1. He swings the fish from the water. It gasps, thrashes. Drums. He was sure he would catch fish. He left just a simple note: “Pick salad x.” A heat has come to the morning now, the kayak lilts. Weed floats. He thinks of her hair in water. The same darkened blond colour. The edge of the shoal. He retrieves a carrier bag and stores the fish. That’s lunch. The bay lay just a little north. It was a short paddle from the flat beach inland of him, with the caravans on the low fields above, but it felt private.
他揮動魚竿把魚從水里拉了出來。這條魚喘息著，猛烈地擺動著身體，用力掙扎著。他之前就確信他會釣到魚。他只留下了一張簡短的便簽——“選x（愛的）沙拉。”此時，高溫已經開始驅散清晨的涼爽，小艇輕快地在水面上漂浮著。水草在水面上浮動著，讓他覺得在水里浮動著的是她的頭發——同樣的暗金色。他從淺灘邊緣帶來了一個手提袋，那條魚放在了里面。這是他的午餐。海灣就在北面不遠處。從海灣劃小艇很快就可以抵達屬于他的那片平坦的內陸海灘。海灘的低洼處停放著幾輛大篷車，但給人一種很私密的感覺。
2. His father long ago had told him that they were the only ones who knew about the bay, and that was a good thing between them to believe. He was not a talker. But he couldn’t imagine sitting in the bay and not talking to his father. After the brief doubt, he relaxes. He has a sense, out here, of peace. Thinks: why do we stop doing the things we enjoy and the things we know are good for us?
他的父親很久以前曾告訴他，他們是唯一知道這處海灣的人，并且相信這一點對他們倆來說是有好處的。他并不健談，可還是無法想象自己坐在那個海灣內，卻不跟他父親交談的情形。短暫的遲疑后，他放松了心情。他感受到了那種平和的氛圍。他想：“為什么我們要停下我們正在做的我們喜歡的事情？為什么我們要停下我們正在做的對我們有益的事情？”
3. He fades the kayak, lets it drift, wiggling his ankles, working his feet loose. The water beneath him is suddenly full somehow, with jellyfish. He wonders if they are a sign, of some increasing heat perhaps. Then the noise of music hits him. A child knee-high in the water, slapping at the waves. A mother changing inside a towel.
他放下了船槳，讓小艇在水面上漂泊，同時扭動著腳踝，讓雙腳松弛。他身下的水中突然莫名其妙地擠滿了水母。他很好奇這是不是某種跡象——或許是氣溫上升的跡象。此時，一陣嘈雜的音樂聲襲來。一個孩子正站在膝蓋深的水中，拍打著海浪。一位媽媽正在用浴巾裹著身體換衣服。
4. The ashes sit perfectly in the drinks holder by his legs. Laid out farther off, an adolescent girl. The sound of her radio travelling. A pile of bright things. The child has found a whip of kelp and slaps at the waves. It’s O.K., Dad, he says. We’ll come back later. We’ll come back when they’ve gone.
放在他腿旁的飲品杯里裝著骨灰。更遠處是一位少女。她收音機里的聲音隨風飄來。那里還有一堆明亮的東西。那個孩子找到了一根海帶，繼續拍打著海浪。他說：“沒事的，爸爸。我們一會兒就回去。等他們都走了，我們就回去。”
5. The first lightning strikes somewhere out past the horizon. At first he thinks it just a sudden glint. The thunder happens moments later, and he feels sick in his gut. He sees the rain as a thick dark band, moving in. Starts to paddle. Then there is a wire of electric brightness. Three. Four. A rumble that seems to echo off the surface of the water. He counts automatically, assesses the distance to land. Another throb of light. The wind picks up, cold air moving in front of the storm. One repeated word now. No, no, no. When it hits him there is a bright white light.
第一道閃電擊中了遙遠的地平線外的某個地方。起初，他認為這只不過是一次突如其來的閃光。片刻后雷聲響起，他感到腸胃有點兒不舒服。他看到碩大的雨滴傾瀉而下，落到他的小艇上。他開始劃槳。此時，空中又劃過一道閃電。緊接著，是第三道、第四道。隆隆聲似乎在水面上方回蕩。他不假思索地計算著，評估著與陸地之間的距離。又是一道閃電劃過天空。起風了，暴風雨伴隨冷空氣接踵而至。此時，一個聲音一直重復著——“不，不，不”。一道明亮的白光落下，他被閃電擊中了。

6. He wakes floating on his back, around him hailstones melt. They are scattered on the kayak. There is a hissing sound. The hailstones melting in the water. He stares around, trying to understand, a layer of ash on the surface of the water. He cannot move his arms. They are held out before him as if beseeching the sky. Dead fish lie around him in the water. Somehow he tips himself into the boat. Live, he’s thinking. Live. His fishing rod on fire upon the water as he slips off the world again, and passes out.
他醒來時，正趴在漂浮的小艇上，身體周圍到處散落著融化了的冰雹。此時，響起了一陣嘶嘶聲——落在水中的冰雹正在融化。他凝視著四周，試圖搞清楚究竟發生了什么。但他看到的只是漂浮在水面上的一層骨灰。他無法移動他的手臂。他的兩只手臂向前伸出，仿佛在祈求上蒼。他周圍的水面上到處漂著死魚。不知怎的，他一頭倒在了小艇上。活著，他在想，活著。他的魚竿在水面上著起火來，與此時同，他再次失去知覺，昏了過去。
7. One eye is closed with salt. The sun had come out hard after the storm and evaporated the water, leaving the salt in a crust on his eye. When he opens the other, the light blinds him. It hurts to breathe because his whole body hurts. As if he has suffered a great fall. His mouth, too, is crusted with salt. He does not know where he is. When he grimaces, his lips split and bleed. What happened? He does not know how long he has been like this. Who he is. Then, the thump of a huge fin stirs him. He does not move. Cannot move. A few yards off, the fin rises again, a half-metre sail out of the water, a gun-grey body. He is frozen. This cannot be happening, he thinks. This is it, he thinks. This is it.
他的一只眼睛被鹽糊住了。暴風雨過后，海面上終于重見天日。太陽蒸發著海水，在他眼睛上留下了堅硬的鹽殼。當他睜開另一只眼睛時，光線使他什么也看不見。他呼吸的時候感到很痛，因為他整個身體都在受到疼痛的折磨，就好像他是從很高的地方摔了下來。他的嘴上也結了堅硬的鹽殼。他不知道自己在哪。甚至當他露出痛苦的表情時，他的嘴唇都會開裂并出血。發生了什么？他不清楚自己已經處于這種狀態多久了。他甚至不知道自己是誰。此時，一個巨大魚鰭的撞擊聲使他清醒了過來。他一動不動。他動不了。幾碼遠的地方，那個巨大的魚鰭再次從水下升起，好像一個半米高的風帆鉆出了水面，下面就是它那槍灰色的身體。他似乎凝固了。他覺得這一切都不可能發生。他心想：“就這樣了，就這樣了”。
8. The gunwale stayed with him for hours. It was almost the size of the kayak in length. It stayed and bumped the boat for hours, and by doing so steered it; and it cannot be known whether it was deliberate, benevolent, that it did not steer the kayak farther out to sea.
他就這樣靠在舷緣上好幾個小時。那個有著巨大魚鰭的幾乎跟他的小艇一樣長的東西，就這樣跟隨著并不停地撞擊著他的小艇好幾個小時，受到撞擊的小艇就這樣不停地轉向，并順著撞擊的方向移動。不知道它是故意的，還是出于仁慈，小艇并沒有被撞到距離大陸太遠的海域。
7. One eye is closed with salt. The sun had come out hard after the storm and evaporated the water, leaving the salt in a crust on his eye. When he opens the other, the light blinds him. It hurts to breathe because his whole body hurts. As if he has suffered a great fall. His mouth, too, is crusted with salt. He does not know where he is. When he grimaces, his lips split and bleed. What happened? He does not know how long he has been like this. Who he is. Then, the thump of a huge fin stirs him. He does not move. Cannot move. A few yards off, the fin rises again, a half-metre sail out of the water, a gun-grey body. He is frozen. This cannot be happening, he thinks. This is it, he thinks. This is it.
他的一只眼睛被鹽糊住了。暴風雨過后，海面上終于重見天日。太陽蒸發著海水，在他眼睛上留下了堅硬的鹽殼。當他睜開另一只眼睛時，光線使他什么也看不見。他呼吸的時候感到很痛，因為他整個身體都在受到疼痛的折磨，就好像他是從很高的地方摔了下來。他的嘴上也結了堅硬的鹽殼。他不知道自己在哪。甚至當他露出痛苦的表情時，他的嘴唇都會開裂并出血。發生了什么？他不清楚自己已經處于這種狀態多久了。他甚至不知道自己是誰。此時，一個巨大魚鰭的撞擊聲使他清醒了過來。他一動不動。他動不了。幾碼遠的地方，那個巨大的魚鰭再次從水下升起，好像一個半米高的風帆鉆出了水面，下面就是它那槍灰色的身體。他似乎凝固了。他覺得這一切都不可能發生。他心想：“就這樣了，就這樣了”。
8. The gunwale stayed with him for hours. It was almost the size of the kayak in length. It stayed and bumped the boat for hours, and by doing so steered it; and it cannot be known whether it was deliberate, benevolent, that it did not steer the kayak farther out to sea.
他就這樣靠在舷緣上好幾個小時。那個有著巨大魚鰭的幾乎跟他的小艇一樣長的東西，就這樣跟隨著并不停地撞擊著他的小艇好幾個小時，受到撞擊的小艇就這樣不停地轉向，并順著撞擊的方向移動。不知道它是故意的，還是出于仁慈，小艇并沒有被撞到距離大陸太遠的海域。
11. It was less easy to bear, having the land in view. He did not think, If I die you must find someone else; he could not think that. He felt a great responsibility. He wanted to make sure she knew how to reset the pilot light on the boiler. Pictured a coffee cup, never moved, the little liquid left growing into a ghost of dust. The note: “Pick salad x.” When it was beyond doubt that the land was nearing, he wept quietly. The tears went into his mouth. Trust the float now. You have to trust the float.
看到陸地了，這一切卻變得不那么容易去承受了。他并沒想到：“如果我死了，你必須找個別人陪你度過余生。”他是不會這樣想的。他有著很強的責任感。他想要確保她知道如何重新設置熱水壺上的指示燈。他頭腦中出現了一個咖啡杯，從未動過，里面的僅剩的一點兒咖啡變成了一團塵埃。還有那張便箋：“選x（愛的）沙拉。”當他的小艇確信無疑地正在靠近陸地時，他流下了安靜的淚水。眼淚流進了他的嘴里。現在要相信小艇能夠漂到岸邊。你必須相信它能夠漂到岸邊。