了不起的盖茨比 第七章 第八节 - 战前平静

‘Why not let her alone, old sport?’ remarked Gatsby.

‘You’re the one that wanted to come to town.’
There was a moment of silence. The telephone book slipped from its nail and splashed to the floor, whereupon Jordan whispered ‘Excuse me’—but this time no one laughed.

“何必找她的碴呢，老兄?”盖茨比说，

“是你自己要进城来的。”

沉默了一会。电话簿从钉子上滑开，啪的一声掉到地上，于是乔丹低声说:“对不起。”但是这一次没人笑了。

‘I’ll pick it up,’ I offered.

‘I’ve got it.’ Gatsby examined the parted string, muttered ‘Hum!’ in an interested way, and tossed the book on a chair.

‘That’s a great expression of yours, isn’t it?’ said Tom sharply.

“我去捡起来。”我抢着说。

“我捡到了。”盖茨比仔细看看断开的绳子，表示感兴趣地“哼”了一声，

然后把电话簿往椅子上一扔。

“那是你得意的口头掸，是不是?”汤姆尖锐地说。

‘What is?’
‘All this ‘old sport’ business. Where’d you pick that up?’ ‘Now see here, Tom,’ said Daisy, turning around from the mirror, ‘if you’re going to make personal remarks I won’t stay here a minute. Call up and order some ice for the mint julep.’

“什么是?”
“张口闭口都是‘老兄’。你是从哪里学来的?”“你听着，汤姆，”黛西说，一面从镜子前面掉转身来，“如果你打算进行人身攻击，我就一分钟都不待。打个电话要点冰来做薄荷酒。”

As Tom took up the receiver the compressed heat exploded into sound and we were listening to the portentous chords of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from the ballroom below.
‘Imagine marrying anybody in this heat!’ cried Jordan dismally.
‘Still—I was married in the middle of June,’ Daisy remembered, ‘Louisville in June! Somebody fainted. Who was it fainted, Tom?’

汤姆一拿起话筒，那憋得紧紧的热气突然爆发出声音，这时我们听到门德尔松的《婚礼进行曲》惊心动魄的和弦从底下舞厅里传上来。

“这么热竟然还有人结婚!”乔丹很难受地喊道。 “尽管如此——我就是在六月中旬结婚的，”黛西回忆道，“六月的路易斯维尔! 有一个人昏倒了。昏倒的是谁，汤姆?”

‘Biloxi,’ he answered shortly.

‘A man named Biloxi. ‘Blocks’ Biloxi, and he made box- es—that’s a fact—and he was from Biloxi, Tennessee.’

‘They carried him into my house,’ appended Jordan, ‘because we lived just two doors from the church. And he stayed three weeks, until Daddy told him he had to get out. The day after he left Daddy died.’ After a moment she added as if she might have sounded irreverent, ‘There wasn’t any connection.’

“毕洛克西。”他简慢地答道。“一个姓‘毕洛克西’的人。‘木头人’毕洛克西，他是做盒子的——这是事实——他又是田纳西州毕洛克西①市的人。”

“他们把他抬进我家里，”乔丹补充说，“因为我们住的地方和教堂隔着两家的距离。他一住就住了三个星期，直到爸爸叫他走路。他走后第二天爸爸就死了。”过了一会她又加了一句话说，“两件事井没有什么联系。”

①  木头人、盒子在原文里 都和毕洛克西谐音。

‘I used to know a Bill Biloxi from Memphis,’ I remarked.

‘That was his cousin. I knew his whole family history before he left. He gave me an aluminum putter that I use today.’

The music had died down as the ceremony began and now a long cheer floated in at the window, followed by intermittent cries of ‘Yea—ea—ea!’ and finally by a burst of jazz as the dancing began.

“我从前也认识一个孟菲斯①人叫比尔·毕洛克西。”我说。

“那是他堂兄弟。他走以前我对他的整个家史都一清二楚了。他送了我一根打高尔夫球的轻击棒，我到今天还在用。”

婚礼一开始音乐就停了，此刻从窗口又飘进来一阵很长的欢呼声，接着又是一阵阵“好啊——好——啊”的叫喊，最后响起爵士乐的声音，跳舞开始了。

①  孟菲斯 (Memphis)，田纳西州的城市。

‘We’re getting old,’ said Daisy. ‘If we were young we’d rise and dance.’

‘Remember Biloxi,’ Jordan warned her. ‘Where’d you know him, Tom?’

‘Biloxi?’ He concentrated with an effort. ‘I didn’t know him. He was a friend of Daisy’s.’
‘He was not,’ she denied. ‘I’d never seen him before. He came down in the private car.’
‘Well, he said he knew you. He said he was raised in Louisville. Asa Bird brought him around at the last minute and asked if we had room for him.’

“我们都老了，”黛西说，“如果我们还年轻的话，我们就会站起来跳舞的。”

“别忘了毕洛克西。”乔丹警告她，“你是在哪儿认识他的，汤姆?”

“毕洛克西?”他聚精会神想了一会，“我不认识他。他是黛西的朋友。”

“他才不是哩，”她否认道，“我在那以前从来没见过他。他是坐你的专车来的。”“对啦，他说他认识你。他说他是在路易斯维尔长大的。阿莎·伯德在最后一分钟把他带来，问我们是否有地方让他坐。”

Jordan smiled.

‘He was probably bumming his way home. He told me he was president of your class at Yale.’

Tom and I looked at each other blankly.
‘BilOxi?’
‘First place, we didn’t have any president——‘
Gatsby’s foot beat a short, restless tattoo and Tom eyed him suddenly.

乔丹笑了。

“他多半是不花钱搭车回家。他告诉我他在耶鲁是你们的班长。”

汤姆和我彼此茫然地对看。

“毕洛克西?”

“首先，我们压根儿没有班长⋯⋯”

盖茨比的脚不耐烦地连敲了几声，引起汤姆突然瞧了他一眼。