The reluctance to go home was not confined to wayward men. The hall was at present occupied by two deplorably sober men and their highly indignant wives. The wives were sympathizing with each other in slightly raised voices.
舍不得回家的并不限于任性的男客。穿堂里此刻有两个毫无醉意的男客和他们怒气冲天的太太。两位太太略微提高了嗓子在互相表示同情。
wayward [ˈweɪwəd] adj. 捉摸不定的；难以驾驭的
deplorably [-rəblI] 可叹地,可悲地; 不幸地
sober[ˈsəubə]adj.冷静的v.镇定
indignant [inˈdiɡnənt]adj.愤怒的,愤慨的
"Whenever he sees I'm having a good time he wants to go home."
“每次他一看见我玩得开心他就要回家。”
"Never heard anything so selfish in my life."
“我这辈子从来没见过有谁像他这么自私。”
"We're always the first ones to leave."
“我们总是第一个走。”
"So are we."
“我们也是一样。”
"Well, we're almost the last tonight," said one of the men sheepishly. "The orchestra left half an hour ago."
“不过，今晚我们几乎是最后的了，”两个男的中的一个怯生生地说，“乐队半个钟头以前就走了。”
sheepishly adv. 羞怯地；愚蠢地
In spite of the wives' agreement that such malevolence was beyond credibility, the dispute ended in a short struggle, and both wives were lifted kicking into the night.
尽管两位太太一致认为这种恶毒心肠简直叫人难以置信，这场纠纷终于在一阵短短的揪斗中结束，两位太太都被抱了起来，两腿乱踢，消失在黑夜里。
malevolence [mə`lZvələns] 恶意,敌意,怨恨,恶毒,狠毒,坏心肠
As I waited for my hat in the hall the door of the library opened and Jordan Baker and Gatsby came out together. He was saying some last word to her but the eagerness in his manner tightened abruptly into formality as several people approached him to say goodbye.
我在穿堂里等我帽子的时候，图书室的门开了，乔丹·贝克和盖茨比一同走了出来。他还在跟她说最后一句话，可是这时有几个人走过来和他告别，他原先热切的态度陡然收敛，变成了拘谨。
Jordan's party were calling impatiently to her from the porch but she lingered for a moment to shake hands.
乔丹那一伙人从阳台上不耐烦地喊她，可是她还逗留了片刻和我握手。
"I've just heard the most amazing thing," she whispered. "How long were we in there?"
“我刚才听到一件最惊人的事情，”她出神地小声说，“我们在那里边待了多久？”
"Why,--about an hour."
“哦，个把钟头。”
"It was--simply amazing," she repeated abstractedly. "But I swore I wouldn't tell it and here I am tantalizing you." She yawned gracefully in my face. "Please come and see me.... Phone book...Under the name of Mrs. Sigourney Howard.... My aunt...." She was hurrying off as she talked--her brown hand waved a jaunty salute as she melted into her party at the door.
“这事……太惊人了，”她出神地重复说，“可是我发过誓不告诉别人，而我现在已经在逗你了。”她对着我的脸轻轻打了个阿欠，“有空请过来看我……电话簿……西古奈·霍华德太太名下……我的姑妈……”她一边说一边匆匆离去——她活泼地挥了一下那只晒得黑黑的手表示告别，然后就消失在门口她的那一伙人当中了。
Rather ashamed that on my first appearance I had stayed so late, I joined the last of Gatsby's guests who were clustered around him. I wanted to explain that I'd hunted for him early in the evening and to apologize for not having known him in the garden.
我觉得怪难为情的，第一次来就待得这么晚，于是走到包围着盖茨比的最后几位客人那边去。我想要解释一下我一来就到处找过他，同时为刚才在花园里与他面对面却不知道他是何许人向他道歉。
cluster [ˈklʌstə] n. 串,丛 v. 丛生,成群
"Don't mention it," he enjoined me eagerly. "Don't give it another thought, old sport." The familiar expression held no more familiarity than the hand which reassuringly brushed my shoulder. "And don't forget we're going up in the hydroplane tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."
“没有关系，”他恳切地嘱咐我。“别放在心上，老兄。”这个亲热的称呼还比不上非常友好地拍拍我肩膀的那只手所表示的亲热。“别忘了明天早上九点我们要乘水上飞机上人哩。”
Then the butler, behind his shoulder:
接着男管家来了，站在他背后。
"Philadelphia wants you on the phone, sir."
“先生，有一个找您的来自费城的长途电话。”
"All right, in a minute. Tell them I'll be right there.... good night."
“好，就来。告诉他们我就来。晚安。”
"Good night."
“晚安。”
"Good night." He smiled--and suddenly there seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been among the last to go, as if he had desired it all the time. "Good night, old sport.... Good night."
“晚安。”他微微一笑。突然之间，我待到最后才走，这其中好像含有愉快的深意，仿佛他是一直希望如此的。“晚安，老兄……晚安。”
But as I walked down the steps I saw that the evening was not quite over.
可是，当我走下台阶时，我看到晚会还没有完全结束。
Fifty feet from the door a dozen headlights illuminated a bizarre and tumultuous scene. In the ditch beside the road, right side up but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupé which had left Gatsby's drive not two minutes before. The sharp jut of a wall accounted for the detachment of the wheel which was now getting considerable attention from half a dozen curious chauffeurs. However, as they had left their cars blocking the road a harsh discordant din from those in the rear had been audible for some time and added to the already violent confusion of the scene.
离大门五十英尺，十几辆汽车的前灯照亮了一个不寻常的、闹哄哄的场面。在路旁的小沟里，右边向上，躺着一辆新的小轿车，可是一只轮子撞掉了。这辆车离开盖茨比的车道还不到两分钟，一堵墙的突出部分是造成车轮脱落的原因。现在有五六个好奇的司机在围观，可是，由于他们让自己的车于挡住了路，后面车子上的司机已经按了好久喇叭，一片刺耳的噪音更增添了整个场面本来就很严重的混乱。
A man in a long duster had dismounted from the wreck and now stood in the middle of the road, looking from the car to the tire and from the tire to the observers in a pleasant, puzzled way.
一个穿着长风衣的男人已经从撞坏的车子里出来，此刻站在大路中间，从车子看到轮胎，又从轮胎看到旁观的人，脸上带着愉快而迷惑不解的表情。
"See!" he explained. "It went in the ditch."
“请看！”他解释道，“车子开到沟里去了。”
The fact was infinitely astonishing to him--and I recognized first the unusual quality of wonder and then the man--it was the late patron of Gatsby's library.
这个事实使他感到不胜惊奇。我先听出了那不平常的惊奇的口吻，然后认出了这个人——就是早先光顾盖茨比图书室的那一位。
"How'd it happen?"
“怎么搞的？”
He shrugged his shoulders.
他耸了耸肩膀。
"I know nothing whatever about mechanics," he said decisively.
“我对机械一窍不通。”他肯定地说。
"But how did it happen? Did you run into the wall?"
“到底怎么搞的？你撞到墙上去了吗？”
"Don't ask me," said Owl Eyes, washing his hands of the whole matter.
"I know very little about driving--next to nothing. It happened, and that's all I know."
“别问我，”“猫头鹰眼”说，把事情推脱得一干二净，“我不大懂开车—— 几乎一无所知。事情发生了，我就知道这一点。”
"Well, if you're a poor driver you oughtn't to try driving at night."
“既然你车子开得不好，那么你晚上就不应当试着开车嘛。”
"But I wasn't even trying," he explained indignantly, "I wasn't even trying."
“可是我连试也没试，”他气愤愤地解释，“我连试也没试啊。”
An awed hush fell upon the bystanders.
旁观的人听了都惊愕得说不出话来。
"Do you want to commit suicide?"
“你想自杀吗？”
"You're lucky it was just a wheel! A bad driver and not even trying!"
“幸亏只是一只轮子！开车开得不好，还连试都不试！”
"You don't understand," explained the criminal. "I wasn't driving. There's another man in the car."
“你们不明白，”罪人解释说，“我没有开车。车子里还有一个人。”
The shock that followed this declaration found voice in a sustained "Ah-h-h!" as the door of the coupé swung slowly open. The crowd--it was now a crowd--stepped back involuntarily and when the door had opened wide there was a ghostly pause. Then, very gradually, part by part, a pale dangling individual stepped out of the wreck, pawing tentatively at the ground with a large uncertain dancing shoe.
这句声明所引起的震惊表现为一连声的“噢……啊……啊！”同时那辆小轿车的门也慢慢开了。人群——此刻已经是一大群了——不由得向后一退，等到车门敞开以后，又有片刻阴森可怕的停顿。然后，逐渐逐渐地，一部分一部分地，一个脸色煞白、摇来晃去的人从搞坏了的汽车里跨了出来，光伸出一只大舞鞋在地面上试探了几下。
Blinded by the glare of the headlights and confused by the incessant groaning of the horns the apparition stood swaying for a moment before he perceived the man in the duster.
这位幽灵被汽车前灯的亮光照得睁不开眼，又被一片汽车喇叭声吵得糊里糊涂，站在那里摇晃了一会儿才认出那个穿风衣的人。
"Wha's matter?" he inquired calmly. "Did we run outa gas?"
“怎么啦？”他镇静地问道，“咱们没汽油了吗？”
"Look!"
“你瞧！”
Half a dozen fingers pointed at the amputated wheel--he stared at it for a moment and then looked upward as though he suspected that it had dropped from the sky.
五六个人用手指指向那脱落下来的车轮——他朝它瞪了一眼，然后抬头向上看，仿佛他怀疑轮子是从天上掉下来的。
"It came off," some one explained.
“轮子掉下来了。”有一个人解释说。
He nodded.
他点点头。
"At first I din' notice we'd stopped."
“起先我还没发现咱们停下来了。”
A pause. Then, taking a long breath and straightening his shoulders he remarked in a determined voice:
过了一会儿，他深深吸了一口气，又挺起胸膛，用坚决的声音说：
"Wonder'ff tell me where there's a gas'line station?"
“不知可不可以告诉我哪儿有加油站？”
At least a dozen men, some of them little better off than he was, explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond.
至少有五六个人，其中有的比他稍微清醒一点，解释给他听，轮子和车子之间已经没有任何实质性的联系了。
"Back out," he suggested after a moment. "Put her in reverse."
“倒车，”过了一会儿他又出点子，“用倒车档。”
"But the WHEEL'S off!"
“叮是轮子掉啦！”
He hesitated.
他迟疑了一会儿。
"No harm in trying," he said.
“试试也无妨嘛。”他说。
The caterwauling horns had reached a crescendo and I turned away and cut across the lawn toward home. I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.
汽车喇叭的尖声怪叫达到了高潮，于是我掉转身，穿过草地回家。我回头望了一眼。一轮明月正照在盖茨比别墅的上面，使夜色跟光前一样美好。明月依旧，而欢声笑语已经从仍然光辉灿烂的花园里消失了。一股突然的空虚此刻好像从那些窗户和巨大的门里流出来，使主人的形象处于完全的孤立之中，他这时站在阳台上，举起一只手做出正式的告别姿势。
Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs.
重读一遍以上所写的，我觉得我已经给人一种印象，好像相隔好几个星期的三个晚上所发生的事情就是我所关注的一切。恰恰相反，它们只不过是一个繁忙的夏天当中的一些小事，而且直到很久以后，我对它们还远远不如对待我自己的私事那样关心。
Most of the time I worked. In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms of lower New York to the Probity Trust. I knew the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names, and lunched with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee. I even had a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, but her brother began throwing mean looks in my direction, so when she went on her vacation in July I let it blow quietly away.
大部分时间我都在工作。每天清早太阳把我的影子投向西边时，我沿着纽约南部摩天大楼之间的白色裂口匆匆走向正诚信托公司。我跟其他的办事员和年轻的债券推销员混得很熟，和他们一起在阴暗拥挤的饭馆里吃午饭，吃点小猪肉香肠加土豆泥，喝杯咖啡。我甚至和一个姑娘发生过短期的关系，她住在泽西城①，在会计处工作。可是她哥哥开始给我眼色看，因此她七月里出去度假的时候，我就让这事悄悄地吹了。
I took dinner usually at the Yale Club—for some reason it was the gloomiest event of my day—and then I went up-stairs to the library and studied investments and securities for a conscientious hour. There were generally a few rioters around, but they never came into the library, so it was a good place to work. After that, if the night was mellow, I strolled down Madison Avenue past the old Murray Hill Hotel, and over 33rd Street to the Pennsylvania Station.
我一般在耶鲁俱乐部吃晚饭--不知为了什么缘故这是我一天中最凄凉的事情--饭后我上楼到图书室去花一个钟头认真学习各种投资和证券的知识。同学会里往往有几个爱玩爱闹的人光临，但他们从来不进图书室，所以那里倒是个做工作的好地方。在那以后，如果天气宜人，我就沿着麦迪逊路溜达，经过那座古老的默里山饭店，再穿过三十三号街走到宾夕法尼亚车站。
I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded through a door into warm darkness. At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.
我开始喜欢纽约了，喜欢夜晚那种奔放冒险的情凋，喜欢那川流不息的男男女女和往来车辆给应接不暇的眼睛带来的满足。我喜欢在五号路上溜达，从人群中挑出风流的女人，幻想几分钟之内我就要进入她们的生活，而永远也不会有人知道或者非难这件事。有时，在我脑海里，我跟着她们走到神秘的街道拐角上她们所住的公寓，到了门口她们回眸一笑，然后走进一扇门消失在温暖的黑暗之中。在大都市迷人的黄昏时刻，我有时感到一种难以排遣的寂寞，同时也觉得别人有同感--那些在橱窗面前踯躅的穷困的青年小职员，等到了时候独个儿上小饭馆去吃一顿晚饭--黄昏中的青年小职员，虚度着夜晚和生活中最令人陶醉的时光。
racy [ˈreɪsɪ] adj. 活泼的, 有趣的; 略带淫秽的
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