了不起的盖茨比（图书馆）
at 3年前 ca 了不起的盖茨比英文原文 pv 2456 by 名著
“Let’s get out,” whispered Jordan, after a somehow wasteful and inappropriate half-hour. “This is much too polite for me.”
"我们走吧，"乔丹低声地讲，这时已经莫名其妙地浪费了半个钟头，"这里对我来说是太斯文了。"
We got up, and she explained that we were going to find the host: I had never met him, she said, and it was making me uneasy. The undergraduate nodded in a cynical, melancholy way.
我们站了起来，她解释说我们要去找主人。她说她还从来没见过他，这使她颇感不太好意思。那位大学生点点头，神情既玩世不恭，又怏怏不乐。
The bar, where we glanced first, was crowded, but Gatsby was not there. She couldn’t find him from the top of the steps, and he wasn’t on the veranda. On a chance we tried an important-looking door, and walked into a high Gothic library, panelled1 with carved English oak, and probably transported complete from some ruin2 overseas.
我们先到酒吧间去张望了一下，那儿挤满了人，可盖茨比并不在那里。乔丹从台阶上往下看，没看见他，他也不在阳台上。我们想碰碰运气，推开了一扇很气派的门，然后走进了一间穹顶高耸的哥特式图书室，四壁镶的是精心雕刻的英格兰橡木家具，可能是从海外某处古迹原封不动地运过来的。
[1、panel: (房间)有护墙板的;(墙、门或窗)镶有嵌板的。 2、ruin: the broken parts that are left from an old building or town. ]
A stout, middle-aged man, with enormous owl-eyed spectacles, was sitting somewhat drunk on the edge of a great table, staring with unsteady concentration at the shelves of books. As we entered he wheeled 3excitedly around and examined Jordan from head to foot.
[3、wheel around: to turn around suddenly]
一位矮胖的中年男子，戴着一副大大的猫头鹰式眼镜，正醉醺醺地坐在一张大桌子的边上，迷迷糊糊目不转睛地看着一架子书。我们一走进去他就兴奋地转过身来，把乔丹从头到脚打量了一遍。
“What do you think?” he demanded impetuously[冲动地；性急地].
“你们觉得如何？”他冒冒失失地问。
“About what?” He waved his hand toward the book-shelves.
“什么如何？”他伸手朝书架一挥。
“About that. As a matter of fact you needn’t bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They’re real.”
"关于那个。其实你们也用不着确认，我确认过了。它们是真的。"
“The books?”
"这些书吗？"
He nodded.
他点点头。
“Absolutely real—have pages and everything. I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they’re absolutely real. Pages and—Here! Lemme show you.”
"绝对是真的--一页一页的，什么都有。我起先还以为它们只是精美耐用的硬纸壳子。事实上，它们绝对是真的。书页还有——来！我拿给你们瞧。"
Taking our scepticism for granted, he rushed to the bookcases and returned with Volume One of the “Stoddard Lectures.”4
他想当然地认为我们不相信，急忙跑到书橱前面，拿回来一本《斯托达德演说集》卷一。
[4、约翰·斯托达德（John Stoddard，1850-1931），美国演说家，著有《演说集》十卷。]
“See!” he cried triumphantly. “It’s a bona-fide[善意的；真实的] piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco5. It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too—didn’t cut the pages5. But what do you want? What do you expect?”
"瞧！"他得意洋洋地喊道，"这是一本实实在在的印刷品。它真把我蒙住了。这家伙简直是个贝拉斯科。这太成功了。多么彻底！多么逼真！而且知道见好就收--并没裁开纸页。你还要怎样？你还指望发现什么？"
[4 大卫·贝拉斯科（David Belasco，1850－－1931），美国舞台监督，以布景逼真闻名。这里是在讽刺盖茨比像贝拉斯科一样布了一屋子逼真的景，好做戏给人看。
5、 以前新书印刷出来之后，书页都是连着的，读之前必须自己裁开。书架上的书是真的，但书页都没裁开，说明盖茨比藏了一屋子书，却根本没读过。]
He snatched the book from me and replaced it hastily on its shelf, muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.
他一把把书从我手里夺回去，急急忙忙地将它放回原来的书架上，一边咕哝着说什么假使一块砖头被挪开，整个图书馆就有可能塌掉。
“Who brought you?” he demanded. “Or did you just come? I was brought. Most people were brought.”
“谁带你们来的？”他问道，“还是你们自己来的？我是有人带我来的。大部分客人都是别人带来的。”
Jordan looked at him alertly, cheerfully, without answering.
乔丹机警地看着他，一脸愉快，却并没有答话。
“I was brought by a woman named Roosevelt,” he continued. “Mrs. Claud Roosevelt. Do you know her? I met her somewhere last night. I’ve been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.”
"我是一位姓罗斯福的女人带来的，"他接着说，"克劳德·罗斯福太太。你们认识她吗？我昨天晚上不知在什么地方碰上她的。我已经醉了个把星期了，我以为在图书室里坐一会儿可以醒醒酒的。"
“Has it?”
“那你清醒了吗？”
“A little bit, I think. I can’t tell yet. I’ve only been here an hour. Did I tell you about the books? They’re real. They’re——”
"清醒了一点，我想。现在还不好说。我在这儿才待了一个钟头。我跟你们说过这些书吗？它们都是真的。它们是……"
“You told us.” We shook hands with him gravely and went back outdoors.
"你说过了。"我们庄重地跟他握握手，随即又出去了。
了不起的盖茨比读后感：
That Owl Eyes was expecting the books to be fake is to say he was expecting Gatsby to be fake, an intelligent poseur(装腔作势的人) who merely keeps up appearances, nothing more. Fitzgerald uses Owl Eyes’s astonishment about the books to suggest that, though Gatsby might still be a fake, he’s at least a very good one.
