了不起的盖茨比（诚实的尼克）

    It was on that same house party that we had a curious conversation about driving a car. It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender _[挡泥板]flicked_[轻拂] a button on one man’s coat.

    还是在那次别墅聚会上，我们俩奇怪地聊起了开车这个话题。起因是她开车从几个工人旁边擦身而过，实在挨得太近，结果挡泥板碰触到了一个工人的外套纽扣。

　 “You’re a rotten_[terrible] driver,” I protested. “Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn’t to drive at all.”

    "你是个糟糕的司机，"我抗议道，"你该再小心点儿，要不就干脆别开车。"

　　“I am careful.”

     "我够小心了。"

　　“No, you’re not.”

     "不，你不小心。"

　　“Well, other people are,” she said lightly.

     "没什么，反正别人小心就行了。"她轻巧地说。

　　“What’s that got to do with it?”

     "这跟你开车有什么关系？"

　　“They’ll keep out of my way,” she insisted. “It takes two to make an accident.”

     "他们会让道的，"她固执地说，"交通事故这种事，一个巴掌拍不响的。"

　　“Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.”

     "假定你碰到一个像你一样粗心大意的人呢？" 

　　“I hope I never will,” she answered. “I hate careless people. That’s why I like you.”

     "那我希望永远别碰到，"她答道，"我讨厌不小心的人。尼克，这就是我喜欢你的原因。"

  Her gray, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her. But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires, and I knew that first I had to get myself definitely out of that tangle back home. I’d been writing letters once a week and signing them: “Love, Nick,” and all I could think of was how, when that certain girl played tennis, a faint mustache_[汗毛] of perspiration_[汗水] appeared on her upper lip. Nevertheless there was a vague understanding that had to be tactfully _[圆通地]broken off before I was free.

[tangle: (思想、局势变得)纷乱，混乱 If ideas or situations are tangled, they become confused and complicated.——摘自科林斯词典]

    她那双灰色的、被太阳照得眯紧的眼睛直直地盯着前方，但她故意地改变了我们的关系，因而有那么一瞬间，我感觉我似乎爱上了她。可惜我思想迟钝，内心里还守着一些清规戒律，这特质使我对我的情欲能像刹车一样刹住，何况我也清楚我得先完全摆脱家乡的那段纠葛。我一直每周写一封信并且签上"爱你，尼克"，而我能想到的只是她打网球时上唇上挂着的胡子一样的一溜汗珠。不过我和她之间确实有过一种暧昧的默契，这必须先巧妙地解除，我才能自由。

　　Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal_{[最重要的；基本的]} virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.

    每个人都认为自己至少有一种基本的美德，而这就是我的：我所认识的诚实的人极少，而我自己就是其中的一个。