在《老人与海》一书里，真正出场的只有两个人物。一个是老渔民圣地亚哥，另外一个是跟老渔民学打鱼的男孩。在那一场忘年交之中，老渔民教孩子怎样钓鱼，而男孩也给了老渔民继续生活下去的力量。男孩和老渔民的友谊是在学钓鱼的过程中建立起来的。而人性的闪光点和友谊的力量就体现在那些看似平凡的交往之中。男孩是善良且具有同情心的，当他看到老渔民处在生活的困境中时，他就会帮助老渔民收拾渔具，给老人带来咖啡和食物，这些都给老渔民的孤独生活里带来了朝气，快乐和温暖。

  “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. 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. ”

  ( 他是一个年岁很大的老渔民，常常自己乘小船在海湾里钓鱼。他已经有84天没有钓到鱼了。在前40天里，有个男孩跟着老渔民一起钓鱼，但是在后来的40天里老渔民还是没有钓到鱼时，男孩的父母就告诉他，此时老渔民已经明显的不幸运，也就是倒霉透了。于是男孩被告知去另一个的渔船学打鱼，那条船在第一周就捕到了三条好鱼。可是男孩非常悲哀的看到老渔民每天乘船出去打鱼却总是两手空空而归。于是男孩总会走下岸去，帮助老渔民拿鱼叉，鱼钩和卷起的钓索，以及绕在桅杆上的帆。船帆上用一块面袋片打了些补丁，收拢后看上去就像一面象征永远失败的旗子。）

  “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. 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.

  Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”

  老人看上去身体消瘦，面容憔悴。在他脖子的后面分布着很深的皱纹,腮帮子上有些褐斑。那是阳光在热带海面上反射的光线给他的皮肤上留下了的斑点。这种大斑点从他的脸上一直延伸下去。他的双手经常用绳索拉大鱼而留下了深深的疤痕。可是这些疤痕没有一块是新的。它们就像无鱼可打的沙漠中被侵蚀的地方一样的古老。

  老人所有的看上去都很老之外，可是他那一双海水般的蓝色眼睛里却充满了快乐和闪烁着不服输的目光。

  "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."

  The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.

  "No," the old man said. "You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them."

  "But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks."

  "I remember," the old man said. "I know you did not leave me because you doubted."

  "It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him."

  "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."

  "Why not?" the old man said. "Between fishermen."

  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. The successful fishermen of that day were already in and had butchered their marlin out and carried them laid full length across two planks, with two men staggering at the end of each plank to the fish house where they waited for ice truck to carry them to the market in Havana. Those who had caught sharks had taken them to the shark factory on the other side of the cove where they were hoisted on a block and tackle, their livers removed , their fins cut off and their hides skinned out and their flesh cut into strips for salting.

 “圣地亚哥，”他们俩从小船停泊的地方爬上岸时，男孩对老渔民说：“我能再和你一起出海打鱼吗？我家挣了一点钱。”

  因为老渔民教会了孩子怎样去捕鱼，男孩很感激他。

  “不，”老渔民说：“你在一条很幸运的船上，还是跟着他们吧。”

  “可是你应该记得，你有一次87天没有捕到一条鱼，可是在后来的三周里我们每天都能捕到大鱼。”

  “我记得，”老渔民说。"我知道你没有离开我，是因为你对我有信心。”

    “是父亲叫我离开的，我是一个小男孩，我得服从他。”

  “我知道，”老渔民说。“那是很正常的。”

  “他没有什么信心。”

  “是啊，”老渔民说。“但是我们有，不是吗。”

  “是的，”男孩说。“我请你去饭店的露天平台喝杯啤酒，然后一起把渔具带回家。”

  “为什么不可以呢？”老渔民说。“大家都是打鱼人嘛。”

    他们坐在餐馆的露天平台上，有一些渔民拿老渔民取笑，可是老渔民并不生气，而另外一些年纪大的渔民们，看着老渔民感到难过。但是他们并没有表现出来，而是客气的谈论着他们把钓索送到海面下有多深，海上始终是晴天， 他们谈论着见闻。那些当天打鱼得手的渔民们已经回来，把大马林鱼解剖开，整片的放到两个木板上，每块木板的一端由两个人抬着，摇晃的送向收鱼站，在那里他们等着冷藏车装上马林鱼送到哈瓦那的市场。那些捕捉到鲨鱼的人们已经把它们送到海湾的另一端加工厂去了。吊在滑车上，除去肝脏，鱼鳍被切掉，皮被剥下。把新鲜的鱼肉切成条状，以备腌制。

  生词：

  Skiff: 小艇，轻舟（单人划的）

  gaff: 鱼叉

  harpoon: 鱼叉（投掷）

  furl: 卷起

  patch：补丁

  sack: 口袋

  gaunt: 憔悴的

  blotch: 大斑点

  benevolent: 好心肠，善良的

  crease: 皱纹

  Terrace: 平台

  drift: 漂流

  butcher: 屠夫

  plank: 木板

  stagger: 摇晃着移动

  hoist： 用绳提升

  block and tackle: 滑轮组（有缆绳和滑轮的起重装置）