盖茨比英文版（了不起的盖茨比第七章）

"Have you got your stables here ?" asked Gatsby with an effort .

你的马房是在这里吗？盖茨比勉强地问道。

"About a quarter of a mile down the road ."

沿这条路下去大约四分之一英里。

"Oh."

哦。

A pause .

停了一会。

"I don't see the idea of going to town ,"broke out Tom savagely ."Women get these notions in their heads ---"

我真不明白进城去干什么，汤姆怒气冲冲地说，女人总是心血来潮…

"Shall we take anything to drink ?"called Daisy from an upper window .

我们带点儿什么东西喝吗？黛西从楼上窗口喊道。

"I'll get some whiskey ,"answered Tom .He went inside .

我去拿点威士忌。汤姆答道。他走进屋子里去。

Gatsby turned to me rigidly :

盖茨比硬邦邦地转向我说：

"I can't say anything in his house ,old sport ."

我在他家里不能说什么，老兄。

"She's got an indiscreet voice ,"I remarked ."It's full of --"

她的声音很不谨慎，我说，它充满了…我犹疑了一下。

I hesitated .

她的声音很不谨慎，我说，它充满了…我犹疑了一下。

"Her voice is full of money ,"he said suddenly .

她的声音充满了金钱。他忽然说。

That was it .I'd never understood before .It was full of money --that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it ,the jingle of it ,the cymbals 'song of it ...High in white palace king's daughter ,the golden girl ....

正是这样。我以前从来没有领悟过。它是充满了金钱--这正是她抑扬起伏的声音里无穷无尽的魅力的源泉，金钱丁当的声音，銮听齐鸣的歌声----高高位于一座白色的宫殿里，国王的女儿，黄金女郎-----

Tom came out of the house wrapping a quart bottle in a towel ,followed by Daisy and Jordan wearing small tight hats of metallic cloth and carrying light capes over their arms .

汤姆从屋里出来，一面把一瓶一夸脱酒用毛巾包起来，后面跟着黛西和丹，两人都戴着亮晶晶的硬布做的又小又紧的帽子，手臂上搭着薄纱披肩。

"Shall we all go in my car ?"suggested Gatsby .He felt the hot ,green leather of the seat ."I ought to have left it in the shade ."

大家都坐我的车去好吗？盖茨比提议。他摸了摸滚烫的绿皮坐垫。我应当把它停在树荫里的。

"Is it standard shift ?"demanded Tom .

这车用的是普通排挡吗？汤姆问。

"Yes ."

是的。

"Well ,you take me coupe and let me drive your car to town ."

好吧，你开我的小轿车，让我开你的车进城。

The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby .

这个建议不合盖茨比的胃口。

"I don't think there's much gas ,"he objected .

恐怕汽油不多了。他表示不同意。

"Plenty of gas ,"said Tom boisterously .He looked at the gauge ."And if it runs out I can stop at a drug store .You can buy anything at a drug store nowadays ."

汽油多得很。汤姆闹嚷嚷地说。他看了看油表。如果用光了，我可以找一个药房停下来。这年头药房里你什么东西都买得到。

A pause followed this apparently pointless remark .Daisy lookedd at Tom frowning and an indefinable expression ,at once definitely unfamiliar and vaguely recognizable ,as if I had only heard it descrbed in words ,passed over Gatsby's face .

这句似乎没有什么意义的话说完之后，大家沉默了一会。黛西皱着眉头瞧瞧汤姆，同时盖茨比脸上掠过一种难以形容的表情，既十分陌生又似曾相识，仿佛我以前只是听人用言语描述过似的。

"Come on ,Daisy ,"said Tom ,pressing her with his hand toward Gatsby's car ."I'll take you in this circus wagon ."

走吧，黛西，汤姆说，一面用手把她朝盖茨比的车子推过去，我带你坐这辆马戏团的花车。

He opened the door but she moved out from the circle of his arm .

他打开车门，但她从他臂弯里走了出去。

"You take Nick and Jordan .We'll follow you in the coupe ."

你带尼克和乔丹去。我们开小轿车跟在你后面。

She walked close to Gatsby ,touching his coat with her hand .Jordan and Tom and I got into the front seat of Gatsby's car ,Tom pushed the unfamiliar gears tentatively and we shot off into the oppressive heat leaving them out of sight behind .

她紧挨着盖茨比走，用手摸着他的上衣。乔丹、汤姆和我坐进盖茨比车子的前座，汤姆试着扳动不熟悉的排挡，接着我们就冲进了闷热，把他们甩在后面看不见的地方。

"Did you see that ?"demanded Tom .

你们看到那个没有？汤姆问。

"See what ?"

看到什么？

He looked at me keenly ,realizing that Jordan and I must have known all along .

他敏锐地看着我，明白了我和乔丹一定一早就知道个中隐情。

"You think I'm pretty dumb ,don't you ?"he suggested ."Perhaps I am ,but I have a --almost a second sight ,sometimes ,that tells me what to do .Maybe you don't believe that ,but science --"

你们以为我很傻，是不是？他说，也许我是傻，但是有时候我一种--几乎是一种第二视觉，它告诉我该怎么办。也许你们不相信这个，但是科学-----

He paused .The immediate contingency overtook him ,pulled him back from the edge of the theoretical abyss .

他停了一下。当务之急追上了他，把他从理论深渊的边缘拉了回来。

"I've made a small investigation of this fellow ,"he continued ."I could have gone deeper if I'd known --"

我已经对这个家伙做了一番小小的调查，他继续说，我大可以调查得更深入一些，要是我知道----

"Do you mean you've been to a medium ?" inquired Jordan humorously .

你是说众多找过一个巫婆吗?乔丹幽默地问。

"What ?"Confused ,he stared at us as we laughed ."A medium ?"

什么？他摸不着头脑，瞪眼看着我们哈哈笑，巫婆？

"About Gatsby ."

去问盖茨比的事。

"About Gatsby !No ,I haven't .I said I'd been making a small investigation of his past ."

问盖茨比的事，不，我没有。我刚才说我已经对他的来历做过一番小小的调查。

"And you found he was an Oxford man ,"said Jordan helpfully .

结果你发现他是牛津大学毕业生。乔丹帮忙地说。

"An Oxford man !"He was incredulous ."Like hell he is !He wears a pink suit ."

牛津大学毕业生！他完全不相信，他要是踩他妈的怪哩！瞧他穿一套粉红色衣服。

"Nevertheless he's an Oxford man ."

不过他还是牛津毕业生。

"Oxford ,New Mexico ,"snorted Tom contemptuously ,"or something like that ."

新墨西哥州的牛津镇吧，汤姆嗤之以鼻地说，或者类似的地方。

"Listen ,Tom .If you're such a snob ,why did you invite him to lunch ?"demanded Jordan crossly .

我说，汤姆，你既然这样瞧不起人，那么为什么请他吃午饭呢？乔丹气恼地质问道。

"Daisy invited him ;she knew him before we were married --God knows where !"

黛西请他的。她是在我们结婚以前认识他的－－天晓得在什么地方！

We were all irritable now with the fading ale and ,aware of it ,we drove for a while in silence .Then as Doctor T.J.Eckleburg's faded eyes came into sight down the road ,I remembered Gatsby's caution about gasoline .

啤酒的酒劲已过，我们现在都感到烦躁，又因为意识到这一点，我们就一声不响地往前开了一会车子。然后当T.J.埃克尔堡大夫暗淡的眼睛在大路的前方出现时，我想起了盖茨比提出的关于汽油不够的警告。

"We've got enough to get us to town ,"said Tom .

我们有足够的汽油开到城里。汤姆说。

"But there's a garage right here,"objected Jordan ."I don't want to get stalled in this baking heat ."

可是这里有一家车行，乔丹提出了反对，我可不要在这种大热天抛锚。

Tom threw on both brakes impatiently and we slid to an abrupt dusty stop under Wilson's sign .After a moment the proprietor emerged from the interior of his estblishment and gazed hollow-eyed at the car .

汤姆不耐烦地把两个刹车都踩了，车子扬起一阵尘土突然在威尔逊的招牌下面停了下来。过了一会老板从车行的里面走了出来，两眼呆呆地盯着看我们的车子。

"Let's have some gas!"cried Tom roughly ."What do you think we stopped for --to admire the view ?"

给我们加点汽油！汤姆粗声大气地叫道，你以为我们停下来干什么－－欣赏风景吗？

"I'm sick ,"said Wilson without moving ."I been sick all day ."

我病了，威尔逊站着不动，说道，病了一整天啦。

"What's the matter?"

怎么啦?

"I'm all run down ."

我身体都垮了。

"Well ,shall I help myself ?"Tom demanded ."You sounded well enough on the phone ."

那么我要自己动手吗？汤姆问，你刚才在电话里听上去还挺好的嘛。

With an effor Wilson left the shade and support of the doorway and ,breathing hard ,unscrewed the cap of the tank .In the sunlight his face was green .

威尔逊很吃力地从门口阴凉的地方走出来，喘着大气把汽油箱的盖子拧了下来。在太阳里他的脸色发青。

"I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch ,"he said ."But I need money pretty bad and I was wondering what you were going to do with your old car ."

我并不是有意在午饭里打扰你，他说，可是我急需用钱，因此我想知道你那辆旧车打算怎么办。

"How do you like this one ?"inquired Tom ."I bought it last week ."

好漂亮的黄车。威尔逊说，一面费劲地打着油。

"Like to buy it ?"

想买吗？

"Big chance ,"Wilson smiled faintly ."No ,but I could make some money on the other ."

没门儿，威尔逊淡淡地一笑，不想这个，可是我可以在那辆车上赚点钱。

"What do you want money for ,all of a sudden ?"

你要钱干什么，有什么突然的需要？

"I've been here too long .I want to get away .My wife and I want to go west ."

我在这儿待得太久了。我想离开这里。我老婆和我想搬到西部去。

"Your wife does !"exclaimed Tom ,startled .

你老婆想去？汤姆吃惊地叫道。

"She's been talking about it for ten years ."He rested for a moment against the pump ,shading his eyes ."And now she's going whether she wants to or not .I'm going to get her away ."

他说要去，说了有十年了。他靠在加油机上休息了一会，用手搭在眼睛上遮住阳光，现在他真的要去了，不和她想不想去。我要让她离开这里。

The coupe flashed by us with a flurry of dust and the flash of a waving hand .

小轿车从我们身边疾驰而过，扬起了一阵尘土，车上有人挥了挥手。

"What do I owe you ?"demanded Tom harshly .

我该付你多少钱？汤姆粗鲁地问道。

"I just got wised up to something funny the last two days ,"remarked Wilson ."That's why I want to get away .That's why I been bothering you about the car ."

就在这两天我才发现了一些蹊跷的事情，威尔逊说，这就是我为什么要离开这里的原因。这就是我为什么为那辆车子打扰你的原因。

"What do I owe you?"

我该回你多少钱？

"Dollar twenty ."

一块两角。

The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and I had a bad moment there before I realized that so far his suspicions hadn't alighted on Tom .He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick .I stared at him and then at Tom ,who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before --and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men ,in intelligence or race ,so profound as the difference between the sick and the well .Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty ,unforgivably guilty --as if he had just got some poor girl with child .

酷烈的热浪已经开始搞得我头昏眼花，因此我有一会儿感到很不舒服。过了一会儿我才意识到，到那时为止他的疑心还没落到汤姆身上。他发现了茉特尔背着他在另外一个世界里有她自己的生活，而这个打击使他的身体患病了。我盯着他看看，又盯着汤姆看看，他在不到半小时以前也有了同样的发现--因此我想到人们在智力或种族方面的任何差异都远不如病人和健康的人二者之间的差异那么深刻。威尔逊病得那么厉害，看上去好像犯了罪，犯了不可饶恕的罪--仿佛他刚刚把一个可怜的姑娘的肚子搞大了。

"I'll let you have that car ,"said Tom ."I'll send it over tomorrow afternoon ."

我把那辆车子卖给你吧，汤姆说，我明天下午给你送过来。

That locality was always vaguely disquieting ,even in the broad glare of afternoon ,and now I turned my head as though I had been warned of something behind .Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T.J.Eckleburg kept their vigil but I perceived ,after a moment ,that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twengy feet away.

那一带地方一向隐隐约约使人感到心神不安，甚至在下午耀眼的阳光里也一样，因此我掉过头去，仿佛有人要我提防背后有什么东西。在灰堆上方，T.J.埃克尔堡大夫的巨眼在守望着，但是过了一会我觉察另外一双眼睛正在从不到二十英尺以外聚精会神地注视着我们。

In one of the windows over the garage the curtains had been moved aside a little and Myrtle Wilson was peering down at the car .So engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being observed and one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly deveoping picture .Her expression was curiously familiar --it was an expression I had often seen on women's faces but on Myrtle Wilson's face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until realized that her eyes ,wide with jealous terror ,were fixed not on Tom, but on Jordan Baker,whom she took to be his wife .

在车行楼上一扇窗户面前，窗帘向旁边拉开了一点，默特尔.威尔逊正在向下窥视着这辆车子。她那样全神贯注，因此她毫不觉察有人在注意她，一种接一种的感情在她脸上流露出来，好像物体出现在一张慢慢显影的照片上。她的表情熟悉得有点蹊跷----这是我时常在女人脸上看到的表情，可是在蕾特尔.威尔逊的脸上，这种表情似乎毫无意义而且难以理解，直到我明白她那两只充满炉火、睁得大大的眼睛并不是盯在汤姆身上，而是盯着乔丹.贝克，原来她以为乔丹是他的妻子。

There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind ,and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic ,His wife and his mistress ,until an hour ago secure and inviolate ,were slipping precipitately from his control .Instinct made him step on the accelerator with the double purpose of overtaking Daisy and leaving Wilson behind ,and we sped along toward Astoria at fifty miles an hour ,until ,among the spidery girders of the elevated ,we came in sight of the easygoing blue coupe .

一个简单的头脑陷入慌乱慌乱时是非同小可的，等到我们车子开走的时候，汤姆感到惊慌失措，心里像油煎一样。你的妻子和情妇，直到一小时前还是安安稳稳、不可侵犯的，现在却猛不防正从他的控制下溜走。本能促使他猛踩油门，以达到赶上黛西和的把威尔逊抛在脑后的双重目的，于是我们以每小时五十英里的速度向阿斯托里亚飞驰而去。直到开进高架铁路蜘蛛网似的钢架中间，我们才看见那辆逍遥自在的蓝色小轿车。

"Those big movies around Fiftieth Street are cool ,"suggested Jordan ."I love New York on summer afternoon when every one's away .There's something very sensuous about it --overripe ,as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands ."

五十号街附近那些大电影院很凉快，乔丹提议说，我爱夏天下午的纽约，人都跑光了。有一种非常肉感的滋味--熟透了，仿佛各种奇异的果实都会落到你手里。

The word "sensuous "had the effect of further disquieting Tom but before he could invent a protest the coupe came to a stop and Daisy signalled us to draw up alongside .

“肉感”这两个字使汤姆感到更加惶惶不安，但他还没来得及找话来表示反对，小轿车已经停了下来，黛西打着手势叫我们开上去并排停下。

"Where are we going ?"she cried .

我们上哪儿去？她喊道。

"How about the movies ?"

去看电影怎样？

"It's so hot ,"she complained ."You go .We'll ride around and meet you after ."With an effort her wit rose faintly ,"We'll meet you on some corner .I'll be the man smoking two cigarettes ."

太热了，她抱怨道，你们去吧。我们去兜兜风，过会儿再和你们碰头。她又勉强讲了句俏皮话。我们约好在另一个路口和你们碰头。我就是那个抽着两根香烟的男人。

"We can't argue about it here ,"Tom said impatiently as a truck gave out a cursing whistle behind us ."You follow me to the south side of Central Park ,in front of the Plaza ."

我们不能待在这里争论，汤姆不耐烦地说，这时我们后面有一辆卡车的司机在拼命按喇叭，你们跟我开到中央公园南边广场饭店前面。

Several times he turned his head and looked back for their car ,and if the traffic delayed them he slowed up until they came into sight .I think he was afraid they would dart down a side street and out of his life forever .

有好几次他掉过头去向后看，找他们的车子，如果路上的交通把他们耽误了，他就放慢速度，直到他们重新出现。我想他生怕他们会钻进一条小街，从此永远从他生活里消失。

But they didn't .And we all took the less explicable step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the Plaza Hotel .

可是他们并没有。而我们大家都采取了这个更难以理解的举动--在广场饭店租用了一间套房的客厅。

The prolonged and tumultous argument that ended by herding us into that room eludes me ,though I have a sharp physical memory that ,in the course of it ,my underwear kept climbing like a damp snake around my legs and intermittent beads of sweat raced cool across my back .The notion originated with Daisy's suggestion that we hire five bathrooms and take cold baths ,and then assumed more tangible form as "a place to have a mint julep ".Each of us said over and over that it was a "crazy idea "--we all talked at once to a baffed clerk and thought ,or pretended to think ,that we were being very funny ------

那场长时间的、吵吵嚷嚷的争论，以把我们都赶那间屋子而告终。我现在也弄不清是怎么回事了，只清清楚楚记得，在这个过程中，我的内衣像一条湿漉漉 像蛇一样顺着我的腿往上爬，同时一阵阵冷汗横流浃背。这个主意起源于黛西的建议，她要我们租五间浴室去洗冷水澡，后来又采取了喝杯凉薄荷酒的地方，这个更明确的形式。我们每一个人都翻来覆去地说这是个“馊主意”--我们大家同时开口跟一个为难的旅馆办事员讲话，自认为或者假装认为，我们这样很滑稽。

,