了不起的盖茨比（身世之谜）

         Almost at the moment when Mr. Gatsby identified himself, a butler hurried toward him with the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire. He excused himself with a small bow that included each of us in turn.

在盖茨比先生刚说自我介绍的那一刻，一个男管家急匆匆地跑到他跟前报告，说芝加哥来电，需要他马上接听。他微微欠身道歉，对着我们每个人各鞠了一躬。

　　“If you want anything just ask for it, old sport,” he urged me. “Excuse me. I will rejoin you later.”

     "你想要什么尽管开口，老兄，"他恳切地说道，"失陪了，一会儿再来奉陪。"

　　When he was gone I turned immediately to Jordan—constrained to assure her of my surprise. I had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid_[红润的] and corpulent_[福态的] person in his middle years.

    他一走，我立即转向乔丹—抑制不住地要告诉她我有多惊异。我本以为盖茨比先生是个红光满面、肥头大耳的中年人。 

　　“Who is he?” I demanded.“Do you know?”

     "他是谁？"我急切地问，"你可知道？"

　　“He’s just a man named Gatsby.”

     "他就是一个姓盖茨比的人呗。"

　　“Where is he from, I mean? And what does he do?”

     "我是问他的身世？干什么的？"

　　“Now YOU’RE started on the subject,” she answered with a wan smile. “Well, he told me once he was an Oxford man.” 

      "现在你也琢磨起这个身世来了，"她厌倦地笑道，"嗯……他跟我提过一次，他上过牛津大学。"

     A dim background started to take shape behind him, but at her next remark it faded away.

     关于他的模糊的背景开始显现出来，但是乔丹的下一句话又让它立即消失了。

　　“However, I don’t believe it.”

     "不过，我是不信的。"

　　“Why not?” “I don’t know,” she insisted, “I just don’t think he went there.”

     "为什么？"

    “我也说不清，"她固执地说，"我就是不相信他上过牛津。"

　　Something in her tone reminded me of the other girl’s “I think he killed a man,” and had the effect of stimulating my curiosity. I would have accepted without question the information that Gatsby sprang from the swamps _{[沼泽(地)]}of Louisiana or from the lower East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. But young men didn’t—at least in my provincial inexperience I believed they didn’t—drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound.

    她的语气使我想起那个姑娘说的"我想他杀过人"，更是激起了我的好奇心。假如有人说盖茨比是出身于路易斯安那州的贫民窟，或者纽约的下东区，我也会完全相信。因为那是可以理解的。但是年纪轻的人不可能--至少在我偏狭的经验里认为他们不可能--冷不丁地从某地出现，在长岛海湾买下一幢宫殿般的豪宅。

　　“Anyhow, he gives large parties,” said Jordan, changing the subject with an urbane distaste for the concrete. “And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”

         "反正他举行大型派对，"乔丹像一般城里人一样不屑于谈具体细节，所以改换了话题，"而我也喜欢大派对，感觉自在亲热，不似在小派对上根本没有隐私可言。"