. The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines Nature as“the phenomena of the physical worldcollectively， including plants， animals， the landscape， and other features and products of the earth， as opposedto humans or human creations”. The relationship between Nature and humans and their lives and deathsis very closely related： Plants give us humans the air we breathe； animals and plants supply us with the foodwe eat； and organisms and microorganisms clean the air； regulate floods， recycle waste， and control diseasesand pests. Our human societies depend on very many resources from the natural world—e.g. water， animals，plants， etc. These elements are often termed“renewable resources”， because in a healthy ecosystem theyreplace themselves automatically with the passing of time. Yet if the consumption of renewable resourcesgets out of balance or is too extreme， there is a danger that they will be depleted altogether. At present manyspecies are disappearing at an alarming rate. Many species， such as the panda， the tiger， the sea turtle， theblue whale， the gray wolf， the bald eagle， etc. are in danger of the extinction of species. Human activitiesand pollution are important causes of the extinction of species. All species that share the same naturalenvironment depend on each other and interact with each other. Biodiversity is very important because all thespecies that share the same environment， or habitat， rely on one another for survival. Our human damage tothe natural environment has accelerated to such an extent as to threaten the very existence of human beingsourselves. All sorts of rubbish we produce—plastic bags， household waste， industrial waste， etc pollute rivers，lakes and oceans， farmlands， grasslands and forests， land， soil and the earth—and that means that we whopoison the earth will be poisoned. Especially since the Industrial Revolution， the development of technologyhas brought many natural environmental issues of pollution while improving people’s life—water pollution，light pollution， noise pollution and air pollution， and consequently， the deterioration of renewable resources，soil degradation and desertification， deforestation， genetic modification of crops and GM foods， climate changei.e. global warming， the rapid increase of the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere， risingsea levels， flooding， the spread of disease， and particularly atmospheric ozone reduction and the greenhouseeffect are human disasters， for ozone reduction not only causes skin cancer and eye cataracts， it also destroysplankton， the beginning of the food chain on top of which we humans sit. In a word， nowadays in the world，more and more people die of strange diseases， such as all kinds of cancers or infectious diseases withoutknowing the causes of infection， or die from all sorts of natural disasters， such as earthquake or tsunami etc.

　　All these mentioned here are concerned with the serious pollution of the natural environment.

　　一般说来，人类的死亡可大致分为自然死亡和非自然死亡两种。所有死于寿命年限或疾病或自然灾难如地震、海啸等的人都属自然死亡，而死于自杀或他杀或非自然的社会灾难如战争、各种科学试验等的人都属非自然死亡。当然，这两种死亡间没有明确的界限，因为“自然界”与“社会界”的命运不可避免地交织在一起，二者不能截然分开。

　　Generally speaking， human death may be roughly categorized into two subcategories—natural deathand unnatural death. All those who die of age or disease or natural disasters such as earthquakes， tsunamis，etc. belong to natural death while those who die from suicide or being killed or unnatural social disasterssuch as wars， all sorts of scientific experiments， etc belong to unnatural death. Of course， there is no definitedistinction between these two deaths， because the fates of the“natural”and“social”worlds are inevitablyinterwoven and no hard and fast line can be drawn between the two.

　　咱们读一读欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》吧！我们就能了解作者和作品主人公是如何面对他们的人生和他们的死亡的。

　　Let’s read Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea！ We can see how the writer and his hero ofthe novel are facing their lives and their deaths.

　　1.1　内容介绍

　　1.1　Introduction

　　欧内斯特·海明威的《老人与海》于1952年5月在《生活》杂志上第一次全文发表，两天内卖出530万册，获得了巨大的成功。该书赢得1953年普利策小说奖。“因为他精通叙事艺术，突出地表现在近着《老人与海》之中，同时也因为他对当代文体风格之影响”，海明威于1954年荣获诺贝尔文学奖。

　　Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was first published in the magazine Life in the full textin May， 1952 and sold over 5.3 million copies in two days， a very huge success. The novella won the 1953Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.“For his mastery of the art of narrative， most recently demonstrated in The OldMan and the Sea， and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style”， Hemingway won theNobel Prize for Liberation in 1954.

　　《老人与海》是一部不分章节，没作明显划分，一口气讲下来的叙述体小说。讲述的是一位久经沧桑的老渔夫桑提亚哥与其一生中最大的捕获物——巨大的马林鱼之间惊心动魄的搏斗故事。84天来，这位古巴老渔翁天天都出海捕鱼，但每天都空手而归。他的运气背透了，以致连他的那个忠实的助手兼朋友——小马诺林，都在父母的压力下，离开他到别的能捕到鱼的船上去了。尽管如此，每当老人晚上捕鱼归来时，那个孩子仍然关照他，帮助他把渔具运到他的那个破烂不堪的茅屋，给他弄来吃的，和他一起聊聊棒球赛的最新战况，探讨老人心中的偶像——狄马吉奥在球场上的表现。桑提亚哥坚信，伴随他这么长时间的坏运气马上就会结束，并决心第二天把船划到更远的水域去。

　　The Old Man and the Sea is a narrative without pauses， chapter breaks， or other marked divisions.

　　It is the story of an epic struggle between an old， seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of his life. Foreighty-four days， Santiago， an aged Cuban fisherman， has set out to sea and returned empty-handed. Soconspicuously unlucky is he that the parents of his young devoted apprentice and friend， Manuolin， haveforced the boy to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat. Nevertheless， the boy continuesto care for the old man upon his return each night. He helps the old man tote his gear to his ramshackle hut，secures food for him， and discusses the latest developments in American baseball， especially the trials of theold man’s hero， Joe DiMaggio. Santiago is confident that his unproductive streak will soon come to an end，and he resolves to sail out farther than usual the following day.

　　在他一直走背运的第85天，桑提亚哥按计划把小船划到了那个岛屿周围的浅水海面，冒险进入了湾流水域。他弄好了钓鱼线，然后把这些鱼线投放到水里。正午时分，一条大鱼咬饵了，他知道那是一条马林鱼，它咬住了他投放在深达100寻（180多米）处的鱼饵。老人熟练地钩住了那条大鱼，但他拉不动它，小船反倒被大鱼给拖走了。

　　On the eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak， Santiago does as promised， sailing his skiff far beyondthe island’s shallow coastal waters and venturing into the Gulf Stream. He prepares his lines and drops them.

　　At noon， a big fish， which he knows is a marlin， takes the bait that Santiago has placed one hundred fathomsdeep in the waters. The old man expertly hooks the fish， but he cannot pull it in. Instead， the fish begins topull the boat.

　　老人知道，不能把鱼线牢牢地拴系在船上，那样鱼就会把鱼线突然拉紧，于是，他只得用肩膀、后背、双手拼命地支撑着鱼线的拉力，随时准备在大鱼猛冲时放松鱼线。大鱼拖着小船飘荡了整整一天，又经历了漫长的一夜，又是一天，又是一夜。它一个劲地朝西北方向游着，后来，它终于累了，只能顺着水流东游。在和大鱼搏斗的整个过程中，桑提亚哥一直 忍受着撑拉鱼线给他带来的疼痛。大鱼每一冲、跳一跳或者是为了逃脱一阵疾游时，鱼线就会像刀刃一样勒割他的身体。虽然老人已精疲力竭，伤痕累累，但他却对那条大鱼充满同情，充满敬慕，他把它看做是自己的兄弟，因为尽管它正受苦受难，却表现出强健刚毅的品格。

　　Unable to tie the line fast to the boat for fear the fish would snap a taut line， the old man bears the strainof the line with his shoulders， back， and hands， ready to give slack should the marlin make a run. The fishpulls the boat all through the day， through the night， through another day， and through another night. It swimssteadily northwest until at last it tires and swims east with the current. The entire time， Santiago enduresconstant pain from the fishing line. Whenever the fish lunges， leaps， or makes a dash for freedom， the cordcuts him badly. Although wounded and weary， the old man feels a deep empathy and admiration for themarlin， his brother in suffering， strength， and resolve.

　　到了第三天，大马林鱼筋疲力尽了。桑提亚哥同样是疲惫不堪，身上隐隐作痛，几乎神智不清了。但他还是成功地把大鱼拖到了小船边，挥动鱼叉把它刺死了。死鱼漂浮在小船旁边，硕大无比，是他一生中所见到过的最大的一条鱼。老人用绳索把鱼与船牢牢地拴系在一起，升起那小小的船桅，起航回家了。想到大鱼在市场上能给他换来的可观收入，他兴奋不已，可是当他想到买这条鱼的人们根本不配享用如此硕大的鱼时，他的心情烦透了。

　　On the third day the fish tires， and Santiago， sleep-deprived， aching， and nearly delirious， manages topull the marlin in close enough to kill it with a harpoon thrust. Dead beside the skiff， the marlin is the largestSantiago has ever seen. He lashes it to his boat， raises the small mast， and sets sail for home. While Santiagois excited by the price that the marlin will bring at market， he is more concerned that the people who will eatthe fish are unworthy of its greatness.

　　桑提亚哥拖着鱼在海上划着，鱼流出的鲜血在水中留下了痕迹，从而引来了鲨鱼。第一个向大鱼发动攻击的是一条巨大的鲭鲨，它被老人用鱼叉杀死了。在和这条鲨鱼的搏斗中，老人损失了鱼叉和几节宝贵的绳子，这样一来，他对付别的鲨鱼时，只能处于被动挨打的境地。为了击退鲨鱼一次次凶猛的进攻，他费尽了心机：把刀子捆绑在船桨上，以此为矛刺杀鲨鱼；他甚至以小船的舵柄为棒，击打鲨鱼。虽然老人杀死了好几条鲨鱼，但引来的鲨鱼越来越多。到夜幕降临的时候，他再与这些嗜血如命的畜生们搏斗下去已变得毫无意义了，因为它们吞噬了马林鱼最重要的部分——鱼肉，只留下了头、尾和骨架。桑提亚哥为其“走得太远”，为其失去那条巨大的、能卖很多钱的、与其搏斗那么长时间的大马林鱼而深深地自责。天快破晓时，他到家了。他跌跌撞撞地回到他的小屋，很快就沉沉地睡着了。

　　As Santiago sails on with the fish， the marlin’s blood leaves a trail in the water and attracts sharks. Thefirst to attack is a great mako shark， which Santiago manages to slay with the harpoon. In the struggle， theold man loses the harpoon and lengths of valuable rope， which leaves him vulnerable to other shark attacks.

　　The old man fights off the successive vicious predators as best he can， stabbing at them with a crude spear hemakes by lashing a knife to an oar， and even clubbing them with the boat’s tiller. Although he kills severalsharks， more and more appear， and by the time night falls， Santiago’s continued fight against the scavengersis useless. They devour the marlin’s precious meat， leaving only skeleton， head， and tail. Santiago chastiseshimself for going“out too far，”and for sacrificing his great and worthy opponent. He arrives home beforedaybreak， stumbles back to his shack， and sleeps very deeply.

　　第二天早晨，一大群渔民围在大鱼的尸骨周围，惊讶不已。尸骨仍然和小船拴系在一起。住在附近小酒店的游客们对老人艰苦卓绝的经历一无所知，他们仔细察看了鱼骨架后，误以为是一条鲨鱼的骨架。马诺林得知老人失踪后担心得要命，当他发现老人在床上安睡时，激动得流下了眼泪。孩子为老人端来了咖啡，拿来了登载有棒球积分的日报，然后就在一旁看着老人睡觉。老人睡醒后，俩人商定再出海捕一次鱼。然后老人又睡着了，并做了一个他经常做的梦，他梦见狮子在非洲的海滩上嬉戏玩耍。

　　The next morning， a crowd of amazed fishermen gathers around the skeletal carcass of the fish， whichis still lashed to the boat. Knowing nothing of the old man’s struggle， tourists at a nearby café observe theremains of the giant marlin and mistake it for a shark. Manuolin， who has been worried sick over the oldman’s absence， is moved to tears when he finds Santiago safe in his bed. The boy fetches the old man somecoffee and the daily papers with the baseball scores， and watches him sleep. When the old man wakes， thetwo agree to fish as partners once more. The old man returns to sleep and dreams his usual dream of lions atplay on the beaches of Africa.

　　《老人与海》以一种相当乐观的口吻结了尾。桑提亚哥又和马诺林在一起了，马诺林非常迫切地想学到桑提亚哥的全部技能。老人所有的高尚品质以及更重要的老人在生活中所积累的经验教训，会传给这个孩子。这就意味着，即使在老人死后，老人的生命还会以某种形式继续存在下去。这样，胜利与再生的希望在小说的这种形象化结局中得到了支撑。马诺林的父亲见老人连续40天都一无所获，就让马诺林弃老人而去，对此海明威没有挑明孩子对他父亲的不满心情。这一点有助于把马诺林塑造成一个真正的人，一个面对“为人子必须孝顺，为人朋友必须忠诚”，能够做出两者兼顾的微妙选择的人。在小说的最后几页，马诺林成了百折不挠的爱与忠诚的象征。作为老人的徒弟，他还代表了老人死后生命的延续，他一心一意向老人学习，使桑提亚哥的精神长存不衰。

　　The Old Man and the Sea ends on a rather optimistic note. Santiago is reunited with Manuolin， whodesperately wants to complete his training. All of the old man’s noble qualities and more important， thelessons he draws from his experience， will be passed on to the boy， which means the fisherman’s life willcontinue on， in some form， even after his death. The promise of triumph and regeneration is supported bythe closing image of the book. Hemingway does hint at the boy’s resentment for his father， whose wishesManuolin obeys by abandoning the old man after forty days without catching a fish. This fact helps to establishthe boy as a real human being， as a person with conflicted loyalties who faces difficult decisions. He stands，in the novella’s final pages， as a symbol of uncompromised love and fidelity. As the old man’s apprentice， healso represents the life that will follow from death. His dedication to learning from the old man ensures thatSantiago will live on.

　　桑提亚哥在小说结尾处一直保持的希望并不是那种由于天真烂漫而产生的希望，而是那种超出旧有的一切，从经验中产生的希望，就像凤凰从灰烬中得到重生一样。小说多次陈述了桑提亚哥经过深思熟虑后说的那句话，“一个人可以被毁灭，但不能被打败。”对桑提亚哥来说，大马林鱼的毁灭不是一场失败，相反，鱼之死使他实现了跨越。那些曾经嘲笑过他的渔夫们事后的的确确对他敬畏不已。大鱼的毁灭诚然是一个巨大的损失，鲨鱼把大鱼的鱼肉掠食干净无疑也使得桑提亚哥的荣耀暗淡了许多，但是，把鲨鱼的袭击看做是骤然而至的损失仅仅说对了一半。桑提亚哥说“为捕鱼而死，我虽死犹生”这句话时，他是又一次地指明那种存在于得与失、胜与败、生与死之间的，普遍存在、不可避免且在不断变换的紧张状态。

　　The hope that Santiago clings to at the novella’s close is not the hope that comes from naivete. It is，rather， a hope that comes from experience， of something new emerging from something old， as a phoenixrises out of the ashes. The novella states as much when Santiago reflects that“a man can be destroyed butnot defeated.”The destruction of the marlin is not a defeat for Santiago； rather， it leads to his redemption.

　　Indeed， the fishermen who once mocked him now stand in awe of him. The decimation of the marlin， ofcourse， is a significant loss. The sharks strip Santiago of his greater glory as surely as they strip the great fishof its flesh. But to view the shark attack as precipitating only loss is to see but half the picture. When Santiagosays，“Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive，”he is pointing， once again， to the vast， necessary， andever-shifting tension that exists between loss and gain， triumph and defeat， life and death.

　　实际上，小说之所以用老人再次梦见狮子为最终结局，其目的是要表现对胜利与再生的热切希望。因为桑提亚哥把狮子与自己的青年时期联系在一起，所以说梦所要表现的是生命循环的自然特性。另外，由于桑提亚哥梦中的狮子，这凶猛的食肉动物是处于嬉戏玩耍状态的，所以，他的梦是要说明大自然中两种对抗力量，如生与死、爱与恨、毁灭与再生之间的和谐关系。

　　In fact， the sober promise of the triumph and regeneration with which the novella closes is supportedby the final image of the lions. Because Santiago associates the lions with his youth， the dream suggeststhe circular nature of life. Additionally， because Santiago imagines the lions， fierce predators， playing， hisdream suggests a harmony between the opposing forces—life and death， love and hate， destruction andregeneration—of nature.

　　自从《老人与海》出版以来，围绕着小说所象征的内容，一直存在很多争议。小说中的那个老人是否代表作者的事业生涯正在接近尾声？那些凶恶的鲨鱼是否代表刻薄的文学批评家，抑或是代表自然界中那些不可抗拒的破坏力？然而，绝大多数读者认为，《老人与海》

　　作为寓言性的小说，涉及的是宇宙间的生存问题，但书中出现过三次，在非洲海滩上玩耍嬉戏的狮子所象征的内容却是难以捉摸的。就像在诗歌中一样，狮子不会固定在单一的寓意上，它们是意蕴最为广泛的一个形象。但有一点是可以肯定的，那就是，狮子对于桑提亚哥而言代表舒适和重生。

　　Since the publication of The Old Man and the Sea， there has been much debate surrounding the story’ssymbols. Does the old man represent the author nearing the end of his career？ Do the vicious sharks stand forcruel literary critics or the inevitably destructive forces of nature？ While most readers agree that， as a parable，The Old Man and the Sea addresses universal life， the image of the lions playing on the African beach， whichis presented three times in the novel， remains something of an enigma. Like poetry， the lions are supremelysuggestive without being tethered to a single meaning. Indeed， the only thing that is certain about the image isthat it serves as a source of comfort and renewal for Santiago.

　　梦想成为“雄狮”的渔夫桑提亚哥，本身就是赞颂人类精神的一首诗：老而不衰、“不幸”但不可战胜、文质彬彬但不软弱可欺、高傲而不吹毛求疵、屈从但不消极被动，或许最重要的是，对自己满怀希望但不妒忌别人。他可能象征着走出去“很远”去追求不可得的东西的艺术家；他可能代表和决意受苦的基督一样在现实中存在的人和事；他可能讲的是关于一个老人的孤独和男子汉气概的寓言故事；他也许给我们讲的是一种爱和爱的享有，尽管人的一生难免悲剧，孤独和最终一死，但爱和享有爱仍贯穿着一个人的终生——不仅仅是普通的人生而已。不管桑提亚哥这个人物的“真正的”含意是什么（也许各种含意都是对的），《老人与海》的品格是诗的，而不是散文的；以其语言的音乐感、情节的紧凑和那种难下定义的尊严，足以成为海明威在文学事业上取得辉煌业绩的一部杰作。

　　Santiago the fisherman， who dreams of“lions”， is himself a poetry of the human spirit： Old but notsenile，“unlucky”but not defeated， gentle but not soft， proud but not boastful， resigned but not passive，and—perhaps most important—hopeful for himself without being jealous of others. He may“symbolize”theartist who attempts the impossible by going“too far out”； he may represent the Christ-like essence ofwilled suffering； he may be an allegory of the grandeur of aged isolation and manhood； or he may speak tous of the love and sharing which permeates all life—not just human life—despite its tragedy， isolation， andultimate death. Whatever meaning is the“true”meaning of Santiago (and they may all be true)， the qualityof The Old Man and the Sea is that of poetry rather than prose. In the music of its language， in the simplicityof its plot and in the indefinable essence of its dignity， this may well be the book in which Ernest Hemingwayachieved the finest“success”of his career.

　　桑提亚哥与自然界之间的那种紧密的关系，是《老人与海》这部小说力量的实质所在。

　　桑提亚哥对失败的恐惧和战胜失败所受的痛苦，使他悟出了普遍存在的生与死的道理，从而使他在孤独中产生了与空中的鸟和水中的鱼之间的兄弟关系，而不理会那些蔑视痛苦并通过自己的行动——通过受苦以取得伟大成就的所有的人（如伟大的狄马吉奥）。如果说《老人与海》里确实有三位一体的艺术象征，那也不是正统基督教的三位一体的艺术象征，而是有意识的意志、深思熟虑的勇敢和有自制力的坚忍不拔的象征，三者共同构成一个神圣的统一体：精神上的进取和男子汉气概的终极价值。

　　The close relationship between Santiago and the non-human world is essential to the power of The OldMan and the Sea. The very fact of his fear and his pain creates in Santiago an awareness of universal lifeand death， and so serves to produce—in his very isolation—a dimension of brotherhood with the birds of theair and the beasts of the sea， not to mention all men (such as the great DiMaggio) who defy their own pain toachieve greatness through action—and through suffering. If there is indeed a trinity in The Old Man and theSea， it is not the orthodox Christian trinity， but rather that trinity of conscious will， deliberate courage， andwilled endurance which together form a sacred unity： the ultimate value of spiritual initiative and individualmanhood.

　　也许《老人与海》给大多数读者留下如此深刻印象的原因，是这部小说叙事的简练（实际上，是一部扩大了的短篇故事或中篇小说）和对叙事的严谨。海明威风格的优点——准确描写现实中的事物和人物活动始终坚持简明扼要，重复使用词语，以及对语言本身的掌控，就如同用一架摄影机把对一件东西的外表所做的观察精确记录下来一样（就像电影散文）——这一切在简明的叙事中是最有效的。

　　Perhaps one reason why The Old Man and the Sea is so moving an experience for most readers， isthe economy of the novel (actually an expanded short story or novella) and the strict focus of its narrative.

　　Certainly the very virtues of Hemingway’s style—his exact accuracy of object and motion， his insistence onsimplicity， his use of patterns of verbal repetition， and his manipulation of language itself as a kind of camera(“cinematic prose”) to record precise observation of physical surfaces—these are most effective in shortnarratives.

　　在《老人与海》的创作中，海明威完全掌控了主题思想及其表达方式——一种内容和形式的平衡，这可能就是这本书非常难于用另一种形式重述的原因。书中的音乐感和包含的意义，人物的行动和象征意义，它们之间的联系如此紧密，以至于重述这本小说时那种独特品格必将丧失殆尽。对同时也是一首诗的这部小小的中篇小说，不可能用三言两语作出正确的评价，仅仅是“讲一讲”这部小说，那就像是谈论一首歌曲或一部奏鸣曲，而不是去听。当然，人人都可以讲一讲这部小说，不过必须意识到，任何对它的概括性说明，只能是什么都说明不了。

　　With The Old Man and the Sea， Hemingway achieved complete control of both his subject and itsrendition—a kind of equilibrium of matter and manner which may account for the fact that the book is verydifficult to paraphrase. So closely related are music and meaning， action and symbol， that the unique qualityof the novel must be lost through any retelling. No summary can do justice to this little novella which is also apoem； merely telling“about”it is like talking“about”a song or a concerto. One can do it， of course—butonly with the realization that any summary must“tell”very little indeed.