美丽英文:活出生命的质量
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■了不起的盖茨比
The Great Gatsby

◎Francis Scott Fitzgerald/弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I hadn’t gone twenty yards when I heard my name and Gatsby stepped from between two bushes into the path. I must have felt pretty weird by that time because I could think of nothing except the luminosity[14] of his pink suit under the moon.

“What are you doing?” I inquired.

“Just standing here, old sport.”

Somehow, that seemed a despicable occupation. For all I knew he was going to rob the house in a moment; I wouldn’t have been surprised to see sinister[15] faces, the faces of “Wolfshiem’s people”, behind him in the dark shrubbery.

“Did you see any trouble on the road?” he asked after a minute.

作品导读

弗·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德,20年代“爵士时代”的发言人和“迷惘的一代”代表作家之一,《了不起的盖茨比》的问世奠定了他在现代美国文学史上的地位。故事中,穷职员尼克偶然间闯入大富翁盖茨比隐秘的世界,惊讶地发现他内心唯一的牵绊竟是河对岸那盏小小的绿灯——灯影婆娑中,住着心爱的黛茜。然而,冰冷的现实容不下缥缈的梦,盖茨比心中的女神只不过是凡尘俗世的物质女郎。当一切真相大白,盖茨比的悲剧人生亦如烟花般,璀璨只是一瞬,幻灭才是永恒。

我们继续奋力向前,逆水行舟,被不断地向后推,直至回到往昔岁月。

我刚走还不到二十码,就听见有人叫我的名字,盖茨比从两簇灌木丛中走到路中间来。那时我感到特别不可思议,除了月光下他那粉色的衣服透出的淡淡光辉,我已记不起任何事来。

“你在这里做什么?”我问道。

“只是想待在这里,老伙计。”

不知怎么,这好像是一件不光彩的事。我感觉他马上就要去打劫这间房子;要是看到“沃尔夫山姆人”那一张张阴险面孔藏在他身后黑暗的灌木丛中,我丝毫不会惊讶。

“你们在路上遇到什么麻烦了吗?”一会儿,他发问了。

“Yes.”

He hesitated.

“Was she killed?”

“Yes.”

“I thought so; I told Daisy I thought so. It’s better that the shock should all come at once. She stood it pretty well.”

He spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered.

“I got to West Egg by a side road,” he went on, “and left the car in my garage. I don’t think anybody saw us but of course I can’t be sure.”

I disliked him so much by this time that I didn’t find it necessary to tell him he was wrong.

“Who was the woman?” he inquired.

“Her name was Wilson. Her husband owns the garage. How the devil did it happen?”

“Well, I tried to swing the wheel—” He broke off, and suddenly I guessed at the truth.

“Was Daisy driving?”

“Yes,” he said after a moment, “but of course I’ll say I was. You see, when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive—and this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a car coming the other way. It all happened in a minute but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody she knew. Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back. The second my hand reached the wheel I felt the shock—it must have killed her instantly.”

“It ripped her open—”

“Don’t tell me, old sport.” He winced.“Anyhow—Daisy stepped on it.

“是的。”

他犹豫了一会儿,还是问道:

“她撞死人了吗?”

“是的。”

“我猜到了;我告诉黛西她是撞死人了。这事要是一下子突然发生也许更好,她能挺过来。”

他说着这些,好像他唯一关心的只是黛西的反应。

“我从一条小路开回了西卵,”他继续说,“然后把车停在车库里。我想没有人看见我们,但是,当然,我也不能确定。”

这次我十分反感他,心想没必要告诉他他错了。

“那个女人是谁?”他问。

“她姓威尔逊。她丈夫开了那间修车铺。这件可怕的事是怎么发生的?”

“这样,我试着把方向盘打过来——”他顿住了,我突然就猜到了真相。

“是黛西在开车?”

“是的,”过了一会儿他才说,“但当然我会说是我开车。你知道的,当我们离开纽约的时候她非常不安,她认为开车能让她镇定下来——然后,当我们正避开一辆从另一条路开过来的车时,那个女人就突然向我们冲过来。一切就发生在短短的一分钟内,但我感觉她似乎想跟我们说什么,她好像以为我们是她认识的人。一开始,黛西从那个女人那边转向那辆车,然后她张皇失措地又转了回去。那一瞬间我握住了方向盘,但我已经感觉到了撞击——这一下肯定要了她的命。”

“她被撞得七零八碎的——”

“不要再跟我说了,老伙计。”他皱了皱眉。“总之——黛西踩着油门。

I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t so I pulled on the emergency brake. Then she fell over into my lap and I drove on.”

“She’ll be all right tomorrow,” he said presently.“I’m just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. She’s locked herself into her room and if he tries any brutality she’s going to turn the light out and on again.”

“He won’t touch her,” I said.“He’s not thinking about her.”

“I don’t trust him, old sport.”

“How long are you going to wait?”

“All night if necessary. Anyhow till they all go to bed.”

A new point of view occurred to me. Suppose Tom found out that Daisy had been driving. He might think he saw a connection in it—he might think anything. I looked at the house: there were two or three bright windows downstairs and the pink glow from Daisy’s room on the second floor.

“You wait here,” I said.“I’ll see if there’s any sign of a commotion[16].”

I walked back along the border of the lawn, traversed the gravel softly and tiptoed up the veranda steps. The drawing-room curtains were open, and I saw that the room was empty. Crossing the porch where we had dined that June night three months before I came to a small rectangle of light which I guessed was the pantry window. The blind was drawn but I found a rift at the sill.

Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement.

我设法想让她停下,但她停不下来,所以我踩了紧急刹车。然后她好像被抽空力气一般,倒在我的腿上,我就继续开车了。”

“她明天就会好起来的,”过了一会儿,他又说道,“我在这儿等着,想看看他会不会为了今天下午的不愉快找她麻烦。她把自己锁进了房间,要是他敢施暴,黛西就会关灯再开灯。”

“他不会动她的,”我说,“他现在还不会想到她。”

“我不信任他,老伙计。”

“你打算等多久?”

“必要的话,一个晚上吧。总之,要等到他们都上床睡了。”

我突然产生了一个新的猜想。如果汤姆发现是黛西在开车,他或许会想到这其中的关联——也许会猜到所有的事。我看了看这房子:楼下有两三户窗户亮着,而二楼黛西的房间透出粉色的灯光。

“你在这儿等着,”我告诉他,“我上去看看有没有要争吵的迹象。”

我沿着草坪的一边走回去,轻轻地穿过碎石小路,再踮着脚尖走上走廊的台阶。客厅的窗帘是拉开的,里面空无一人。穿过门廊——三个月前的6月,我们还在这儿吃过饭。我来到一小片长方形的灯光前,我猜这是食品室的窗户。百叶窗拉了下来,但我在窗台上发现了一条裂缝。

黛西和汤姆正面对面坐在餐桌前,他们中间摆着一盘冷掉的炸鸡和两瓶麦芽酒。他隔着桌子,专心致志地与她说着什么,很认真地说着,手垂下来覆在她的手上。她不时地看看他,点头表示同意。

They weren’t happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale—and yet they weren’t unhappy either. There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have said that they were conspiring together.

As I tiptoed from the porch I heard my taxi feeling its way along the dark road toward the house. Gatsby was waiting where I had left him in the drive.

“Is it all quiet up there?” he asked anxiously.

“Yes, it’s all quiet.” I hesitated.“You’d better come home and get some sleep.”

He shook his head.

“I want to wait here till Daisy goes to bed. Good night, old sport.”

He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight—watching over nothing.

他们不是很高兴,谁都没有碰那盘鸡或酒——但他们也不是很不高兴。这画面明显有着自然而然的亲密氛围,任何人都会说他们正在一起密谋着什么。

当我踮着脚从门廊走回来时,我听见我叫的出租车正沿着黑漆漆的路驶向这所房子。盖茨比还在我让他待着的车道上等着。

“那儿还平静吗?”他紧张兮兮地问道。

“是的,很平静。”我有些犹豫。“你最好还是回家休息会儿。”

他摇头。

“我想在这儿等着,直到黛西睡去。晚安,老伙计。”

他把手放进大衣的口袋里,急切地转回去盯着那房子,好像我的存在玷污了他神圣的守夜。我只好离开,留他一个人站在月光里——空守着。