《了不起的盖茨比》 (菲茨杰拉德)

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder. 

现在大部分的海滩别墅都已经关闭了，除了航行在海上的渡船还发出明明灭灭、移动着的光，四周几乎没有任何灯火。月亮逐渐升高，那些逐渐模糊的别墅开始慢慢地消融在月色中。直到这时我才慢慢意识到：这个古老的岛屿曾在荷兰水手们的眼前舒展万种风情——一片新世界清新嫩绿的胸羽。那些为修建盖茨比的豪宅而被砍掉的树木，曾经轻声回应人类最后的也是最伟大的梦想。在某个像是被施了魔法的短暂瞬间，人类面对这个大陆时一定惊讶到忘记呼吸，不由自主地陷入了一种他既不曾理解也不曾渴望的美学沉思，这也是历史上最后一次面对与他想象奇迹的能力相称的东西。

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

当我坐在那，沉湎于那个古老的未知世界时，我想到了盖茨比第一次在黛西家码头的尽头发现那盏绿灯时的惊奇。他走过漫长的道路才到达这片蓝色的草坪。他的梦想看起来近在咫尺，似乎触手可及。他不知道那个梦想已经远远地落在他身后，落在这个城市以外某个一片无限延展的朦胧之中，在那里，共和国的黑暗原野在夜色中滚滚延伸。

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning——

盖茨比信奉这盏绿灯，这个一年一年在我们面前退却的、纸醉金迷的将来。它同我们擦肩而过，但是没关系，明天我们将奔跑得更快，手臂伸得更远……会有一个美好的清晨……

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

于是我们奋力向前，顶着不停地将我们冲回到过去的浪潮，逆水行舟。