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Chapter 2



About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily(轻率地) joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile,so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. 西卵和纽约之间大约一半路程的地方,汽车路匆匆忙忙跟铁路会合,它在铁路旁边跑上四分之一英里,为的是要躲开一片荒凉的地方。




This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges(山脊) and hills and grotesque(荒诞的) gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent(卓绝的) effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling(崩溃,粉碎) through the powdery air. 这是一个灰烬的山谷——一个离奇古怪的农场,在这里灰烬像麦子一样生长,长成小山小丘和奇形怪状的园子。在这里灰烬堆成房屋、烟囱和炊烟的形式,最后,经过超绝的努力,堆成一个个灰蒙蒙的人,隐隐约约地在走动,而且已经在尘土飞扬的空气中化为灰烬了。




Occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track,gives out a ghastly(可怕的) creak(咯吱声) and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden(铅灰色的) spades(铲;黑桃) and stir up(激起) an impenetrable(不可进入的) cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight. 有时一列灰色的货车慢慢沿着一条看不见的轨道爬行,叽嘎一声鬼叫,停了下来,马上那些灰蒙蒙的人就拖着铁铲一窝 蜂拥上来,扬起一片尘土,让你看不到他们隐秘的活动。



But above the grey land and the spasms(痉挛的) of bleak(暗淡的) dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive(意识到), after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. 但是,在这片灰蒙蒙的土地以及永远宠罩在它上空的一阵阵暗淡的尘上的上面,你过一会儿就看到 T· J· 埃克尔堡大夫的眼睛。The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas(视网膜) are one yard high. 埃克尔堡大夫的眼睛是蓝色的,庞大无比——瞳仁就有一码高。




They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles(眼镜) which pass over a nonexistent nose. 这双眼睛不是从一张脸上向外看,而是从架在一个不存在的鼻子上的一副硕大无朋的黄色眼镜向外看。Evidently some wild wag(摇摆) of an oculist(眼科医生) set them there to fatten his practice in the borough(区) of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal(不朽的) blindness or forgot them and moved away. 显然是一个异想天开的眼科医生把它们坚在那儿的,为了招徐生意,扩大他在 皇后区的业务,到后来大概他自己也永远闭上了眼睛,再不然就是撇下它们搬走了。


But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. 但是,他留下的那两只眼睛,由于年深月久,日晒雨淋,油漆剥落, 光彩虽不如前,却依然若有所思,阴郁地俯视着这片阴沉沉的灰堆。


The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul(肮脏恶臭) river,and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on   waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. 灰烬谷一边有条肮脏的小河流过,每逢河上吊桥拉起让驳船通过,等候过桥的火车上的乘客就得盯着这片凄凉景色,时间长达半小时之久。


There is always a halt there of at least a minute and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress. 平时火车在这里至少也要停一分钟,也正由于这个缘故,我才初次见到汤姆·布坎农的情妇。


The fact that he had one was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular restaurants with her and, leaving her at a table,sauntered(闲逛) about, chatting with whomsoever he knew. 他有个情妇,这是所有知道他的人都认定的事实。他的熟人都很气愤,因为他常常带着她上时髦的馆子,并且,让她在一张桌子旁坐下后,自己就走来走去,跟他认识的人拉呱。


Though I was curious to see her I had no desire to meet her—but I did. 我虽然好奇,想看看她,可井不想和她见面 ——但是我会到她了,一天下午,我跟汤姆同行搭火车上纽约去。I went up to New York with Tom on the train one afternoon and when we stopped by the ash heaps he jumped to his feet and taking hold of my elbow literally forced me from the car. 等我们在 灰堆停下来的时候,他一骨碌跳了起来,抓住我的胳膊肘,简直是强迫我下了车。


‘We’re getting off!’ he insisted. ‘I want you to meet my girl.’ “ 我们在这儿下车,”他断然地说,“我要你见见我的女朋友。”

I think he’d tanked up a good deal at luncheon and his determination to have my company bordered on violence. The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon I had nothing better to do. 大概他那天午饭时喝得够多的,因此他硬要我陪他的做法近乎暴力行 为。他狂妄自大地认为,我在星期天下午似乎没有什么更有意思的事情可做。


I followed him over a low white-washed railroad fence and we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor Eckleburg’s persistent stare. 我跟着他跨过一排刷得雪白的低低的铁路栅栏,然后沿着公路,在埃 克尔堡大夫目不转睛的注视之下,往回走了一百码。


The only building in sight was a small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land, a sort of compact Main Street ministering to it and contiguous to absolutely nothing. 眼前唯一的建筑物是一小排黄砖房子,坐落在这片荒原的边缘,大概是供应本地居民生活必需品的 一条小型“主街”,左右隔壁一无所有。


One of the three shops it contained was for rent and another was an all-night restaurant approached by a trail of ashes; the third was a garage—Repairs.GEORGE B. WILSON. Cars Bought and Sold—and I followed Tom inside. 这排房子里有三家店铺,一家正 在招租,另一家是通宵营业的饭馆,门前有一条炉渣小道;第三家是个汽车 修理行—— “乔治· B· 威尔逊。修理汽车。买卖汽车。”我跟着汤姆走了进去。


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用户评论
  • 车厘子七七zhang

    这里的ashes应该是一种植物

    在屋顶上骑自行车 回复 @车厘子七七zhang: 不是,是灰尘

  • Monica960110

    求更新~~~~

  • Su保山

    求更新

  • 1891629scgk