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.
When the third appeared, he thrust at it with the knife, only to feel the blade[刀片] snap as the fish rolled.
As the sun rose he saw other boats in toward shore, which was only a low green line on the sea.
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.
But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.