老人与海读后感_英文

The impression of “The Old Man and the Sea”

This book gives me a deep impression especially the description about the man’s braveness and persistence.

When I was a high school student, I’ve finished this book in Chinese. But when I read it in English, I really gain something new both in the way of expression and the spirit it shows to us. May be different ages to read the same book we will learn different things from it. At least, for my part, that is true.

Firstly, I would like to review some information about this book. Such as the background, major characters and the topic of it.

The Old Man and the Sea is a story by Ernest Hemingway, written in Cuba in 1951 and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.

The Old Man and the Sea served to reinvigorate Hemingway's literary reputation and prompted a reexamination of his entire body of work. The novella was initially received with much popularity; it restored many readers' confidence in Hemingway's capability as an author. Its publisher, Scribner's, on an early dust jacket, called the novella a "new classic," and many critics favorably compared it with such works as William Faulkner's "The Bear" and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

The old man Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea is a character seen in many perspectives, as a hero, an ordinary fisherman, an unlucky old man, and a wise man. Throughout the novella he is made out as a person of motivation, passion, and hope. Despite what others do or do not think he is a man of action, and not one consumed by regret. The young and old villagers?€? view of Santiago is an important one, but not a differentiating one. The villagers are split into two groups. The older fishermen that respect Santiago and wish him luck, and the younger fishermen that see him as little more than bad luck. While neither group is particularly important to the plot, each of their views sets an ambiance of Santiago forthcoming adventure. Without their views Santiago would be little more than a lucky old fisherman. Santiago has a resolute grip upon reality and lives by it. He sees himself as a man with little direction but enough determination and experience to live. He chose not to see what others thought but instead lived by how he perceived the world. His constant struggles and his persistent resolve to overcome the marlin and himself show his earnest desires to live and fish.

The boy is a crucial element to Santiago world. Mandolin is always at the edge of Santiago mind when he thinks of convenience. At times with the fish, Santiago thinks to the boy and then to his own lack of ability. He may deny it,

but at times it is his relationship with the boy that both makes him realize he needs help, and compels him to go on.

Christian imagery and concepts are important assets to the old fisherman personality. He is seen as a kind man, and although expresses his frustration towards certain points, only conveys his anger towards the evil representation of the sharks. His kind, infinite eyes, and he carrying his mast like Jesus and his cross only augment his Christ-like personage. His loneliness and greatness are both shown as Mandolin is assigned a new boat after 40 days with Santiago, the same length of time as Christ spent in the wilderness.

Santiago change at the end of the novella turns him into almost a universal hero. By being at sea, his ventures were never limited and the events of the story just seemed to happen. After he rebukes himself for his arrogance with the marlin, Santiago goes home and dreams of the lions playing in Africa, signaling a cycle of a child-like rebirth through Mandolin.

Throughout the story many aspects can be found about Santiago personality merely by the content of his 3-day fight with the marlin. The ideology that encompasses the story is only consumed by Santiago pure will to persevere. Certainly Santiago is a man of many themes and personality traits.

I believe that in the past three decades, the way society has treated he elderly has remained primarily the same. Some younger citizens have looked up to the elderly with respect, yet most continue to shun them and

consider them useless and hopeless in a society such as ours. I think that the elderly population is continually losing respect from the new generations. Santiago, the elderly man in the novel The Old Man and the Sea, is respected by a young boy, Mandolin, yet he is also looked down upon

by many of the younger fishermen in the Cuban fishing village where he lives. This book is set in the late 1930's and, I as I see it, shows that societies all around the world have had a decline in respect for the older people in their environment since the beginning of the nineteenth century.

An enormous number of issues have changed since Santiago's time, allowing the elderly to have the ability to do more in their old age and live in areas specifically designed for their needs. However, there is still an enormous lack of respect for the older people in society, and it is becoming worse every day. Younger citizens of our country make fun of older people, call them names, and believe that they are incapable of doing most things that the younger ones are capable of doing. When we believe they can no longer support themselves, we place our elderly relatives into retirement homes and "old folks' homes" as many call them. Sometimes they, themselves, do not wish to go to such a place, but we force them to, which many times is the wrong choice. Some younger people help the elderly, though, and try to support them, but few of these people can be found. It is a fact that when people get beyond a certain age, their memories begin depleting and they atrophy physically. However, as Santiago shows in the novel, older people have much knowledge about the world around them and enough strength to make it through hard situations if

they are determined and have the will and courage to believe in a better tomorrow.

In Santiago's community, it is shown that there is still a natural respect for elders, as is seen in Mandolin’s support of the old man. He was one of the dying breed that truly looked up to his elders and regarded their feelings and experiences with much respect. He greatly aided Santiago by giving him support and courage and helping him through every day chores. There are still some people with such feelings in the world today, yet many have had their opinions swayed by others and begin to think badly of the elderly.

It is also a lack of respect for Santiago and the elderly in the novel, which can be found in the actions of the young fisherman. Some laugh at him when he passed by, and some thought of him to be too old to be a fisherman. They believed he was not in good enough shape to catch a fish, yet it was only his bad luck that deterred him from doing such a thing. He was much better and more exact than most of the other fisherman in the village, yet they could not see past his age to view his accomplishments.

I think the false beliefs about the weakness of the elderly can be turned around only if society looks much harder at their abilities and their goals. We must begin to see that although they may not have great physical strength, they still have a mind that is capable of many things. There are many jobs that they can hold in the workplace and many things they can do to help society of which we, the younger generation, are not aware. We must realize that they have gone through many experiences that we have not and that they hold a vast amount of knowledge about the world around them. There will come a time when one's age does not determine the value of one's life, but we can change that dream to reality only if we try.

This book gives me courage of conquering all kinds of difficulties .And I have the belief that the most beautiful thing is the process that we make our best to achieve our dream, and never say give up.

吴伶童

金融一班

12200765

1. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck

comes you are ready.每一天都是一个新的日子。走运当然是好的，不过我情愿做到分毫不差。这样，运气来的时候，你就有所准备了。

2. “But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

人不是为失败而生的。一个人可以被毁灭，但不能给打败

3. But, then, nothing is easy.

不过话得说回来，没有一桩事是容易的。

4. It is silly not to hope, he thought.

人不抱希望是很傻的。

5. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.

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

6. 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.

但是这些伤疤中没有一块是新的。它们像无鱼可打的沙漠中被侵蚀的地方一般古老。他身上

的一切都显得古老，除了那双眼睛，它们像海水一般蓝，是愉快而不肯认输的.

7. They were strange shoulders, still powerful although very old, and the neck was still strong too

and the creases did not show so much when the old man was asleep and his head fallen forward.

这两个肩膀挺怪，人非常老迈了，肩膀却依然很强健，脖子也依然很壮实，而且当老人睡着

了，脑袋向前耷拉着的时候，皱纹也不大明显了

8. His shirt had been patched so many times that it was like the sail and the patches were faded to

many different shades by the sun.

他的衬衫上不知打了多少次补丁，弄得像他那张帆一样，这些补丁被阳光晒得褪成了许多深

浅不同的颜色.

9. The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green line with the gray blue hills behind it. The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost purple

陆地上空的云块这时候像山冈般耸立着,海岸只剩下一长条绿色的线,背后是些灰青色的小山.海水此刻呈现蓝色,深的简直发紫了

10. The boy loved the old fisherman and pitied him. If Manolin had no money of his own, he

begged or stole to make sure that Santiago had enough to eat and fresh baits for his lines. The old

man accepted his kindness with humility that was like a quiet kind of pride.

孩子喜欢并且可怜这个老渔人。曼诺林要是自己没有挣到钱，就会乞讨或偷窃以保证桑提亚

哥有足够的食物和新鲜的鱼饵。老人谦卑地接受孩子的好意，谦卑中带有某种隐而不露的自

豪感。

11. As the sun rose he saw other boats in toward shore, which was only a low green line on the sea. 阳升起时，他看到别的一些船只都头朝着海岸，在海上看来海岸象是一条接近地平线的绿带

子。

12. The old man shivered in the cold that came after sunset. When something took one of his remaining baits, he cut the line with his sheath knife.

日落之后，寒意袭人，老人冷得发抖。当他剩下的鱼饵中有一块被咬住时，他就用自己那把

带鞘的刀把钓丝给割断了。

13. Close to nightfall a dolphin took the small hook he had rebaited. He lifted the fish aboard,

careful not to jerk the line over his shoulder.

黄昏之际，一条海豚吞食了他重新放上鱼饵的小钩子。他把这条“鱼”提到了船板上，小心不

去拉动他肩上的钓丝。

14. An hour later he sighted the first shark. It was a fierce Mako, and it came in fast to slash with raking teeth at the dead marlin. With failing might the old man struck the shark with his harpoon. The Mako rolled and sank, carrying the harpoon with it and leaving the marlin mutilated and bloody.

一个小时以后，他瞧见了第一条鲨鱼。这是一条凶猛的尖吻鲭鲨。它飞快地游了过来，用耙一样的牙齿撕这条死马林鱼。老人用尽余力把鱼叉往鲨鱼身上扎去。尖吻鲭鲨打着滚沉下去了，带走了鱼叉，而且已经把马林鱼咬得残缺不全，鲜血直流。

15.When the third appeared, he thrust at it with the knife, only to feel the blade snap as the fish rolled.

当第三条鲨鱼出现时，他把刀子向鲨鱼戳去。鲨鱼打了一个滚，结果把刀给折断了。

16. But the old man thought only of his steering and his great tiredness. He had gone out too far and the sharks had beaten him. He knew they would leave him nothing but the stripped skeleton of his great catch.

老人此时想到的只是掌舵，和他自己极度的疲乏。他出海太远了，那些鲨鱼把他打败了。他知道那些鲨鱼除了大马林鱼的空骨架之外，是什么也不会给他留下的。

17. He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now. But he could see the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the strange undulation of the calm. The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, the blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea

18. I hate a cramp, he thought. It is a treachery of one’s own body. It is humiliating before others to have a diarrhoea from ptomaine poisoning or to vomit from. But a cramp, he thought of it as a calambre, humiliates oneself especially when one is alone.

19 .I wonder why he jumped, the old man thought. He jumped almost as though to show me how big he was. I know now, anyway, he thought. I wish I could show him what sort of man I am. But then he would see the cramped hand. Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so. I wish I was the fish, he thought, with everything he has against only my will and my intelligence.

20. A few days ago, I had some free time at the university. I decided to go to the central library and read something until the class starts. The literary part of the library is really a shame. There are very few literature books in comparison to others. Probably about a hundred or so. Anyhow, I was searching among them when I came up with this copy of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. The poor book seems to have endured many painful years. I had not read any of Hemingway's books, so I started right there. It absorbed me.

21. I can definitely say it is one of the finest books I've read. It entered the list of my favorite books instantly.

22. The Old Man and the Sea, for those who have not read it, is a story of a man's struggle with the beasts of the sea; a story of a human being's unbelievable power. The old man is a mere old fisherman, yet he shows how much power a human being can have when he wants. Hemingway's strong and vital style absorbs the reader. It's one of those books you cannot easily put away before finishing it.

吴伶童

金融一班

12200765

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