He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin (он вспомнил время, когда он поймал на крючок одного из пары марлиней). The male fish always let the female fish feed first (самец всегда позволяет самке есть первой) and the hooked fish, the female (и пойманная рыба, самка), made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight (вступила в дикую, паническую и отчаянную борьбу;
exhaust [Ig'zLst], scythe [saID], pectoral ['pektqrql]
He remembered the time he had hooked one of a pair of marlin. The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male had stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface. He had stayed so close that the old man was afraid he would cut the line with his tail which was sharp as a scythe and almost of that size and shape. When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and dubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy's aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat. Then, while the old man was clearing the lines and preparing the harpoon, the male fish jumped high into the air beside the boat to see where the female was and then went down deep, his lavender wings, that were his pectoral fins, spread wide and all his wide lavender stripes showing. He was beautiful, the old man remembered, and he had stayed.
That was the saddest thing I ever saw with them (это была самая грустная сцена, которую я когда-либо видел с ними), the old man thought. The boy was sad too (мальчику тоже было грустно) and we begged her pardon and butchered her promptly (мы попросили у нее прощения и зарезали ее быстро-быстро;
"I wish the boy was here (жаль, что мальчика здесь нет: «желаю, мальчик был бы здесь = хотел бы я, чтобы мальчик был здесь»)," he said aloud and settled himself against the rounded planks of the bow (сказал он вслух и устроился /прислонившись/ к закругленным доскам на носу лодки) and felt the strength of the great fish (и ощутил силу большой рыбы) through the line he held across his shoulders (через лесу, которую он держал на плечах) moving steadily toward whatever he had chosen (движущуюся спокойно куда-то, куда она выбрала = к какой-то своей цели;