了不起的盖茨比（纽约）

    Most of the time I worked. In the early morning the sun threw my shadow westward as I hurried down the white chasms_[裂隙] of lower New York to the Probity_{[正直；诚实]} Trust. I knew the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names, and lunched with them in dark, crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee. I even had a short affair with a girl who lived in Jersey City and worked in the accounting department, but her brother began throwing mean looks in my direction, so when she went on her vacation in July I let it blow quietly away.

【1、纽约下城区，即曼哈顿下城，美国纽约市曼哈顿最南端的部分，著名的商务区，华尔街就在此地。

2、正诚信托公司，作者给尼克虚构的就职单位。

3、泽西城在纽约市附近。】

工作占据了我大部分时间。每天清晨，阳光把我的影子投向西边时，我沿着纽约下城区摩天大楼之间狭窄的白色小道匆匆走向正诚信托公司。我跟其他的职员和年轻的债券推销员混得很熟——不只是姓，我连他们的名字都知道，还会和他们一起在阴暗拥挤的饭馆里吃午饭，吃猪肉香肠加土豆泥，喝杯咖啡。我甚至和一个姑娘有过短暂的恋爱，她住在泽西城，在会计处工作。可是她哥哥开始摆脸色反对，因此她七月里去度假的时候，我就让这段交往悄悄告吹了。

    I took dinner usually at the Yale Club—for some reason it was the gloomiest event of my day—and then I went up-stairs to the library and studied investments and securities for a conscientious [勤勉认真的]hour. There were generally a few rioters [骚乱者]around, but they never came into the library, so it was a good place to work. After that, if the night was mellow, I strolled down Madison Avenue past the old Murray Hill Hotel, and over 33rd Street to the Pennsylvania Station.

【默里山酒店，1884年开业的豪华公寓式酒店，在1948年12月宣告拆除，取而代之的是一座象征现代化的摩天大楼。】

△ 耶鲁俱乐部当年的大楼外观和内部餐厅

晚上我一般选择在耶鲁俱乐部就餐--不知为什么，这是我一天中最凄凉的事情—然后我会上楼到图书室去花一个钟头认真学习各种投资和证券的知识。总有几个调皮捣蛋的学生会过来转悠，但他们从来不进图书室，所以那里很适合学习。离开图书室之后，如果天气宜人，我就到麦迪逊大道溜达，经过那座古老的默里山饭店，再穿过三十三号街走到宾夕法尼亚车站。

△ 20年代的麦迪逊大道

    I began to like New York, the racy[(风格)活泼的], adventurous feel of it at night, and the satisfaction that the constant flicker[(灯光等)闪烁，摇曳; (身体部位的)小而快的动作] of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove. Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded through a door into warm darkness. At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others—poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant[悲惨的；酸楚的] moments of night and life.

[ flicker[(灯光等)闪烁，摇曳; (身体部位的)小而快的动作]]

我开始喜欢纽约了，喜欢夜晚那种奔放冒险的氛围，喜欢那熙熙攘攘的男男女女和往来车辆，让人感到目不暇接的满足感。我喜欢在第五大道的街头溜达，从人群中挑出多情的女人，幻想一会儿我就要进入她们的生活，而永远也不会有人知晓，更别说反对了。有时我会臆想自己跟着她们，直到藏在隐蔽街巷角落里的公寓，到了门前，她们会冲我回眸一笑，然后走进那扇门，消失于温暖的夜色之中。在大都市迷人的黄昏时刻，我时而感到一种难以排遣的寂寞，也会察觉到这寂寞萦绕着别人--那些在橱窗前踟蹰的穷困小职员，等到了饭店，便只身上小饭馆吃顿晚饭--黄昏下的小职员，都在虚度着夜晚和人生当中最感伤的时光。

　　Again at eight o’clock, when the dark lanes of the Forties were five deep with throbbing taxi-cabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes outlined unintelligible gestures inside. Imagining that I, too, was hurrying toward gayety and sharing their intimate excitement, I wished them well.

又到晚上八点钟，四十多号街那一带的暗巷挤满了轰轰作响的出租车，五辆一排，都是前往戏院区的，这时我心里总感到有些沉闷。车里等着出发的人依偎在一起，说话声吟吟作响，听不清这些人畅聊什么，只知道笑得很欢，吸烟时吐出的烟雾映衬出车里暧昧难明的姿态。幻想着我也在匆匆赶去寻欢作乐，分享他们隐秘的激情，于是便在心里祝福起他们来。