14

Chapter 2

‘I wouldn’t think of changing the light,’ cried Mrs. McKee. ‘I think it’s——‘“ 我认为根本不应该改换光线，”麦基太太大声说，“我认为……”

Her husband said ‘SH!’ and we all looked at the subject again whereupon Tom Buchanan yawned audibly and got to his feet. 她丈夫“嘘”了一声，于是我们大家又都把目光转向摄影的题材，这时汤姆·布坎农出声地打了一个呵欠，站了起来。

‘You McKees have something to drink,’ he said. ‘Get some more ice and mineral water, Myrtle, before everybody goes to sleep.’ “ 你们麦基家两口子喝点什么吧，”他说，“再搞点冰和矿泉水来，茉特尔，不然的话大家都睡着了。”

‘I told that boy about the ice.’ Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. ‘These people! You have to keep after them all the time.’ “ 我早就叫那小子送冰来了。”茉特尔把眉毛一扬，对下等人的懒惰无能 表示绝望，“这些人！你非得老盯着他们不可。”

She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. 她看看我，忽然莫名其妙地笑了起来。Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy and swept into the kitchen, implying(暗示) that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there.接着她蹦蹦跳跳跑到小狗跟前，欢天喜地地亲亲它，然后又大摇大摆地走进厨房，那神气就好似那里只有十 几个大厨师在听候她的吩咐

‘I’ve done some nice things out on Long Island,’ asserted Mr. McKee. “ 我在长岛那边拍过几张好的。”麦基光生断言。

Tom looked at him blankly. 汤姆茫然地看看他。

‘Two of them we have framed downstairs.’ “ 有两幅我们配了镜框挂在楼下。”
‘Two what?’ demanded Tom. “ 两幅什么？”汤姆追问。

‘Two studies. One of them I call ‘Montauk Point—the Gulls,’ and the other I call ‘Montauk Point—the Sea.’“ 两幅习作。其中一幅我称之为《蒙涛角——海鸥》，另一幅叫《蒙涛角 ——大海》。”

The sister Catherine sat down beside me on the couch. 那位名叫凯瑟琳的妹妹在沙发上我的身边坐下。

‘Do you live down on Long Island, too?’ she inquired. “ 你也住在长岛那边吗？”她问我。

‘I live at West Egg.’ “我住在西卵。”

‘Really? I was down thereat a party about a month ago. At a man named Gatsby’s. Do you know him? “ 是吗？我到那儿参加过一次聚会，大约一个月以前。在一个姓盖茨比的人的家里。

‘I live next door to him.’ “ 我就住在他隔壁”

 ‘Well,they say he’s a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from.’ “ 噢，人家说他是德国威廉皇帝的侄儿，或者什么别的亲戚，他的钱都是那么来的。”

‘Really?’ “真的吗？”

She nodded. 她点了点头。

‘I’m scared of him. I’d hate to have him get anything on me.’“ 我害怕他。我可不愿意落到他手里。’

This absorbing information about my neighbor was interrupted by Mrs. McKee’s pointing suddenly at Catherine: 关于我邻居的这段引人人胜的报道，由于麦基太太突然伸手指着凯瑟琳而被打断了。

‘Chester, I think you could do something with HER,’ she broke out, but Mr. McKee only nodded in a bored way and turned his attention to Tom. 关于我邻居的这段引人人胜的报道，由于麦基太太突然伸手指着凯瑟琳而被打断了。

‘I’d like to do more work on Long Island if I could get the entry. All I ask is that they should give me a start.’ 。“我很想在长岛多搞点业务，要是有人介绍的话。我唯一的要求就是他们帮我开个头。”

‘Ask Myrtle,’ said Tom,breaking into a short shout of laughter as Mrs. Wilson entered with a tray.‘She’ll give you a letter of introduction, won’t you, Myrtle?’ “ 问茉特尔好了。”汤姆哈哈一笑说，正好威尔逊太太端了个托盘走了进 来，“她可以给你写封介绍信，是不是，茉特尔？”

‘Do what?’ she asked, startled(震惊,吓了一跳的)  “ 干什么？”她吃惊地问道。

‘You’ll give McKee a letter of introduction to your husband, so he can do some studies of him.’ His lips moved silently for a moment as he invented. ‘ ‘George B. Wilson at the Gasoline Pump,’ or something like that.’ “ 你给麦基写一封介绍信去见你丈夫，他就可以给他拍几张特写。”他嘴唇不出声地动了一会儿，接着胡诌道，《乔治· B· 威尔逊在油泵前》，或者诸如此类的玩意。”

Catherine leaned close to me and whispered in my ear: ‘Neither of them can stand the person they’re married to.’凯瑟琳凑到我耳边，跟我小声说：“他们俩谁都受个了自己的那口子。”

‘Can’t they?’ “ 是吗？”

‘Can’t stand them.’ She looked at Myrtle and then at Tom. ‘What I say is, why go on living with them if they can’t stand them? If I was them I’d get a divorce and get married to each other right away.’ “ 受不了。”她先看看茉特尔，又看看汤姆。“依我说，既然受不了，何必还在一起过下去呢？要是我，我就离婚，然后马上重新结婚。”

‘Doesn’t she like Wilson either?’ “她也不喜欢威尔逊吗？”

The answer to this was unexpected.It came from Myrtle who had overheard the question and it was violent and obscene(下流的). 对这个问题的答复是出乎意外的。它来自茉特尔，因为她凑巧听见了问题，而她讲的话是义粗暴又不于净的。

‘You see?’ cried Catherine triumphantly(得意洋洋的).She lowered her voice again. ‘It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic(天主教) and they don’t believe in divorce.’ “ 你瞧，”凯瑟琳得意洋洋地大声说，她又压低了嗓门，“使他们不能结 婚的其实是他老婆。她是天主教徒，那些人是不赞成离婚的。”

Daisy was not a Catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness(精巧的) of the lie. 黛西并不是天主教徒，因此这个煞费苦心的谎言使我有点震惊。

‘When they do get married,’ continued Catherine, ‘they’re going west to live for a while until it blows over.’ “ 哪天他们结了婚，”凯瑟琳接着说，“他们准备到西部去住一些时候， 等风波过去再回来。”

‘It’d be more discreet to go to Europe.’ “ 更稳妥的办法是到欧洲去。”

‘Oh, do you like Europe?’ she exclaimed surprisingly. ‘I just got back from Monte Carlo.’ “ 哦，你喜欢欧洲吗？”她出其不意地叫了起来，“我刚从蒙的卡罗回来。’

‘Really.’ “ 真的吗？”

‘Just last year. I went over there with another girl.’ “ 就在去年，我和另外一个姑娘一起去的。”