Translation of an Extract from 'The Kids and the Sea'(ZH-EN)

Translation:

I believe the greatness of sea is that it provides an incomparable place for human to strengthen and test their will power.

It can nourish one’s spirits and realize their ambition of conquest. It attracts and stimulates people to conquer it with its majestic momentum and hot temper, just like a matador waving his scarlet cloak. Only the sea can offer us the thrilling and breathless scenes and fulfill our desires to win to the maximum when we fight with it. And that’s why Hemingway chose the sea as the background for his novel.

The sea is the only place to show and to test whether the old man in his novel has the spirits and demeanor that he yearns for. Through the demonstration and test , the sea fills us with emotions and joy. It is because the sea is a life and it is alive, with a prolonged soul.

Humans step to the sea generation by generation, and now, it’s time for him, the boy. Naked, he stares at the sea that was once conquered by his predecessors, tortured them or even defeated them, leaving the past of his predecessors behind. The sea that he is confronted with is so vast, so endless and boundless, which strongly contrast with the kid’s slim figure.

Right now, the kid may not be able to vanquish the sea with his tender body, insufficient strength and weak will. But the past of his predecessors behind him will support him through his growth, and the sea itself before him will present him with enough courage and wits. The kid has seen himself in the future.

-Extract from Cao Wenxuan's 'The Kid and the Sea'

Source text:

而我以为，海最伟大的意义在于它为人类提供了一个锻炼和检验自己的意志的无以伦比的场所。

它既能培养人的精神，又可使人的征服精神得到实现。它以磅礴的气势、暴烈的脾性吸引和刺激昔人们去征服它，就如同一个斗牛士挥舞着猩红的披风，在征服它的过程中，只有它才能向我们提供那样惊心动魄的场面和使我们的胜利欲望得到最大满足的机会，所以海明威选择了大海。

他笔下的老人，是否具有那种他向往的精神和风度，别无其它显示的所在，也别无检验它的手段，惟有大海。并且，大海能使我们以这种显示与检验充满情感与快意。因为，大海也是生命，它是活着的，有着一颗经久不息的灵魂。

人们一代一代地走向大海。现在该轮到他了——这个孩子。他赤着身子，把历史留在了他小小的身影的背后，望着先辈们曾经战胜过也被它折磨过甚至是战败过的大海。他面对的大海是那样阔荡，那样无穷无尽、无极可达。大海之大，与这孩子的身影之小，形成了大大的反差。

也许，这孩子凭他现有的稚嫩的肉体与还不足够雄壮的力量和还不足够坚强的意志，尚不能去征服大海，但，他身后的历史将会支撑着他长大，而他面前的大海本身，也将给他足够的勇气和智慧，孩子已看到了以后的自己。

——摘选自曹文轩《孩子与海》