了不起的盖茨比（猫头鹰眼镜男）

        As I waited for my hat in the hall the door of the library opened and Jordan Baker and Gatsby came out together. He was saying some last word to her, but the eagerness in his manner tightened abruptly into formality as several people approached him to say good-bye.

我在大厅里等仆人取帽子的时候，图书室的门开了，乔丹·贝克和盖茨比一同走了出来。他正在跟她说最后一句话，但几个客人走过来和他告别，他原先热切的态度骤然收敛，变得拘谨起来。

　　 Jordan’s party were calling impatiently to her from the porch, but she lingered for a moment to shake hands.

    乔丹同伴们从门廊里不耐烦地喊她，可是她还逗留了片刻跟我握了手。

　 “I’ve just heard the most amazing thing,” she whispered. “How long were we in there?”

   "我刚才听到一件非常不可思议的事情，"她小声说，"我们在那里待了多久？"

   “Why, about an hour.” "嗯……一个小时左右吧。"

  “It was—simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly.

  “这事……太不可思议了，”她出神地重复道。

  “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.” She yawned gracefully in my face: “Please come and see me. . . . Phone book . . . Under the name of Mrs. Sigourney Howard . . . My aunt . . .” She was hurrying off as she talked—her brown hand waved a jaunty salute as she melted into her party at the door.

[tantalize：(以可望而不可即之物)逗引，招惹，使干着急.]

 可是我发过誓要对谈话内容保密，而我现在也就是逗引逗引你。"她对着我的脸优雅地打了个阿欠，"“有空请过来看我……查电话簿……就在西戈尼·霍华德太太的名字下面……那是我姑妈……”她一边念叨一边匆匆而去--她活泼地挥了一下那只小麦色的手表示告别，然后便融入她那些等在门口的同伴里去了。

　　Rather ashamed that on my first appearance I had stayed so late, I joined the last of Gatsby’s guests, who were clustered around him. I wanted to explain that I’d hunted for him early in the evening and to apologize for not having known him in the garden.

我实在怪难为情的，第一次来就待得这么晚，便走到围在盖茨比身边的最后一波客人那边去。我想要解释一下我晚上早些时候就到处找过他，同时为刚才在花园里不知道他的身份而道歉。

“Don’t mention it,” he enjoined me eagerly. “Don’t give it another thought, old sport.” The familiar expression held no more familiarity than the hand which reassuringly brushed my shoulder. “And don’t forget we’re going up in the hydroplane to-morrow morning, at nine o’clock.”

        "这个就不必再提了，"他恳切地嘱咐我。"别放在心上，老兄。"这亲昵的称呼远比不如伸手安慰地轻抚我肩膀来得更亲热。"别忘了明早九点我们要乘水上飞机。"

　　 Then the butler, behind his shoulder: “Philadelphia wants you on the ‘phone, sir.”

     接着男管家来了，在他身后道： "先生，费城来电找你。"

　　“All right, in a minute. Tell them I’ll be right there. . . . good night.”

     "好，等一会儿。告诉他们我就来。晚安。"

     “Good night.” “晚安。”

     “Good night.” He smiled—and suddenly there seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been among the last to go, as if he had desired it all the time. “Good night, old sport. . . . good night.”

   “晚安。”他微微一笑——突然间，我和最后一波客人的离去，好像多出一种令人愉快的深意，似乎这是他之前一直渴望的。“晚安，老兄……晚安。”

      But as I walked down the steps I saw that the evening was not quite over. Fifty feet from the door a dozen headlights illuminated a bizarre and tumultuous _{[嘈杂的;喧嚣的]}scene. In the ditch beside the road, right side up, but violently shorn of one wheel, rested a new coupe _{[双门小汽车]}which had left Gatsby’s drive not two minutes before. The sharp jut of a wall accounted for the detachment of the wheel, which was now getting considerable attention from half a dozen curious chauffeurs. However, as they had left their cars blocking the road, a harsh, discordant din from those in the rear had been audible for some time, and added to the already violent confusion of the scene.

      可是，当我走下台阶时，我看到这个夜晚还没有完全结束。离大门五十英尺，十几辆汽车的前灯照出了一幅奇异又混乱的景象。在路旁的小沟里，右侧往上的地方，栽了一辆新的小轿车，一只轮子被撞掉了。这辆车离开盖茨比的车道还不到两分钟，一堵墙的凸出部分把车轮撞坏的。现在有六个好奇的司机在查看，可是，他们下车后，车把路给堵住了，后面车子上的司机已经按了好久喇叭，刺耳的声音给已经非常混乱的现场又添了一丝喧嚣。

　　A man in a long duster had dismounted from the wreck and now stood in the middle of the road, looking from the car to the tire and from the tire to the observers in a pleasant, puzzled way.

    一个穿着长风衣的男人已经从撞坏的车子里下来，此刻站在路中央，从车身看到轮胎，又从轮胎看到围观的人，神情愉悦又迷惑。

　“See!” he explained. “It went in the ditch.”

     “看啊！”他还做起了解说，“它开进沟里了。”

　   The fact was infinitely astonishing to him, and I recognized first the unusual quality of wonder, and then the man—it was the late patron[常客] of Gatsby’s library.

    这事使他感到不胜惊奇。我先听出了那不一般的惊奇语气，然后认出了这个人--就是早先在盖茨比图书室的那位猫头鹰眼镜男。

　　“How’d it happen?”

     "怎么搞的？"

　　He shrugged his shoulders.

     他耸了耸肩。

　“I know nothing whatever about mechanics,” he said decisively.              "我对机械一窍不通。"他肯定地说。

　“But how did it happen? Did you run into the wall?” “Don’t ask me,” said Owl Eyes, washing his hands of the whole matter. “I know very little about driving—next to nothing. It happened, and that’s all I know.”

     "到底怎么搞的？你撞到墙上去了吗？"      “别问我。”猫头鹰眼镜男说，把整件事撇得一干二净。"我不大懂开车, 几乎一无所知。事情就这么发生了，我就知道这个。"

　“Well, if you’re a poor driver you oughtn’t to try driving at night.”

     "既然你驾驶技术欠缺，那么你晚上就不应当试着开车嘛。"

　“But I wasn’t even trying,” he explained indignantly, “I wasn’t even trying.” 

      "可是我连试也没试，"他愤愤不平地解释，"我连试也没试啊。"

        An awed hush fell upon the bystanders.

       围观的人都惊得说不出话来。

　“Do you want to commit suicide?”

     "你想自杀吗？"

　　“You’re lucky it was just a wheel! A bad driver and not even TRYing!”

     "幸亏只是撞掉了个轮子！车开得不好，还连试都不试！"“

    “You don’t understand,” explained the criminal. “I wasn’t driving. There’s another man in the car.”

    "你们不明白，"罪人解释说，"我没有开车。车子里还有一个人。"

　　The shock that followed this declaration found voice in a sustained “Ah-h-h!” as the door of the coupe swung slowly open. The crowd—it was now a crowd—stepped back involuntarily, and when the door had opened wide there was a ghostly pause. Then, very gradually, part by part, a pale, dangling individual stepped out of the wreck, pawing tentatively at the ground with a large uncertain dancing shoe.

      这句声明震惊了大家，都连连发出"噢……啊……啊！"同时那辆小轿车的门也慢慢悠悠地晃荡开了。人群--此刻已经是一大群了--不由得向后一退，等到车门敞开以后，又有一阵恐怖的寂静。。然后，一步一步地，一点一点地，一个脸色煞白、摇摇晃晃的人从搞坏了的汽车里跨了出来，伸出一只大舞鞋在地面上试探了几下。

　  Blinded by the glare of the headlights and confused by the incessant groaning of the horns, the apparition stood swaying for a moment before he perceived the man in the duster.

      这位幽灵被汽车前灯的亮光晃了眼，又被不绝于耳的车喇叭声吵得发懵，站在那里摇晃了一会儿才认出那个穿风衣的人。

   “Wha’s matter?” he inquired calmly. “Did we run outa gas?”

     "怎么啦？"他镇静地问道，"咱们没汽油了吗？"

　“Look!”

     "你瞧！"

　   Half a dozen fingers pointed at the amputated wheel—he stared at it for a moment, and then looked upward as though he suspected that it had dropped from the sky.

      六个人用手指指着那个被撞掉的轮子--他盯了它一会儿，然后抬头向上看，仿佛他怀疑轮子是从天上掉下来的。

    “It came off,” some one explained.

     "轮子掉下来了。"有一个人解释说。

　　He nodded.

      他点点头。

　“At first I din’ notice we’d stopped.”

     "起先我还没发现咱们停下来了。"

　　A pause. Then, taking a long breath and straightening his shoulders, he remarked in a determined voice:

       他顿了顿，然后深深地吸了口气，挺直了肩膀，干脆决断地说：

    “Wonder’ff tell me where there’s a gas’line station?”

    “不知道哪位能告诉我，哪里有加油站？”

   　At least a dozen men, some of them little better off than he was, explained to him that wheel and car were no longer joined by any physical bond.

       至少有五六个人，其中比他稍微清醒的，解释给他听，轮子和车子之间已经没有任何物理性的结合了。

    “Back out,” he suggested after a moment. “Put her in reverse.”

     "倒车，"过了一会儿他又出点子，"把车倒回去。"

　“But the WHEEL’S off!”

     "可是轮子掉啦！"

　   He hesitated.

     他迟疑了一会儿。

　“No harm in trying,” he said.

     "试试也无妨嘛。"他说。

　　The caterwauling[尖声怪叫] horns had reached a crescendo and I turned away and cut across the lawn toward home. I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby’s house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.

      汽车喇叭的尖声怪叫达到了高潮，于是我掉转身，从草坪上抄近路回家。我回头望了一眼。一轮圆月闪耀在盖茨比的豪宅上空，使夜色一如既往的美好。明月依旧，而欢声笑语已经从仍然光辉灿烂的花园里消失了。一阵突如其来的空虚，似乎从那长窗大门之内涌动而出，将男主人孤身立于门廊的身影，衬得格外孤独。他抬起一手，做了一个正式告别的手势。

　　Reading over what I have written so far, I see I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me. On the contrary, they were merely casual events in a crowded summer, and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs.

     通读一遍以上所写的，发现自己给人留下的印象，是我被这三个相隔数周的夜晚所发生的事情全然迷住了。恰恰相反，它们只不过是一个繁忙夏季当中的一些调剂，而且很久以后，它们对我的吸引力就远不如我自己的私事。