08

Chapter 1

The horses, needless to say, were not mentioned again. 马，不用说，就没有再提了。Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight(黄昏) between them strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil(守夜) beside a perfectly tangible(有形的，真实的) body, while trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas(阳台,走廊) to the porch in front. 汤姆和贝克小姐，两人中间隔着几英尺的暮色，慢慢溜达着回书房去，仿佛走到一个确实存在的尸体旁边去守夜。In its deep gloom we sat down side by side on a wicker settee. 在苍茫的暮色中我们并排在一张柳条的长靠椅上坐下。

Daisy took her face in her hands, as if feeling its lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk. 黛西把脸捧在手里，好像在抚摩她那可爱的面庞，同时她渐渐放眼人看那人鹅绒般的暮色。I saw that turbulent(动荡的) emotions possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be some sedative(镇静的) questions about her little girl. 我看出她心潮澎湃，于是我问了几个我认为有镇静作用的关于她小女儿的问题。

‘We don’t know each other very well,Nick,’ she said suddenly. ‘Even if we are cousins. You didn’t come to my wedding. “ 我们彼此并不熟识，尼克，”她忽然说，“尽管我们是表亲。你没参加 我的婚礼。”

‘I wasn’t back from the war.' “ 我打仗还没回来。”

‘That’s true.’ She hesitated. ‘Well,I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical(悲观的,愤世嫉俗的) about everything.’ “ 确实。”她犹疑了一下，“哎，我可真够受的，尼克，所以我把一切都 差不多看透了。”

Evidently she had reason to be. I waited but she didn’t say any more, and after a moment I returned rather feebly(微弱) to the subject of her daughter. 显然她抱这种看法是有缘故的。我等着听，可是她没再往下说，过了一会儿我又吞吞吐吐地回到了她女儿这个话题

‘I suppose she talks, and—eats, and everything.’ “ 我想她一定会说，又……会吃，什么都会吧。”

‘Oh, yes.’ She looked at me absently. ‘Listen, Nick; let me tell you what I said when she was born. Would you like to hear?’ “ 呃，是啊。”她心不在焉地看着我，“听我说，尼克，让我告诉你她出世的时候我说了什么话。你想听吗？”

‘very much.’

‘It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about—things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly(全然，完全) abandoned feeling and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. “ 你听了就会明白我为什么会这样看待——一切事物。她出世还不到一 个钟头，汤姆就天晓得跑到哪里去了。我从酒精麻醉中醒过来，有一种孤苦伶仃的感觉，马上问护士是男孩还是女孩。

She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept(哭泣). ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. 她告诉我是个女孩，我就转过脸 哭了起来。‘好吧，’我说，‘我很高兴是个女孩。而且我希望她将来是个傻 瓜——这就是女孩子在这种世界上最好的出路，当一个美丽的小傻瓜。”

You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow,’ she went on in a convinced way. ‘Everybody thinks so—the most advanced people. And I KNOW. I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything.’ “ 你明白我认为反正一切都糟透了，”她深信不疑地继续说，“人人都这 样认为——那些最先进的人。而我知道。我什么地方都去过了，什么也都见 过了，什么也都干过了。

”Her eyes flashed around her in a defiant(挑衅的,目中无人的) way, rather like Tom's, and she laughed with thrilling scorn(蔑视). ‘Sophisticated—God, I’m sophisticated(见多识广的,复杂的)!'她两眼闪闪有光，环顾四周，俨然不可一世的神 气，很像汤姆，她又放声大笑，笑声里充满了可怕的讥嘲。“饱经世故……天哪，我可是饱经世故了。”

The instant(瞬间；立即) her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she‘d’ said. 她的话音一落，不再强迫我注意她和相信她时，我就感到她刚才说的 根本不是真心话。It  made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me. 这使我感到不安，似乎整个晚上都是一个圈套，强使我也 付出一份相应的感情。

I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk(傻笑,假笑) on her lovely face as if she'd asserted(断言;宣称) her membership in a rather distinguished(区别；高贵的) secret society to which she and Tom belonged. 我等着，果然过了一会儿她看着我时，她那可爱的脸 上就确实露出了假笑，仿佛她已经表明了她是她和汤姆所属于的一个上流社 会的秘密团体中的一分子。

Inside, the crimson(深红色) room bloomed with light. 室内，那间绊红色的屋子灯火辉煌。Tom and Miss Baker sat at either end of the long couch and she read aloud to him from the ‘Saturday Evening Post’—the words, murmurous and uninflected(inflect曲折的), running together in a soothing(安慰性的) tune(曲子). 汤姆和贝克小姐各坐在长沙发的 一头，她在念《星期六晚邮报》给他听，声音很低，没有变化，吐出的一连串的字句有一种让人定心的调子。

The lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair,glinted along the paper as she turned a page with a flutter of slender muscles in her arms. 灯光照在他皮靴上雪亮，照在她秋叶黄的 头发上暗淡无光，每当她翻过一页，胳臂上细细的肌肉颤动的时候，灯光又一晃一晃地照在纸上。

When we came in she held us silent for a moment with a lifted hand. 我们走进屋子，她举起一只手来示意叫我们不要出声。

‘To be continued,’ she said, tossing(抛) the magazine on the table, ‘in our very next issue. “ 待续，”她念道，一面把杂志扔在桌上，“见本刊下期。”

Her body asserted itself with a restless movement of her knee, and she     stood up. 她膝盖一动，身子一直，就霍地站了起来。

‘Ten o’clock,’ she remarked,apparently(显然；表面) finding the time on the ceiling. ‘Time for this good girl to go to bed.’ “ 十点了，”她说，仿佛在天花板上看到了时间，“我这个好孩子该上床 睡觉了。”

‘Jordan’s going to play in the tournament(锦标赛) tomorrow,’ explained Daisy,‘over at Westchester. “ 乔丹明天要去参加锦标赛，”黛西解释道，“在威斯彻斯特那边。”

‘Oh,—you’re JORdan Baker.’ “ 哦……你是乔丹·贝克。

I knew now why her face was familiar—its pleasing contemptuous(轻蔑的) expression had looked out at me from many rotogravure(凹版印刷) pictures of the sporting life at Asheville and Hot Springs and Palm Beach. 我现在才明白为什么她的面孔很眼熟——她带着那可爱的傲慢的表情 曾经从报道阿希维尔、温泉和棕榈海滩的体育生活的许多报刊照片上注视着我。I'd heard some story of her too, a critical, unpleasant story,but what it was I'd forgotten long ago. 我还听说过关于她的一些闲话，一些说她不好的闲话，至于究竟是什么事我可早已忘掉了。