大家独处的时候，都会做些什么呢？刷手机、看书、听怀旧的歌、做一顿卖相还不错的饭？和老人比起来，我们的独处真是算得上丰富多彩了。在海上钓鱼的老人，在等待和搏斗之外，能做的事并不多，自言自语是其中一件。今天，我们来看看老人对自言自语的想法。

单词卡

virtue          ['vɜrtjuː] n.  德行

respect       [rɪ'spekt]         v.  尊敬、遵守

trickle          [trɪkl]              v.  细细地流

strain           [streɪn]          n.  拉紧

tentative      ['tentətɪv]     adj. 试探性的

unleash       [ʌnˈliːʃ]            v.  解开

01  自言自语

"Albacore," he said aloud. "He'll make a beautiful bait. He'll weigh ten pounds."

He did not remember when he had first started to talk aloud when he was by himself. He had sung when he was by himself in the old days and he had sung at night sometimes when he was alone steering on his watch in the smacks（小渔舟） or in the turtle boats. He had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left. But he did not remember. When he and the boy fished together they usually spoke only when it was necessary. They talked at night or when they were storm-bound by bad weather. It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea and the old man had always considered it so and respected it. But now he said his thoughts aloud many times since there was no one that they could annoy.

"If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy," he said aloud. "But since I am not crazy, I do not care. And the rich have radios to talk to them in their boats and to bring them the baseball."

厘米译

“长鳍金枪鱼，”他出声说，“一条上好的鱼饵，估计有十磅重。”

他想不起来自己是从什么时候开始这样的，在独自一人时自言自语。以前，一个人的时候，他会唱歌。当他晚上独自在渔船或者捕龟船上掌舵时，他就时常唱歌。男孩离开后，就剩他一个人了，也许就是那时开始自言自语的。不过，他想不起来了。他和男孩一起钓鱼的时候，一般只在必要时说话，在夜深人静时或者被暴风雨天气困住时聊一聊。在海上，没有必要就不说话，被看作是一种美德，老人一直是这样认为的，而且也遵守着这一美德。但是现在，他经常大声说出自己的想法，反正也不会打扰到别人。

“要是别人听见我自言自语，会觉得我疯了。”他出声说道，“不过既然我没疯，我也就不在乎这些。有钱人会在船上放上收音机播着，还能听到棒球消息。”

02  用小金枪鱼做鱼饵

Now is no time to think of baseball, he thought. Now is the time to think of only one thing. That which I was born for. There might be a big one around that school, he thought. I picked up only a straggler from the albacore that were feeding. But they are working far out and fast. Everything that shows on the surface today travels very fast and to the north-east. Can that be the time of day? Or is it some sign of weather that I do not know?

He could not see the green of the shore now but only the tops of the blue hills that showed white as though they were snow-capped and the clouds that looked like high snow mountains above them. The sea was very dark and the light made prisms in the water. The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the high sun and it was only the great deep prisms in the blue water that the old man saw now with his lines going straight down into the water that was a mile deep.

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.

厘米译

“这会儿可没功夫想棒球的事，”他想，“现在只能想一件事，我命中注定该干的事。”“那群鱼周围兴许有一条大的，”他想，“我只捡了一条在捕食途中掉队的金枪鱼。它们去很远的地方捕食，速度还很快。今天海面上出现的一切，动作都很快，还都奔着东北方去。难道是这个时候就该是这样？还是说这预示着某种我不知道的天气？”

现在，他看不到海岸那条绿线了，只能看到蓝色山脉的峰顶，看上去是白色的，似乎有积雪覆盖。云朵像雪山高耸一般，漂浮在上面。海水颜色很深，阳光在水中变幻出七色光带。这会儿太阳升得很高了，那无数斑斑点点的浮游生物，都消失不见了。老人现在看到的，只有蓝色海水中的七色光带，以及他那笔直伸入海水一英里深的钓绳。

老人又把金枪鱼放了下去。渔夫们管所有这类鱼都叫金枪鱼，只有在出售或交换鱼饵的时候，才用它们各自的名称来加以区分。这会儿太阳很毒，老人觉得脖子后面热辣辣的。他划着桨，汗水顺着他的后背一滴滴滚下。

单词精讲：distinguish

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.

distinguish   [dɪ'stɪŋgwɪʃ]  

People who cannot distinguish between colours are said to be colour-blind. 

不能辨别颜色的人称为色盲。

distinguish，意思是区别、辨别，可以是指从一系列人或事物中区别出某一个或某一种，也可以是指从周围环境中区别出或者是识别出某人或某物，甚至是某种声音，这时候，distinguish可以翻译成“看清、听清”：

distinguish a shape in the mist

认出雾中的朦胧形象

distinguish a whispered conversation

听清窃窃私语声

既然已经和其他人或事物有所区别了，再扩大一下这种区别，就会显得与众不同，受人注意。distinguish还可以用来指因为某种长处而出名、为人称道：

She distinguished herself by her coolness and bravery. 

她因头脑冷静﹑ 敢作敢为而为人称道。

与之相关的distinguished，作为形容词，意思是杰出的、卓越的：

She is a distinguished novelist and philosopher. 

她是一个杰出的小说家和哲学家。

这样一说，是不是觉得distinguish的意思也没那么复杂了呢？不过都是从”区别“这一基本含义引申出来的而已。

（例句出自牛津高阶英汉双解词典）

自己就是主宰一切的上帝，倘若想征服全世界，就得先征服自己。