Day 20

They were a party of three on horseback—Tom and a man named Sloane and a pretty woman in a brown riding-habit, who had been there previously.

他们一行三人是骑马来的--汤姆和一个姓斯隆的男人，还有一个身穿棕色骑装的漂亮女人，是以前来过的。

habit (CLOTHING) [ˈhæb.ɪt] n. a special piece of long clothing worn by monks and nuns

“I’m delighted to see you,” said Gatsby, standing on his porch. “I’m delighted that you dropped in.”

"我很高兴见到你们，"盖茨比站在阳台上说，"我很高兴你们光临。"

As though they cared!

仿佛承他们的情似的！

“Sit right down. Have a cigarette or a cigar.” He walked around the room quickly, ringing bells. “I’ll have something to drink for you in just a minute.”

"请坐，请坐。抽支香烟或者抽支雪茄。"他在屋子里跑来跑去，忙着打铃喊人，"我马上就让人给你们送点什么喝的来。"

He was profoundly affected by the fact that Tom was there. But he would be uneasy anyhow until he had given them something, realizing in a vague way that that was all they came for. Mr. Sloane wanted nothing. A lemonade? No, thanks. A little champagne? Nothing at all, thanks. . . . I’m sorry——

汤姆的到来使他受到很大震动。但是他反正会感到局促不安，直到他招待了他们一点什么才行，因为他也隐约知道他们就是为了这个才来的。斯隆先生什么都不要。来杯柠檬水？不要，谢谢。来点香摈吧？什么都不要，谢谢……对不起……

“Did you have a nice ride?”

"你们骑马骑得很痛快吧？"

“Very good roads around here.”

"这一带的路很好。"

“I suppose the automobiles——”

"大概来往的汽车……"

“Yeah.”

"是嘛。"

Moved by an irresistible impulse, Gatsby turned to Tom, who had accepted the introduction as a stranger.

刚才介绍的时候汤姆只当彼此是初次见面，此刻盖茨比突然情不自禁地掉脸朝着他。

“I believe we’ve met somewhere before, Mr. Buchanan.”

"我相信我们以前在哪儿见过面，布坎农先生。"

“Oh, yes,” said Tom, gruffly polite, but obviously not remembering. “So we did. I remember very well.”

"噢，是的，"汤姆生硬而有礼貌地说，他显然并不记得，"我们是见过的，我记得很清楚。"

“About two weeks ago.”

"大概两个星期以前。"

“That’s right. You were with Nick here.”

"对啦。你是跟尼克在一起的。"

“I know your wife,” continued Gatsby, almost aggressively.

"我认识你太太。"盖茨比接下去说，几乎有一点挑衅的意味。

“That so?”

"是吗？"

Tom turned to me.

汤姆掉脸朝着我。

“You live near here, Nick?”

"你住在这附近吗，尼克？"

“Next door.”

"就在隔壁。"

“That so?”

"是吗？"

Mr. Sloane didn’t enter into the conversation, but lounged back haughtily in his chair; the woman said nothing either—until unexpectedly, after two high balls, she became cordial.

斯隆光生没有参加谈话，而是大模大样地仰靠在他的椅子上。那个女的也没说什么--直到两杯姜汁威一f：忌下肚之后，她忽然变得有说有笑了。

haughtily  ['hɔ:tili] adv. 傲慢地；骄傲地

“We’ll all come over to your next party, Mr. Gatsby,” she suggested. “What do you say?”

"我们都来参加你下次的晚会，盖茨比先生，"她提议说，"你看好不好？"

“Certainly; I’d be delighted to have you.”“Thank you for your supporting”

"当然好了。你们能来，我太高兴了。"

“nice,” said Mr. Sloane, without gratitude. “Well—think ought to be starting home.”

"那很好吧，"斯隆先生毫不承情地说，"呃--我看该回家了。"

“Please don’t hurry,” Gatsby urged them. He had control of himself now, and he wanted to see more of Tom. “Why don’t you—why don’t you stay for supper? I wouldn’t be surprised if some other people dropped in from New York.”

"请不要忙着走。"盖茨比劝他们。他现在已经能控制自己，并且他要多看看汤姆。"你们何不--你们何不就在这儿吃晚饭呢？说不定纽约还有一些别的人会来。"

“You come to supper with me,” said the lady enthusiastically. “Both of you.”

"你到我家来吃晚饭，"那位太太热烈地说，"你们俩都来。"

This included me. Mr. Sloane got to his feet. “Come along,” he said—but to her only.

这也包括了我。斯隆先生站起身来。

“I mean it,” she insisted. “I’d love to have you. Lots of room.”

"我是当真的，"她坚持说，"我真希望你们来。都坐得下。"

Gatsby looked at me questioningly. He wanted to go, and he didn’t see that Mr. Sloane had determined he shouldn’t.

盖茨比疑惑地看着我。他想去，他也看不出斯隆先生打定了主意不让他去。

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to,”I said.

"我恐怕去不了。"我说。

“Well, you come,” she urged, concentrating on Gatsby.

"那么你来。"她极力怂恿盖茨比一个人。

Mr. Sloane murmured something close to her ear.

斯隆先生凑着她耳边咕哝了一下。

“We won’t be late if we start now,”she insisted aloud.

"我们如果马上就走，一点都不会晚的。"她固执地大声说。

“I haven’t got a horse,” said Gatsby. “I used to ride in the army, but I’ve never bought a horse. I’ll have to follow you in my car. Excuse me for just a minute.”

"我没有马，"盖茨比说，"我在军队里骑过马的，但是我自己从来没买过马。我只好开车跟你们走。对不起，等一下我就来。"

The rest of us walked out on the porch, where Sloane and the lady began an impassioned conversation aside.

我们其余几个人走到外面阳台上，斯隆和那位太太站在一边。开始气冲冲地交谈。

impassioned  [ɪmˈpæʃ(ə)nd] adj.  充满热情的；慷慨激昂的

“My God, I believe the man’s coming,” said Tom. “Doesn’t he know she doesn’t want him?”

"我的天，我相信这家伙真的要来，"汤姆说，"难道他不知道她并不要他来吗？"

“She says she does want him.”

"她说她要他来的嘛。"

“She has a big dinner party and he won’t know a soul there.” He frowned. “I wonder where in the devil he met Daisy. By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish.”

"她要举行盛大的宴会，他在那儿一个人都不会认得的。"他皱皱眉头，"我真纳闷他到底在哪儿认识黛西的。天晓得，也许我的思想太古板，但是这年头女人家到处乱跑，我可看不惯。她们遇上各式各样的怪物。"

Suddenly Mr. Sloane and the lady walked down the steps and mounted their horses.

忽然间斯隆先生和那位太太走下台阶，随即上了马。

“Come on,” said Mr. Sloane to Tom, “we’re late. We’ve got to go.” And then to me: “Tell him we couldn’t wait, will you?”

"来吧，"斯隆先生对汤姆说，"我们已经晚了。我们一定得走了。"然后对我说，"请你告诉他我们不能等了，行吗？"

Tom and I shook hands, the rest of us exchanged a cool nod, and they trotted quickly down the drive, disappearing under the August foliage just as Gatsby, with hat and light overcoat in hand, came out the front door.

汤姆跟我握握手，我们其余几个人彼此冷冷地点了点头，他们就骑着马沿着车道小跑起来，很快消失在八月的树阴里，这时，盖茨比手里拿着帽子和薄大衣，正从大门里走出来。

Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy’s running around alone, for on the following Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby’s party. Perhaps his presence gave the evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness—it stands out in my memory from Gatsby’s other parties that summer. There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn’t been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment.

汤姆对于黛西单独四处乱跑显然放不下心，因为下一个星期六晚上他和她要一道来参加盖茨比的晚会。也许是由于他的在场，那次晚会有一种特殊的沉闷气氛--它鲜明地留在我记忆里，与那个夏天盖茨比的其他晚会迥然不同。还是那些同样的人，或者至少是同一类的人、同样的源源不绝的香摈、同样的五颜六色、七嘴八舌的喧闹，可是我觉得无形中有一种不愉快的感觉，弥漫着一种以前从没有过的恶感。要不然，或许是我本来已经逐渐习惯于这一套，逐渐认为西卵是一个独立完整的世界，自有它独特的标准和大人物，首屈一指因为它并不感到相形见继，而此刻我却通过黛西的眼睛重新去看这一切。要通过新的眼睛去看那些你已经花了很多气力才适应的事物，那总是令人难受的。

perturb  [pəˈtəːb] v.感到不安

profusion  [prəˈfjuːʒ(ə)n]  n.大量；丰富

They arrived at twilight, and, as we strolled out among the sparkling hundreds, Daisy’s voice was playing murmurers tricks in her throat.

他们在黄昏时刻到达，然后当我们几人漫步走到几百名珠光宝气的客人当中时，黛西的声音在她喉咙里玩着呢呢喃喃的花样。

“These things excite me so,”she whispered.

"这些东西真叫我兴奋，"她低声说，

“If you want to kiss me any time during the evening, Nick, just let me know and I’ll be glad to arrange it for you. Just mention my name. Or present a green card. I’m giving out green——”

"如果你今晚上任何时候想吻我，尼克，你让我知道好了，我一定高兴为你安排。只要提我的名字就行，或者出示一张绿色的请帖。我正在散发绿色的……"

“Look around,”suggested Gatsby.

"四面看看。"盖茨比敦促她。

“I’m looking around. I’m having a marvelous——”

"我正在四面看啊。我真开心极……"

“You must see the faces of many people you’ve heard about.”

"你一定看到许多你听见过的人物的面孔。"

Tom’s arrogant eyes roamed the crowd.

汤姆傲慢的眼睛向人群一扫。

“We don’t go around very much,” he said. “In fact, I was just thinking I don’t know a soul here.”

"我们平时不大外出，"他说，"实际上，我刚才正在想我这里一个人都不认识。"

“Perhaps you know that lady.” Gatsby indicated a gorgeous, scarcely human orchid of a woman who sat in state under a white plum tree. Tom and Daisy stared, with that peculiarly unreal feeling that accompanies the recognition of a hitherto ghostly celebrity of the movies.

"也许你认得那位小姐。"盖茨比指出一位如花似玉的美人，端庄地坐在一棵白梅树下。汤姆和黛西目不转睛地看着，认出来这是一位一向只在银幕上见到的大明星，几乎不敢相信是真的。

hitherto  [ˌhiðəˈtuː] ad&v.迄今,至今 

“She’s lovely,”said Daisy.

"她真美啊。"黛西说。

“The man bending over her is her director.”

"站在她身边弯着腰的是她的导演。"

He took them ceremoniously from group to group:

盖茨比礼貌周全地领着他们向一群又一群的客人介绍。

ceremonious  [ˈserɪməʊnɪəs] adj.  讲究礼仪的；隆重的

“Mrs. Buchanan . . . and Mr. Buchanan——” After an instant’s hesitation he added: “the polo player.”

"布坎农夫人……命坎农先生，"踌躇片刻之后，他又补充说，"马球健将。"

“Oh no,” objected Tom quickly, “not me.”

"不是的，"汤姆连忙否认，"我可不是。"

But evidently the sound of it pleased Gatsby, for Tom remained “the polo player.”for the rest of the evening.

但是盖茨比显然喜欢这个名称的含意，因为以后整个晚上汤姆就一直是"马球健将"。

“I’ve never met so many celebrities!” Daisy exclaimed. “I liked that man—what was his name?—with the sort of blue nose.”

"我从来没见过这么多名人，"黛西兴奋地说，"我喜欢那个人……他叫什么名字来着？就是鼻子有点发青的那个。"

Gatsby identified him, adding that he was a small producer.

盖茨比报了那人的姓名，并说他是一个小制片商。

“Well, I liked him anyhow.”

"哦，我反正喜欢他。"

“I’d a little rather not be the polo player,” said Tom pleasantly, “I’d rather look at all these famous people in—in oblivion.”

"我宁愿不做马球健将，"汤姆愉快地说，"我倒宁愿以……以一个默默无闻的人的身份看看这么多有名的人。"

oblivion  [əˈblɪvɪən] n.遗忘，忘却

Daisy and Gatsby danced. I remember being surprised by his graceful, conservative fox-trot—I had never seen him dance before. Then they sauntered over to my house and sat on the steps for half an hour, while at her request I remained watchfully in the garden. “In case there’s a fire or a flood,” she explained, “or any act of God.”

黛西和盖茨比跳了舞。我记得我当时看到他跳着优雅的老式狐步舞感到很诧异--我以前从未见过他跳舞。后来他俩溜到我家，在我的台阶上坐了半个小时，她让我待在园子里把风。"万一着火或是发大水。"她解释道，"或是什么天灾啦。"

Tom appeared from his oblivion as we were sitting down to supper together. “Do you mind if I eat with some people over here?” he said. “A fellow’s getting off some funny stuff.”

我们正在一起坐下来吃晚饭时，汤姆又从默默无闻中出现了。"我跟那边几个人一起吃饭，行吗？"他说，"有一个家伙正在大讲笑话。"

“Go ahead,” answered Daisy genially, “and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil.” . . . she looked around after a moment and told me the girl was “common but pretty,” and I knew that except for the half-hour she’d been alone with Gatsby she wasn’t having a good time.

"去吧，"黛西和颜悦色地回答，"如果你要留几个住址下来，这里是我的小金铅笔。"……过了一会她四面张望了一下，对我说那个女孩"俗气可是漂亮"，于是我明白除了她单独跟盖茨比待在一起的半小时之外，她玩得并不开心。

genial  [dʒiˈnaiəl] adj.亲切的

We were at a particularly tipsy table. That was my fault—Gatsby had been called to the phone, and I’d enjoyed these same people only two weeks before. But what had amused me then turned septic on the air now.

我们这一桌的人喝得特别醉。这得怪我不好--盖茨比被叫去听电话，又碰巧两星期前我还觉得这些人挺有意思，但是当时我觉得好玩的晚上变得索然无味了。

tipsy  [ˈtɪpsɪ] adj.  微醉的；易醉的

septic  [ˈseptik] adj. 腐败的,败血病的,脓毒性的 n.腐烂物

“How do you feel, Miss Baedeker?”

"你感觉怎么样，贝达克小姐？"

The girl addressed was trying, unsuccessfully, to slump against my shoulder. At this

inquiry, she sat up and opened her eyes.

我同她说话的这个姑娘正在想慢慢倒在我的肩上，可是并没成功。听到这个问题，她坐起身来，睁开了眼睛。

“What?”

"什么？"

A massive and lethargic woman, who had been urging Daisy to play golf with her at the local club tomorrow, spoke in Miss Baedeker’s defence:

一个大块头、懒洋洋的女人，本来一直在怂恿黛西明天到本地俱乐部去和她一起打高尔夫球的，现在来为贝达克小姐辩白了：

lethargic  [ləˈθɑː.dʒɪk] adj.昏睡的，懒洋洋的，委靡不振的 lacking in energy; feeling unwilling and unable to do anything

“Oh, she’s all right now. When she’s had five or six cocktails she always starts screaming like that. I tell her she ought to leave it alone.”

"噢，她现在什么事也没有了。她每次五六杯鸡尾酒下肚，总是这样大喊大叫。我跟她说她不应当喝酒。"

“I do leave it alone,”affirmed the accused hollowly.

"我是不喝酒。"受到指责的那个人随口说道。

hollow  [ˈhɔləʊ] adj. 空的,中空的; 凹陷的;（声音）空洞的, 沉重的; 虚假的,虚伪的

“We heard you yelling, so I said to Doc Civet here: ‘There’s somebody that needs your help, Doc.’”

"我们听到你嚷嚷，于是我跟这位希维特大夫说：'那里有人需要您帮忙，大夫。'"

“She’s much obliged, I’m sure,” said another friend, without gratitude. “But you got her dress all wet when you stuck her head in the pool.”

"她非常感激，我相信，"另一位朋友用并不感激的日气说，"可是你把她的头接到游泳池里去，把她的衣服全搞湿了。"

“Anything I hate is to get my head stuck in a pool,” mumbled Miss Baedeker. “They almost drowned me once over in New Jersey.”

"我最恨的就是把我的头接到游泳池里，"贝达克小姐咕哝着说，"有一回在新泽西州他们差一点没把我淹死。"

“Then you ought to leave it alone,”countered Doctor Civet.

"那你就不应当喝酒嘛。"希维特大夫堵她的嘴说。

“Speak for yourself!” cried Miss Baedeker violently. “Your hand shakes. I wouldn’t let you operate on me!”

"说你自己吧！"贝达克小姐激烈地大喊道，"你的手发抖。我才不会让你给我开刀哩！"