文/曉 菲

一場沒有戰(zhàn)利品的勝戰(zhàn)
——《老人與海》賞析

文/曉 菲

◆原作節(jié)選◆

Part 21

He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now.But he could see the prisms（棱鏡）in the deep dark water and the line stretching（伸展；張開）ahead and the strange undulation（波動；起伏）of the calm.The clouds were building up now for the trade wind（信風）and he looked ahead and saw a flightofwild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water,then blurring（變模糊）,then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea.

He thought of how some men feared being out of sight of land in a small boat and knew they were right in the months of sudden bad weather. But now they were in hurricane（颶風）months and, when there are no hurricanes,the weather of hurricane months is the best of all the year.

第21章

他放眼向海面望去，發(fā)現(xiàn)此刻自己是多么地孤獨。但是他可以看見深暗的海水中陽光逝射如棱鏡一般，以及魚線往前深入水中，還有平靜的水面上那奇異的起伏波動。隨著即將吹起的信風，云朵漸漸多了，他往前望去，看見一群野鴨子在水面上低空飛過，漸漸消失，然后又再度出現(xiàn)。他知道，海洋上沒有誰是真正孤單的。

他想到，有些人最怕呆在一艘小船上卻完全看不見陸地的感覺。而他同意，在天氣極不穩(wěn)定的某幾個月中，這樣的想法是對的。但是現(xiàn)在正是颶風季節(jié)，只要沒有颶風來，這個月份是全年天氣最好的時候。

責任編輯：李丁文

If there is a hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead if you are at sea.They do not see it ashore（在岸上）because they do not know what to look for,he thought.The land must make a difference too,in the shape of the clouds.But we have no hurricane coming now.

“Light brisa（風）,”he said.“Better weather for me than for you,fish.”

His left hand was still cramped（痙攣的）,but he was unknotting（解開……結(jié)子）it slowly.

I hate a cramp,he thought.It is a treachery of one’s own body.It is humiliating（丟臉的）before others to have a diarrhoea（腹瀉） from ptomaine poisoning orto vomitfrom it.Buta cramp,he thought of it as a calambre（抽筋）, humiliates oneself especially when one is alone.

If the boy were here he could rub it for me and loosen it down from the forearm,he thought. But it will loosen up.

Then, with his right hand he felt the difference in the pull of the line before he saw the slantchange in the water.Then,ashe leaned against the line and slapped his left hand hard and fast against his thigh（大腿） he saw the line slanting slowly upward.

“He’s coming up,”he said.“Come on hand. Please come on.”

The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out.He rose his full length from the water and then re-entered it,smoothly,like a diver and the old man saw the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out.

“He is two feet longer than the skiff（小帆船）?！眛he old man said.The line was going out fast but steadily and the fish was not panicked（恐慌）.The old man was trying with both hands to keep the line just inside of breaking strength.He knew that if he could not slow the fish with a steady pressure the fish could take out all the line and break it.

假使有颶風的話，那在海上好幾天前就可以從天空中看到一些征兆了。他想，如果是在陸地上的話，反倒就看不見了，因為人們不曉得看什么為準。一定是陸地使這些云朵改變了形狀。不過現(xiàn)在不會有颶風來就是了。

“微風，”他說，“魚呀！這種天氣對我比對你有利多了?！?/p>

他的左手依然在痙攣，但是似乎已漸漸舒展開了些。

我恨透抽筋，他想。這簡直就是跟自己的身體作對。一個人中了尸毒當眾上吐下瀉固然丟臉，但是對于一個獨處的人來說，抽筋更是可恥。

他想，如果男孩在我身邊，他可以幫我從手肘一直往下揉一揉，讓抽筋盡快結(jié)束。不過它自己還是會好的。

就在他看見水中魚線的傾斜度改變之前，他的右手就已經(jīng)感覺到線的拉力有點不同了。在他靠著魚線，左手急促地往大腿重重拍打的同時，他看見那條傾斜的魚線，緩慢地上升。

“它起來了，”他說，“手啊，快好吧！拜托快好吧?！?/p>

魚線緩慢而穩(wěn)定地升起，船頭前面，海水波濤洶涌，魚破水而出了。它全身都浮出了水面，然后像個潛水員般利落地再度沒入水中。老人看著它那大鐮刀狀的尾巴沒入水中后，魚線也跟著向前奔去。

“它比這條小船還要長兩尺。”老人說。魚線放得既快又穩(wěn)，可是魚沒有驚慌失措。在不扯斷魚線的范圍之內(nèi)，老人的雙手使勁握住魚線。他知道如果沒有辦法用穩(wěn)定的拉力減緩魚的速度的話，所有的魚線都可能會被拖光，并斷裂。

He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought.I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run.If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke.But,thank God,they are not as intelligent as we who kill them；although they are more noble and more able.

The old man had seen many great fish.He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life,but never alone.Now alone,and out of sight of land,he was fast to the biggest fish that he had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of, and his left hand was still as tight as the gripped claws of an eagle.

It will uncramp though,he thought.Surely it will uncramp tohelp my righthand.There are three things that are brothers：the fish and my two hands.It must uncramp.It is unworthy of it to be cramped.The fish had slowed again and was going at his usual pace.

I wonder why he jumped,the old man thought.He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was.I know now,anyway,he thought.I wish I could show him what sort of man I am.But then hewould seethecramped hand.Lethim think I am more man than I am and I will be so. I wish I were the fish,he thought,with everything he has against only my will and my intelligence.

He settled comfortably against the wood and took his suffering as it came and the fish swam steadily and the boat moved slowly through the dark water.There was a small sea rising with the wind coming up from the east and at noon the old man’s left hand was uncramped.

他心想，這是條大魚，我一定要把它制服。我千萬不可以讓它明白自己的力量有多大，也不能讓它知道可以如何逃跑。假如我是它，我會竭盡所能地跑，直到線被扯斷為止。但是，感謝上帝，這些魚雖然比我們?nèi)祟惛哔F，更有能耐，但不如我們這些屠殺它們的人那么聰明。

老人曾經(jīng)見過許許多多的大魚，其中很多都超過1000磅重，而他自己一生中也捕過兩條這般重的大魚，但他從來不是單獨一個人捕到的。而現(xiàn)在，他孤零零一個人，遠在陸地之外，他的命運與一條過去所見所聞中的從未碰過的大魚，緊密地結(jié)合在一起；他的左手依然像老鷹的爪子一樣僵硬。

抽筋總會好的，他想。它當然要松開來，幫助我的右手。我有三個兄弟：魚和我的雙手。它必須復元，手若抽筋就一點用也沒有啦。那魚又慢了下來，恢復它往常的速度前進。

我真不知道它為什么要跳上來，老人想。它跳上來就像是要我看看它有多么大。無論如何，我現(xiàn)在總算明白了，他想，希望我也能夠讓它看看我是怎樣的一個人。不過，如果是如此的話，它就會看到這只抽筋的手了，還是，讓它把我當作一個很強健的男子吧，那么我就會如此去做了。他想，我真希望我是那條魚，用那么多的力量來對抗的僅是我的意志和智慧。

他很舒服地靠在木頭上，干瞪著眼忍受著痛苦。魚依然穩(wěn)定地游著，船也在黑暗的水中緩慢地移動。東方吹來的風，掀起一陣陣輕微的浪潮。到了中午，老人的左手舒展開了。

◆賞析◆

估計很少有人不知曉作家海明威吧？酷愛文學的，仰慕他特立獨行的文學風格；關(guān)注政治的，欽佩他在第一次世界大戰(zhàn)中的英勇戰(zhàn)績；熱衷八卦的，也會驚嘆于他一生錯綜復雜的情史。本期推薦的選段，就是來自海明威先生的代表作——《老人與?！罚═he Old Man And The Sea）。

海明威出生于美國伊利諾伊州芝加哥市的奧克帕克，被認為是20世紀最著名的小說家之一。1953年，他的作品《老人與?！帆@得普利策獎；1954年，《老人與?！酚譃楹Ｃ魍Z得諾貝爾文學獎。他的作品，在美國文學史乃至世界文學史上都占有重要地位。

不過，文學上輝煌的造詣往往黯淡了海明威在其他方面取得的成就。很少有人知道，拋開作家這層身份，他還作為一名救護車駕駛員，親赴意大利參加過第一次世界大戰(zhàn)，并被授予銀制勇敢勛章。他也當過戰(zhàn)地記者，成為第一個報道中國抗戰(zhàn)正面戰(zhàn)場的美國記者。

無數(shù)讀者曾經(jīng)困惑，擁有如此顯赫人生的海明威，作品中為何總是滲透著對人生、社會、世界的迷茫之情？正如人們始終無法接受，如此頑強又熱愛生活的海明威，晚年怎么會選擇在愛達荷州家中自殺身亡？或許，繁華褪去之后的平靜或者不堪，才最難在心底被釋懷吧。

《老人與?！芬粫锌坍嫷闹魅斯サ貋喐缡且晃幻逼鋵嵉挠矟h。他從來不向失敗妥協(xié)。即便出海84天一無所獲，仍舊在第85天堅持揚起了船帆，并且終于等到一條龐大的馬林魚。這條身長18尺、體重1500磅的大馬林魚，一直拽著船往海里走。老人沒有武器，沒有食物，沒有水，還面臨左手抽筋的痛苦，卻依然死拉著魚不放。經(jīng)歷三天三夜頑強的搏斗之后，老人終于殺死了大魚，并把它拴在船邊，等待凱旋。但是，上天并未垂憐這位已經(jīng)筋疲力盡的老人。大魚的血腥味吸引了許多鯊魚前來搶奪，老人再次憑借著堅韌不拔的精神與鯊魚們搏斗。由于寡不敵眾，依舊難改大魚被吃光的命運。最終，回報給老人的僅僅是一副干癟的魚骨頭。

結(jié)合這本書當時的時代背景，不難看出海明威是用老人在逆境中不屈服的精神，來歌頌受盡迫害卻不喪失頑強意志的人類；用大魚來象征人們追求美好事物的決心；用殘忍的鯊魚們比喻貪婪的資本家，又或是一切阻礙人們追求幸福的絆腳石。

本期的選段，以一片寧靜、沉默的海洋拉開序幕。波瀾不驚的海水，在夜晚繁星的照耀下，透露著與世無爭的平靜，與后面描寫老人戰(zhàn)勝大魚、打敗鯊魚的驚險形成了鮮明的對比。大海似乎在淺吟低唱地告訴我們，不管生活給予我們的是幸福、苦楚，還是萬般艱辛，大自然都會毫不動搖地遵循它本身的規(guī)律，日復一日，滾滾前行。真正能改變的，則是自己面臨困境永不妥協(xié)的意志力，以及追求美好事物的理想與信心。

陳曉菲（Sherly Chen）：畢業(yè)于北京師范大學英美文學專業(yè)，獲美國俄勒岡州政府獎學金赴美留學深造。精通英語，酷愛文學。愿用手中筆，記下心中愛。