Abstract: Any classical fiction entails a classical opening. A classical opening is the embodiment of a novelist's writing craftsmanship as well as the result of his arduous efforts. The success in translating fiction starts from the success in translating its opening. The successfully translated fiction opening features firstly accurate and economical wording, smooth sentence construction, sentence pattern variation, and rational paragraph layout, and secondly the establishment of the source text theme and the conveyance of the source text meaning, style and tone. The fiction opening of such kind makes a credible translation. This paper, through analyzing respectively Eileen Chang's and Yu Kuang chung's translations of the opening in The Old Man and the Sea, proposes a revised translation so as to emphasize the importance of making a credible translation through a translator's utmost efforts.