15

Chapter 2

‘Stay long?’ “ 待了很久吗？”

‘No, we just went to Monte Carlo and back. We went by way of Marseilles. We had over twelve hundred dollars when we started but we got gypped out of(敲诈) it all in two days in the private rooms. We had an awful time getting back, I can tell you. God, how I hated that town!’ “ 没有，我们只去了蒙的卡罗就回来了。我们是取道马赛去的。我们动 身的时候带了一千二百多美元，可是两天之内就在赌场小房间里让人骗光了。我们在回来路上吃的苦头可不少，我对你说吧。天哪，我恨死那城市了。”

The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a moment like the blue honey of the Mediterranean—then the shrill voice of Mrs. McKee called me back into the room.窗外，天空在夕照中显得格外柔和，像蔚蓝的地中海一样。这时麦基 太太尖锐的声音把我唤回到屋子里来

‘I almost made a mistake,too,’ she declared vigorously. “ 我差点也犯了错误，”她精神抖擞地大声说，‘I almost married a little kyke who’d been after me for years. I knew he was below me. Everybody kept saying to me: ‘Lucille, that man’s way below you!’ But if I hadn’t met Chester, he’d of got me sure.’ “我差点嫁给了一个追了我好几年的犹太小子。我知道他配不上我。大家都对我说：‘露西尔，那个人比你差远了。’可是，如果我没碰上切斯特，他保险会把我搞到手的。”

‘Yes, but listen,’ said Myrtle Wilson, nodding her head up and down, ‘at least you didn’t marry him.’ “ 不错，可是你听我说，”茉特尔·威尔逊说，一面不停地摇头晃脑，“好在你并未嫁给他啊。”

‘I know I didn’t.’ “ 我知道我没嫁给他。”

‘Well, I married him,’said Myrtle, ambiguously. ‘And that’s the difference between your case and mine.’ “ 但是，我可嫁给了他，”茉特尔含糊其词地说，“这就是你的情况和我 的情况不同的地方。”

‘Why did you, Myrtle?’demanded Catherine. ‘Nobody forced you to.’ “ 你为什么嫁给他呢，茉特尔？”凯瑟琳质问道，“也没有人强迫你。”

Myrtle considered. 茉特尔考虑了一会儿。

‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally. ‘I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe.’ “ 我嫁给了他，是因为我以为他是个上等人，”她最后说，“我以为他还 有点教养，不料他连舔我的鞋都不配。”

‘You were crazy about him for a while,’ said Catherine. “ 你有一阵子爱他爱得发疯。”凯瑟琳说。

‘Crazy about him!’ cried Myrtle incredulously. ‘Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there.’ “ 爱他爱得发疯！”茉特尔不相信地喊道，“谁说我爱他爱得发疯啦？我从来没爱过他，就像我没爱过那个人一样。”

She pointed suddenly at me, and every one looked at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression that I had played no part in her past. 她突然指着我，于是大家都用责备的目光看着我。我尽力做出一副我与她的过去没有任何关系的表情。

‘The only CRAZY I was was when I married him. 我于的唯一发疯的事是跟他结了婚。I knew right away I made a mistake. 我马上就知道我犯了错误。He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in and never even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out. 他借 了人家一套做客的衣服穿着结婚，还从来不告诉我，后来有一天他不在家，那人来讨还衣服。

She looked around to see who was listening: ‘ ‘Oh, is that your suit?’ I said. ‘This is the first I ever heard about it.’ But I gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon.’ 哦，这套衣服是你的吗？’我说，‘这还是我头一回听说哩。’但是我把衣服给了他，然后我躺到床上，号陶大哭，整整哭了一下午。”

‘She really ought to getaway from him,’ resumed Catherine to me. ‘They’ve been living over that garage for eleven years. And Tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.’ “ 她实在应当离开他，”凯瑟琳又跟我说下去，“他们在那汽车行楼顶上住了十一年了。汤姆还是她第一个相好的哩。”

The bottle of whiskey—a second one—was now in constant demand by all present, excepting Catherine who‘felt just as good on nothing at all.’ 那瓶威上忌——第二瓶了——此刻大家都喝个不停，唯有凯瑟琳除外， 她“什么都不喝也感到飘飘然”。Tom rang for the janitor(守门人) and sent him for some celebrated sandwiches, which were a complete supper in themselves. 汤姆按铃把看门的喊来，叫他去买一种出名的三明治，吃了可以抵得上一顿晚餐。

I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park through the soft twilight but each time I tried to go I became entangled(陷入) in some wild strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. 我想到外面去，在柔和的暮色中向 东朝公园走过去，但每次我起身告辞，都被卷人一阵吵闹刺耳的争执中，结果就仿佛有绳子把我拉回到椅子上。

Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I was him too, looking up and wondering. 然而我们这排黄澄澄的窗户高踞在城市的上空，一定给暮色苍茫的街道上一位观望的过客增添了一点人生的秘密，同时我也可以看到他，一面在仰望一面在寻思。

I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life. 我既身在其中又身在其外，对人生的千变万化既感到陶醉，同时又感到厌恶。

Myrtle pulled her chair close to mine, and suddenly her warm breath poured over me the story of her first meeting with Tom. 茉特尔把她自己的椅子拉到我的椅子旁边，忽然之间她吐出的热气朝 我喷来，她絮絮叨叨讲起了她跟汤姆初次相逢的故事

‘It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. 事情发生在两个面对面的小座位上，就是火车上一向剩下的最后两个座位。I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. 我上纽约去看我妹妹，在她那儿过夜。

He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. 他穿了一身礼服，一双漆皮鞋，我就忍不住老是看他，可是每次他一看我，我只好假装在看他头顶上的广告。

When we came into the station he was next to me and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm—and so I told him I’d have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. 我们走进车站时，他紧挨在我身边，他那雪白的衬衫前胸蹭着我的胳膊，于是我跟他说我可要叫警察了，但他明知我在说假话。

I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn’t hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about,over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever, you can’t live forever.’ 我神魂颠倒，跟他上了 一辆出租汽车，还以为是上了地铁哩。我心里翻来覆去想的只有一句话：“你又不能永远活着。你又不能永远活着。

She turned to Mrs. McKee and the room rang full of her artificial laughter. 她回过头来跟麦基太太讲话，屋子里充满了她那不自然的笑声。

‘My dear,’ she cried, ‘I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m through with it. I’ve got to get another one tomorrow. “ 亲爱的，”她喊道，“我这件衣服穿过之后就送给你。明天我得去另买 一件。I’m going to make a list of all the things I’ve got to get. 我要把所有要办的事情开个单子。

A massage and a wave and a collar for the dog and one of those cute little ash-trays where you touch a spring, and a wreath with a black silk bow for mother’s grave that’ll last all summer. 按摩、烫发、替小狗买条项圈，买一个那种有弹簧的、小巧玲珑的烟灰缸，还要给妈妈的坟上买一个挂黑丝结的假花圈，可以摆一个夏天的那种。I got to write down a list so I won’t forget all the things I got to do. 我一定得写个单子，免得我忘掉要做哪 些事。”