He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. 
他一个老人，划着小船独自在墨西哥湾中捕鱼；八十四天了还没有捕到过一条鱼。最初的四十天里，小男孩一直都跟着他，而四十天后，男孩的父母便告诉孩子说：这老人的运气肯定是跌到了谷底，简直就是倒霉透顶了。于是男孩在他父母亲的命令下，转到了另外一条船上去捕鱼，结果不出一个星期，就捕到了三条大鱼。

It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast. The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat. 
然而，男孩看着老人日复一日驾着那空空的小船回来，总是为他感到难过。因此总会在老人回来时，上前帮忙提绳索、鱼钩、鱼叉以及从船桅上卸下的船帆等。老人的船帆上满是用面粉袋做成的补钉，使得帆布卷起来时，好似一面象征无限败战的旗帜。

The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks.
老人消瘦、憔悴，颈后有很深的皱纹。而从热带海洋的海面上反射出来的强烈阳光，在老人的双颊上，留下了一块块良性皮肤癌棕色的斑点。

The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. 
老人除了两颊布满斑点，双手则刻着深深的勒痕，那是操作粗鱼绳的结果。这些疤痕没有一处是新的伤口，它们就如同一个了无生机的沙漠所经历过的侵蚀那样久远。

Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated. 
老人是这么的苍老，但唯有双眼依旧有着像海水一样的颜色，既充满了欢愉，也好像是从来没有被打败过似的。

"Santiago," the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the skiff was hauled up. "I could go with you again. We've made some money." 
小船被拖曳上岸，老人与男孩爬上了岸边时，小男孩向老人说：「山帝亚哥，我可以再跟你一起去捕鱼，我们也曾经一起赚过一些钱。」

The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.
老人曾经教导小男孩如何捕鱼，而男孩也很敬爱这位老人。

"No," the old man said. "You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them." 
「不，」老人说：「你现在跟上的是一条幸运的船，要好好继续待在那儿。」

"But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks." 
「但是你记得吗？曾经有一次，一连八十七天都没有捕到鱼，然后接下来连续三个礼拜，每天都有捕到大鱼呢。」

"I remember," the old man said. "I know you did not leave me because you doubted." 
「我记得，」老人说：「而且我也知道，你并不是因为对我失去信心而离弃我。」

"It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him." 
「是爸爸要我离开你的。我是个小孩，我必须要听他的话。」

"I know," the old man said. "It is quite normal." "He hasn't much faith." "No," the old man said. "But we have. Haven't we?" "Yes," the boy said. "Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace and then we'll take the stuff home."
「我了解，」老人说：「这是很正常的事。」「他太没有信心了。」「他们是没有，」老人说：「但是我们有呀，不是吗？」「是啊，」男孩说：「让我先请你到露天酒店喝杯啤酒，然后我们再一起把这些东西拿回家去吧。」

"Why not?" the old man said, "Between fishermen." 
「好啊，」老人说：「打渔的都是一家人嘛。」

They sat on the Terrace and many of the fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry. Others, of the older fishermen, looked at him and were sad. But they did not show it and they spoke politely about the current and the depths they had drifted their lines at and the steady good weather and of what they had seen.
当他们在露天酒店坐下时，许多先前就待在那儿的渔夫都在嘲笑老人，而他并没有因此生气；其它一些年纪较长的渔夫只是看着他，为他难过，不过他们并没有把这份同情表露出来，只是很礼貌地谈论着今天的水流情况、鱼线所垂钓的深度、稳定的好天气，以及海上的所见所闻。