The Old Man and the Sea
Vocabulary
convulsively adv. 痉挛性的
Its jaws were working convulsively in quick bites against the hook and it pounded the bottom of the skiff with its long flat body, its tail and its head until he clubbed it across the shining golden head until it shivered and was still.
perceptibly adv. 显然地，可感受得出的
“He hasn’t changed at all,” he said. But watching the movement of the water against his hand he noted that it was perceptibly slower.
lash v. 鞭打，冲击，摆动
“I’ll lash the two oars together across the stern and that will slow him in the night,” he said. “He’s good for the night and so am I.”
sustenance n. 食物，生计，支持
My hand is only cut a little and the cramp is gone from the other. My legs are all right. Also now I have gained on him in the question of sustenance.
slit v. 撕裂，使有狭缝
He put one of his feet on the fish and slit him quickly from the vent up to the tip of his lower jaw.
dart off 疾驰而去
Sometimes they attached themselves to him. Sometimes they darted off. Sometimes they would swim easily in his shadow.
bar with 饰以条纹
He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long gone pride and he put it against the fish’s agony and the fish came over onto his side and swam gently on his side, his bill almost touching the planking of the skiff and started to pass the boat, long, deep, wide, silver and barred with purple and interminable in the water.
wallow v. 打滚，沉迷，颠簸
Instead he lay there wallowing now in the seas and the old man pulled the skiff upon to him.
背景知识
Our Fathers 《天主经》（天主教祈祷词）
Hail Marys《圣母经》（天主教祈祷词）
Expression
Now that he had seen him once, he could picture the fish swimming in the water with his purple pectoral fins set wide as wings and the great erect tail slicing through the dark. I wonder how much he sees at that depth, the old man thought. His eye is huge and a horse, with much less eye, can see in the dark. Once I could see quite well in the dark. Not in the absolute dark. But almost as a cat sees.
老人“脑补”大鱼的傲然英姿和相貌，孤独和寂寞让老人对大鱼产生了感情。
作者将鱼的眼睛和自己的眼睛做对比，其实是提高了鱼在心中的地位，把鱼看成了伙伴。
The Hand Game
They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line on the table and their forearms straight up and their hands gripped tight. ... Blood came out from under the fingernails of both his and the negro’s hands and they looked each other in the eye and at their hands and forearms and the bettors went in and out of the room and sat on high chairs against the wall and watched.
这两句描写的是掰手腕的场景，两句话用到了十几个and，表示并列或时间先后，节奏感十足。
The odds would change back and forth all night and they fed the negro rum and lighted cigarettes for him.
back and forth 反复地，来回地
feed用得传神，体现场景激烈（一个递酒一个递烟，两人盯住对方眨都不眨一眼）。
But the old man had raised his hand up to dead even again. He was sure then that he had the negro, who was a fine man and a great athlete, beaten.
胜券在握，自信满满，写得好！
But his left hand had always been a traitor and would not do what he called on it to do and he did not trust it.
形象地表达：左手“不听使唤”。
The dolphin look greener from there and you can see their stripes and their purple spots and you can see all of the school as they swim. Why is it that all the fast-moving fish of the dark current have purple backs and usually purple stripes or spots? The dolphin looks green of course because he is really golden. But when he comes to feed, truly hungry, purple stripes show on his sides as on a marlin. Can it be anger, or the greater speed he makes that brings them out?
虽然文中用的是dolphin这个单词，但我读到这里反应过来，有可能是“鲯鳅”，因为海豚不是绿色。上网查了一下，发现是一种蠢萌萌的鱼！下面是图片。
Thought
在海上孤立无援的时候，老人想到了年轻时的掰手腕比赛。作者在这里用了大量的笔墨，写得非常生动，但我看上去却觉得十分悲凉。年轻时的勇猛和力量，人到暮年只能空留回忆。老人此时的心境该是多么惆怅和孤独。
我能想到最孤单的事，就是一个人在海上漂流，无力掌舵，不知大海会把船领到什么方向。这里引领船的是一条大鱼，船上坐着的是一个曾经年轻力壮的老人，孑身一人，病痛缠身。
但老人终究还是胜利了，他打败了大鱼，这个不停挣扎，不停跳跃，不停反抗的大鱼。老人疲惫不堪，但心生欢喜。只是，这一切能平安结束吗？
