能够坚持到今天的小伙伴，给你们点个赞！等了这么久，今天，大鱼终于出现了，是一条大马林鱼，它咬上了老人的沙丁鱼。老人和大马林鱼的对峙，从今天的内容开始，就此拉开序幕了。

单词卡

bump         [bʌmp]             v.  碰撞

forge          [fɔːdʒ]              v.  锻造

delicate      ['delɪkət]        adj. 微妙的

sideways[ˈsaɪdweɪz]   adv. 从旁边

crosswise   [ˈkrɔswaɪz]    adj.  斜的

increase     [ɪn'krɪːs]           v.  增加

01  试探

I could just drift, he thought, and sleep and put a bit of line around my toe to wake me. But today is eighty-five days and I should fish the day well.

Just then, watching his lines, he saw one of the projecting green sticks dip sharply.

"Yes," he said. "Yes," and shipped his oars without bumping the boat. He reached out for the line and held it softly between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. He felt no strain nor weight and he held the line lightly. 

Then it came again. This time it was a tentative pull, not solid nor heavy, and he knew exactly what it was. One hundred fathoms down a marlin was eating the sardines that covered the point and the shank of the hook where the hand-forged hook projected from the head of the small tuna.

The old man held the line delicately, and softly, with his left hand, unleashed it from the stick. Now he could let it run through his fingers without the fish feeling any tension.

This far out, he must be huge in this month, he thought. Eat them, fish. Eat them. Please eat them. How fresh they are and you down there six hundred feet in that cold water in the dark. Make another turn in the dark and come back and eat them.

厘米译

“我也可以随意漂着”，他想，“再睡上一觉，把钓绳绕在我的脚趾上，等着它把我弄醒。但今天是第八十五天了，我得好好钓鱼。”

就在这时，他盯着钓绳，发现一根挑出水面（改为：伸在外面）的青色钓竿猛地一沉。

”来了，”老人说，“来了。”说着，就收起船桨，没让船生出颠簸。他伸手去拉钓绳，把它放在右手的大拇指和食指之间，轻轻扣住。钓绳没有绷紧，感受不到什么重量，他就只是轻轻扣着。

紧接着，它又动了。这次是试探性的一拉，不紧不重。他完全摸清楚是怎么回事了。往下一百英寻，一条马林鱼正在品尝包裹着钩尖和钩身的沙丁鱼，那儿还有一条用手工打造的钓钩穿过头部的小金枪鱼。

老人小心翼翼地握着钓绳，轻轻地，用他的左手，把它从钓竿上解下。现在，他可以让钓绳在手指间滑动了，不会让那鱼生出任何不安。

“这么远，又是这个月份了，个头儿一定很大，”他想。“吃吧，鱼。吃了它们。请吃了它们。它们多么新鲜，可你却待在那六百英尺深处，又黑又冷的。去黑暗中再转一圈，再回来吃吧。”

02  游走了？

He felt the light delicate pulling and then a harder pull when a sardine's head must have been more difficult to break from the hook. Then there was nothing.

"Come on," the old man said aloud. "Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren't they lovely? Eat them good now and then there is the tuna. Hard and cold and lovely. Don't be shy, fish. Eat them."

He waited with the line between his thumb and his finger, watching it and the other lines at the same time for the fish might have swum up or down. Then came the same delicate pulling touch again.

"He'll take it," the old man said aloud. "God help him to take it."

He did not take it though. He was gone and the old man felt nothing.

"He can't have gone," he said. "Christ knows he can't have gone. He's making a turn. Maybe he has been hooked before and he remembers something of it.

Then he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy.

"It was only his turn," he said. "He'll take it."

厘米译

他感受到了轻微的拉力，然后是更有力的一拽，一定是因为沙丁鱼的头不太容易从钓钩上扯下。然后，就没动静了。

“来吧，”老人出声说，“再转一圈，闻闻看，是不是很鲜美？现在就好好吃一顿吧，吃完还有金枪鱼呢。结实、冰凉、鲜美。别害羞，鱼。吃了它们。“

他等待着，钓绳扣在拇指和食指之间，盯着它的同时，还注意着其他钓绳，因为鱼可能已经往上或往下游了。接着，又是同样一阵轻微的拉扯。

“它会吃了的，”老人说出声来，“上帝保佑，让它吃了吧。”

可惜，它并没有吃。它游走了，老人什么也感觉不到了。

“它不可能游走，”他说，“上帝知道，它不可能游走。它只是转个身而已。也许它以前被勾住过，还记得些什么。”

接着，他感觉到钓绳上有了轻微的触碰，又高兴起来。

“它只是转个身，”他说，“它会吃的。”

单词精讲：cover

One hundred fathoms down a marlin was eating the sardines that covered the point and the shank of the hook……

cover   [ˈkʌvə(r)]  

Cover the table with a cloth. 

在桌子上铺上台布。

cover这个词大家应该比较熟悉，基本含义是“覆盖”。《老人与海》原句中是说沙丁鱼的身体“包裹”着鱼钩。不过，大家不要只盯着“覆盖”这层意思，灵活变通一下，cover的用处还是很大的。

（1）覆盖、盖住

She covered her knees (up) with a blanket. 

她把毯子盖在膝盖上。

除了布料之类，大家别忘了，积雪、洪水、石子这种对于地面的“覆盖”也是可以用cover的。

（2）洒上、溅上

I was covered in mud by a passing car.

一辆过路的汽车溅了我一身泥。

这个意思和第一个“覆盖”基本一致，只不过覆盖的主体是液体、沙尘一类的。

以上“覆盖”都是实实在在地“盖”了什么东西在上面。除了这一类，cover的“覆盖”也可以更加抽象泛化，引申出“包括、涉及、适用、掩护”等含义。我们来看看下面这些例句，大家可以想一想，这些含义和cover表示覆盖的基本含义有什么联系？

（1）Is that word covered in the dictionary?  

这部词典里有那个单词吗?

（2）Do the rules cover a case like this? 

这些规则是否适用于这样的情况? 

（3）By sunset we had covered thirty miles. 

到日落的时候, 我们已走了三十英里. 

（4）Cover me while I move forward. 

我前进时, 你掩护我。

“走了三十英里”可不可以理解成“用脚步覆盖了三十英里的距离”？

“掩护”可不可以理解成“用某种行为掩盖住别人的行为，以保护他人”？

最后，给大家留一个问题：

“新闻记者报道某一事件”可以用“cover”这个词来表达吗？

（例句出自牛津高阶英汉双解词典）

现在不是去想缺少什么的时候，该想一想凭现有的东西你能做什么。