Chapter6-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《了不起的盖茨比The Great Gatsby》

CHAPTER6 About this time an ambitious^{①} young reporter from New York arrived one morning at Gatsby's door and asked him if he had anything to say. “Anything to say about what?" inquired Gatsby politely. “Why -any statement to give out." It transpired{②} after a confused five minutes that the man had heard Gatsby's name around his office in a connection which he either wouldn't revea or didn't fully understand. This was his day off and with laudable{③} initiative he had hurried out "to see." It was a random④} shot, and yet the reporter's instinct was right. Gatsby's notoriety{}, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities upon his past. had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news. Contemporary{} legends such as the"underground pipe- line to Canada" attached themselves to him, and there was one persistent{} story that he didn't live in a house at all. but in a boat that looked like a house and was moved secretly up and down the Long Island shore. Just why these inventions were a source of satisfaction to James Gatz of North Dakota isn't easy to say. James Gatz - that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed .18o: 第六章 ① ambitious Iaem'bifasl a. 有 大概就是在那一段时间里,一天上午,一位怀着雄 雄心的 心壮志的年轻记者从纽约来到盖茨比府上,请他谈点自 己的看法。 “谈点关于什么的看法呢?”盖茨比间,态度彬彬 有礼。 ② transpire Itraen'spaia] v: 被 发现 “啊--随便谈什么都可以。” 云里雾里地持续了五分钟之后,事情才弄明白,此 ③ laudable f'lo:dobl]a. 值得 赞美的 人是在办公室听到人家提及盖茨比的名字的,不过到底为 什么提到盖茨比,他却不打算透露,或者根本就没有搞清 ④ random ['raendomla. 任意 楚。当天他休息,便精神可嘉地主动跑过来“看一看” 的 notoriety Inouta'raiati]n 虽说是误打误撞,但这位记者的直觉是对的。整个 恶名 夏天,盖茨比声名鹊起,差一点就成为新闻人物了。成 contemporary fkan'tem- 百上千的人受到了他的热情款待,成为了盖茨比过去经 prari]a.当代的 历的见证者并对此广为宣传。一时间,有许多关于他的 persistent Ipe'sistant] a. 持 续存在的 传闻,比如说“通向加拿大的地下管道”都与他有了关 联。还有个久传不衰的说法,说他根本不住在房子里, 而是在一艘船上,那艘船看起来像一嶂房屋,悄然来往 于长岛与大陆之间。至于这些子虚乌有的传闻为何能够 满足北达科他州的詹姆斯·盖兹的心理,那就很难说 得清楚啦。 詹姆斯·盖兹--这才是他真正的至少是法律上的 名字。十七岁那年,也是见证他职业生涯开始的特定时 1 北达科他州(NorthDakota)是美国中西部的一个州,属于大草原 最北的一州,在美国五十个州里列第十七位。首府是俾斯麦。 .181· CHAPTER 6 the beginning of his career - when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor{} over the most insidious{②} flat③} on Lake Superior. It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey{④} and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a rowboat, pulled out the Tuolomee, and informed Cody that a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour. I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless{} and unsuccessful farm people -his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg. Long Island, sprang from his Platonic^{} conception of himself. He was a son of God - a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that - and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious{} beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end For over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and bed. His brown, hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy work of the bracing{* days. He knew women early, and since they spoiled him he became contemptuous of them, of young virgins because they were ignorant, of the others because they were hysterical{} about things which in his overwhelming* self-absorbtion he took for granted. But his heart was in a constant^{}, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits^{②}haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable^{} gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each ·182. 第六章 ① anchor laenkal n. 错 期,他改名换姓了一一当时,他看见丹·科迪的游艇在 ② insidious Jin'sidias]a. 潜 苏必利尔湖最险恶的沙洲上抛错了。当天下午,他身 在的 穿一件破旧的绿色紧身套衫和一条帆布裤子沿着沙滩徘 ③flat [faet]n. 浅滩 ④ jersey ['d3a:zi]n. 针织运 徊,这时他是詹姆斯·盖兹。但是,他借了一条小船, 动衫 奋力划到了“图洛美”号游艇处,通知科迪,半小时后 会有一场风暴,到时可能掀翻他的游艇,这时他已经是 杰伊·盖茨比了。 我估计,他当时早就已经把名字想好了。他的父 shiftless I'fiftlas]a. 没出 息的 母是胸无大志、碌碌无为的庄稼人一一在他的想象中, 他从来就没有真正认可过他们是自已的父母。实际情况 Platonic [ple'tonik]a. 柏 是,长岛西卵的杰伊·盖茨比诞生于他自己柏拉图式的 拉图式的 想象之中。他是上帝的儿子一这个说法如果有什么意 义的话,其意义就是如此一一他必须遵从圣父的旨意, meretricious I.mera'trifos 效力于一种宽阔广大、俗不可耐、华而不实的美。因 么 华而不实的 此,他便想出了这么一个盖茨比,这也正是一个十七岁 的少年想象得出的人物,而在他的内心深处,他对这个 人物始终坚信不疑 一年多时间里,他闯荡在苏必利尔湖的南岸,或捞 给蚓,或捕鲜鱼,反正什么能够使他维持生计,他就干 ⑧bracing ['breisin]a. 令人 什么。他皮肤黜黑,身体结实,自然而然地应付着半是 振奋的 紧张半是悠闲的工作,舒心惬意地打发着日子 他很早就熟悉女人,但由于她们宠爱着他,他反而 鄙视她们。他鄙视年轻姑娘,因为她们愚昧无知。他鄙 hysterical [hi'sterikoll a 视别的女人,因为她们遇到一些情况就会歇斯底里,而 歌斯底里的 o overwhelming L.auva- 对干那些情况,他却自我陶醉,不能自拔,认为那是理 welminla.极为强烈的 所当然的。 constant ['konstant] a. 不 断的 然而,他的内心始终处在一种烦躁不安的状态。 conceit kan'si:t]n. 幻想 夜晚躺在床上时,形形色色怪诞诡异的念头总会索绕在 ineffable fin'efabll a. 难以 用语言表达的 他的心中,挥之不去。脸盆架上闹钟滴答滴答地响着, 他的衣服乱成一团堆放在地板上,潮湿的月色倾泻在上 面。这时候,他的脑海里就会呈现出一个无法形容的艳 丽浮华的世界。每个夜晚,他都会给这幅想象中的图画 1. 苏必利尔湖(LakeSuperior)是世界上最大的淡水湖,归美 国和加拿大共有,环绕四周的是加拿大的安大略省,美国的明尼 苏达州、威斯康星州和密歌根州。湖面东西长六百六十六公里, 南北最宽处二百五十七公里,湖面平均海拔一百八十米,水面积 八万二千四百一十四平方公里,最深处四百零五米。蓄水量一万二千 立方千来,占五大湖蓄水量一半以上。 ·183· CHfAPTER6 night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness^{}closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious{② embrace. For a while these reveries③ provided an outlet for his imagination: they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing An instinct towards his future glory had led him, some months before. tc the small Lutheran College of St. Olaf in southern Minnesota. He stayed there two weeks, dismayed^{} at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising the janitor's work with which he was to pay his way through. Then he drifted back to Lake Superior, and he was still searching for something to do on the day that Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor in the shallows alongshore. Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for metal since seventy-five. The transactions{} in Montana copper{ that made him many times a millionaire found him physically robust{but on the verge of soft-mindedness, and, suspecting this, an infinite number of women tried to separate him from his money. The none too savory{} ramifications{}by which Ella Kaye, the newspaper woman, played Madame de Maintenon to his weakness and sent him to sea in a yacht, were common property to the turgid{} journalism of 19o2. He had been coasting along all too hospitable shores for five years when he turned up as James Gatz's destiny at Little Girls Point .184· 第六章 ① drowsiness ['drauzinas]n 绘上几笔,到最后,睡意悄然袭来,这才合上这幅栩栩 睡意 ② oblivious [a'blivias]a. 未 如生的画卷。曾几何时,这些奇思妙想为他提供了一种 觉察的 发挥想象力的途径。它们是一种令人信服的暗示,即现 ③ reverie f'revori]n. 想入非 非 实是不真实的,也是一种预示,即世界的基石牢固地建 立在仙女的翅膀上。 数月前,他怀着追求美好未来的愿望,前往坐落 在明尼苏达州南部由路德教会办的规模很小的圣奥拉 夫学院。他在那儿只待了两个星期,便感到黯然沮丧, ④ dismay [dis'mei]v. 使 ....气 因为学院冷酷无情,对他击响的命运鼓点,对于命运本 身,漠然置之。同时,他对干勤杂事务也不屑一顾,因 为自己得通过做勤杂事务来谋生求学。后来,他四处飘 荡,又回到了苏必利尔湖畔。那天,丹·科迪的游艇在 湖畔沙滩抛描时,他还在寻觅活计。 科迪当时五十岁。他能够获得成功,得益于内华达 transaction [traen'zaekfn]n 州}的一座座银矿,得益于育空河流域,得益于1875年 业务 copper kopoln. 铜 以来的每一次淘金热。他在蒙大拿州经营铜业时挣了 robust [rou'bAst]a. 精力 好几百万,结果身体虽然健硕,但头脑几乎糊涂了。无 充沛的 数女人觉察到这种情形后,便开始不遗余力地想要他交 ⑧ savory seivarila. 不体面 的 出自己的钱财。 ramification Lraemifi'keifn] 有位名叫埃拉·凯的女记者抓住了他的这个弱点, n.影响 turgid to:d3id]a. 夸张的 扮演了曼特农夫人的角色,贵惑他驾着游艇出海。而 她演绎的那些不光彩的事情正是1902年那些夸大其词的 明尼苏达州(Minnesota)北接加拿大的曼尼托巴省和安大略省 东临苏必利尔湖,隔密西西比河与威斯康星州相望,南接爱奥华州. 西邻南、北达科他州。在美国五十个州内列第十二位。首府是圣保 罗 2 内华达州(Nevada)是美国西部的一个州,北接俄勒冈州和爱达 荷州,东接犹他州,东南邻亚利桑那州,西南与加利福尼亚州接壤。 在美国五十个州内列第七位。首府是卡森城。 3 育空河(theYukon)是一条流经加拿大育空地区和美国阿拉斯加 州的河流。 4 淘金热(goldrush)是美国西进运动的产物,也是其中极为重要 的一个环节,对美国18一19世纪的经济开发,农业扩张,交通革命和 工商业发展都起到了极为重要的作用。 5 曼特农夫人(Madame deMaintenon,1635-1719)是法国国王路 易十四的第二个妻子,美貌绝伦,原为宫廷女官,1683年,王后死后 为路易十四所要,曾创办圣路易王室教养院,教育贵族出身的贫苦少 女。 ·185· CHAPTER 6 To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed{} deck, the yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world. I suppose he smiled at Cody -- he had probably discovered that people liked him when he smiled At any rate Cody asked him a few questions (one of them elicited{②}the brand new name) and found that he was quick and extravagantly③}ambitious. A few days later he took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat. six pairs of white duck trousers, and a yachting cap. And when the Tuolomee left for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast Gatsby left too. He was employed in a vague personal capacity - while he remained with Cody he was in turn steward^{}, mate, skipper^{}, secretary, and even jailor^{}, for Dan Cody sober knew what lavish{}doings Dan Cody drunk might soon be about, and he provided for such contingencies by reposing more and more trust in Gatsby. The arrangement lasted five years, during which the boat went three times around the Continent. It might have lasted indefinitely except for the fact that Ella Kaye came on board one night in Boston and a week later Dan Cody inhospitably{③}died. I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby's bedroom, a gray, florid man with a hard, empty face - the pioneer debauchee{}, who during one phase of American life brought back to the Eastern seaboard the savage{} violence of the frontier brothel^{} and saloon. It was indirectly due to Cody that Gatsby drank so little. Sometimes in the course of gay parties women used to rub champagne into his hair: for himself he formed the habit of letting liauor alone .186. 第六章 ① railed [reildla. 有横栏的 小报所津津乐道的内容。他沿着过分热情好客的海岸航 行了五年之后,驶入了“少女湾”,这时候便出现了詹 姆斯·盖兹命运的转折点。 青春年少的盖兹双手握住桨板,抬头仰望着用围栏 ②elicit [i'lisit]v 引出 围着的甲板。对他而言,眼前的游艇代表了世界上全部 ③ extravagantly [ik'straeva- 的美和荣耀。我估计,他冲着科迪微笑一一他有可能发 gantli]ad. 极端地 觉,自已微笑时,人们便会喜欢他。不管怎么说,反正 科迪向他提了几个问题(其中有一个问题引出了他的新 名字),并且发现,他聪明敏捷,充满了雄心壮志。几 天过后,他把他带到了德卢斯,替他买了一件蓝色外 ④ steward I'stju:od]n. 管家 套,六条白色帆布裤,还有一顶游艇帽。“图洛美”号 skipper ['skipa]n. 船长 游艇起错前行,驶向西印度群岛{}和巴巴里海岸区。这 jailor I'dseilaln. 看守 lavish ['laevifla. 非常浪 时候,盖茨比也一同离开了。 费的 他受雇在科迪的游艇上干活儿,但职位不是很明 确一-跟随科迪期间,他先后担任过侍者、大副、船 长、秘书,甚至看守,因为丹·科迪知道,自已酒醉后 会如何一掷千金,花钱如流水。所以,他越来越信赖盖 ③ inhospitably fin'hospitobli] ad.冷淡地 茨比,把很多事情托付给他,以免发生类似的情况。这 样持续了五年之久,期间,游艇绕着大陆游历了三圈。 debauchee I debo:'tfi:]: 一天夜里,埃拉·凯在波士顿上了船,结果一个星期之 浪荡子 savage ['saevid3]a. 野蛮 后,丹·科迪毫无症兆地死去了。如果不是这样,情况 的 brothel ['broalln. 妓院 本来是可以长期持续下去的 我记得,科迪那张挂在盖茨比卧室的照片,头发灰 白,脸色红润,表情显得坚毅而又空虚-正是这样一 位纵情声色的开拓者,在美国生活的某一段时期,把边 妓院酒馆里的那些粗野狂暴的生活方式带回到了东部 沿海。盖茨比极少沾酒,这间接得益于科迪。有时候, 在欢闹婷戏的聚会上,女人们会把香嫔酒揉进他的头 发,而他本人却养成了滴酒不沾的习惯 德卢斯(Duluth)是明尼苏达州东北部港口城市,地处苏必利尔 湖畔。 2 西印度群岛(West Indies)是北美洲的岛群,位于大西洋及其属 海墨西哥湾、加勒比海之间,北隔佛罗里达海峡,与美国佛罗里达半 岛相望,东南邻近委内瑞拉北岸,从西端的古巴岛到委内瑞拉北海岸 的阿鲁巴岛,呈自西向东突出的孤形,伸延四千七百多公里。 3 巴巴里海岸区(BarbaryCoast)是美国旧金山市1906年大地震前 的滨水地区,以赌场妓院林立而臭名昭著。 ·187· CHAPTER 6 And it was from Cody that he inherited money -a legacy{} of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn't get it. He never understood the legal device that was used against him, but what remained of the millions went intact②} to Ella Kaye He was left with his singularly③ appropriate education: the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man. He told me all this very much later, but I've put it down here with the idea of exploding those first wild rumors about his antecedents④}, which weren't even faintly true. Moreover he told it to me at a time of confusion, when I had reached the point of believing everything and nothing about him. So I take advantage of this short halt. while Gatsby, so to speak, caught his breath, tc clear this set of misconceptions^{} away. It was a halt, too, in my association with his affairs. For several weeks I didn't see him or hear his yoice on the phone - mostly I was in New York trotting{} around with Jordan and trying to ingratiate^{}myself with her senile③ aunt -- but finally I went over to his house one Sunday afternoon. I hadn't been there two minutes when somebody brought Tom Buchanan in for a drink. I was startled, naturally, but the really surprising thing was that it hadn't happened before. 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. "I'm delighted to see you," said Gatsby, standing on his porch."I'm delighted that you dropped in." As though they cared! "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." 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- "Did you have a nice ride?" "Very good roads around here." "I suppose the automobiles-" .188. 第六章 ①legacy [leqosi]n. 遗赠 他从科迪那儿继承到了钱财--是一笔二万五千美 元的遗产。但实际上他一分钱也没有得到,也始终没有 ② intact Fin'taektla. 完整的 弄明白,人家到底用了什么法律手段来对付他,不过, 剩下的百万财产却原封不动地归了埃拉·凯所有。留给 ③ singularly ['singjalali] ad 奇特地 他的只是那些奇特而又恰当的教育。轮廊模糊的杰伊; 盖茨比成长起来了,出落成了一个丰满充实的人。 他过了很长时间才告诉了我这些事情。不过,我之 ④ antecedent L aenti'si:dont n.祖先 所以在此叙述,旨在驳斥最初那些有关他祖先的荒诞谣 言,那些东西没有丝毫是真实的。还有,他告诉我这些 情况的时候,正值我迷茫困惑,对关于他的种种传闻将 信将疑。所以,我充分利用这个短暂的停顿,趁盖茨比 miseonception Imiskan- 喘口气的当儿澄清那些误解。 sepfn]n.误解 这也是一个我同他交往过程中的停顿期。几个星期 以来,我没有见到他,也没有接到他的电话-我大部 trot [trot] 快步走 分时间都待在纽约城里,陪着乔丹四处行走,想方设法 ingratiate [in'greifieit] v 讨好她年迈的姑妈一一但是,在一个星期天的下午,我 讨好 ③senile 'si:nailla. 年迈的 最后还是去了他的宅郎。我在那儿还没有待上两分钟, 便有人领着汤姆·布坎南喝酒来了。我自然感到很震 惊,不过,真正令我感到震惊的是,汤姆先前竟然没有 登门过。 他们一行三人是骑马过来的一汤姆,一位姓斯降 ③habit [habit]n. 服装 的男士,还有一位身穿棕褐色骑装的漂亮女士。女士先 前倒是来过的 “见到你们很高兴啊,”盖茨比说,站立在前廊, “你们光临,我很高兴。” 好像他们在乎似的 “请坐,来支香烟或者雪茄吧。”他急忙在室内走 来走去,按响了铨,“我这就吟咐人准备好喝的。 汤姆的出现对他产生了巨大的影响。不过,不管怎 么说,在给他们准备好喝的东西之前,他总会感到心绪 不宁,因为隐约地意识到,他们过来就是喝酒的。斯隆 先生什么也不要。来杯檬汗怎么样?不用,谢谢。那 就来点香嫔?什么都不用准备,谢谢......很抱歉- “你们一路骑马过来很舒服吧?” “这一带的路况非常理想啊。” “我估计,来往的汽车-” ·189·