了不起的盖茨比（乔丹向尼克转达盖茨比的约会请求）

　 “He wants to know,” continued Jordan, “if you’ll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over.”

     "他想知道，"乔丹继续说，"你肯不肯哪一天下午请黛西到你家，然后让他过来拜访。"

　　The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths—so that he could “come over.” some afternoon to a stranger’s garden.

这个微不足道的请求震惊了我。他居然等了五年，买了一座大厦，在那里把星光施与来来往往的飞蛾--竟然只为了能在某个下午“过去拜访”一个陌生人的花园"。

　　“Did I have to know all this before he could ask such a little thing?”

     "有必要让我知道所有的事情，然后他才能托我这点小事吗？"

　　“He’s afraid, he’s waited so long. He thought you might be offended. You see, he’s a regular tough underneath it all.”

     "他害怕，他已经等得太久了。他想你也许会觉得受冒犯。你看，他其实是非常刚正的。"

　　 Something worried me.

     我还是有点不安。

　 “Why didn’t he ask you to arrange a meeting?”

     "他为什么不请你安排一次见面呢？"

　 “He wants her to see his house,” she explained. “And your house is right next door.”

     "他要让她看看他的房子，"她解释道，"你的房子又正好在他隔壁。"

　　“Oh!”

     "哦！"

　　“I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night,” went on Jordan, “but she never did. Then he began asking people casually if they knew her, and I was the first one he found. It was that night he sent for me at his dance, and you should have heard the elaborate way he worked up to it. Of course, I immediately suggested a luncheon in New York—and I thought he’d go mad:

     "我想他之前是指望哪天晚上她会闲逛到他的宴会，"乔丹继续说，"但是她始终没有来过、后来他就开始有意无意地问人家是否认识她，而我就是他找到的第一个人。就是在舞会上他派人去请我的那一晚，你真该听听他是怎么煞费苦心铺垫了半天才进入正题的。我自然马上建议在纽约吃一顿午餐--结果我感觉他要抓狂了：

　　“‘I don’t want to do anything out of the way!’ he kept saying. ‘I want to see her right next door.’

  ‘我不想做任何偏离计划的事！'他一再说，'我只想在隔壁见见她。'“ 

    When I said you were a particular friend of Tom’s, he started to abandon the whole idea. He doesn’t know very much about Tom, though he says he’s read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name.”

   “后来我说你是汤姆很要好的朋友，他才开始放弃这整套计划。他对汤姆没什么了解，虽然他说他几年来一直在看芝加哥的一份报纸，就盼着能捕捉到黛西的名字。”

    It was dark now, and as we dipped under a little bridge I put my arm around Jordan’s golden shoulder and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner. Suddenly I wasn’t thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more, but of this clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism, and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm. A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: “There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.”

 jauntily：心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地。

   这时天黑了，当马车走到一座小桥下面时，我伸出胳臂搂住乔丹的金黄色肩膀，将她搂近，请她共进晚餐。忽然之间，我想的已经不是黛两和盖茨比，而是这个干净、强势又饱受限制的人，她对世间的一切都抱怀疑态度，此刻却又快活地仰倒在我的怀抱里。有句话在我耳边响起，鼓动起一种令人陶醉的兴奋："世界上只有被追求者和追求者，忙碌的人和疲倦的人。"

    “And Daisy ought to have something in her life,” murmured Jordan to me.

     "“黛西的人生也应当有点安慰。"乔丹喃喃地对我说。

　　“Does she want to see Gatsby?”

     "她想见盖茨比吗？"

　　“She’s not to know about it. Gatsby doesn’t want her to know. You’re just supposed to invite her to tea.”

     "她不能知道这件事，盖茨比不想她知道。你只是请她来喝茶就行了。"

     We passed a barrier of dark trees, and then the facade of Fifty-ninth Street, a block of delicate pale light, beamed down into the park. Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening my arms. Her wan, scornful mouth smiled, and so I drew her up again closer, this time to my face. Her wan8, scornful mouth smiled, and so I drew her up again closer, this time to my face.

 facade ：(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表

  wan ：苍白的;有倦容的

  disembodied：似脱离人而存在的;无实体的;脱离现实的.

    我们经过了一排黑黝黝的树，然后见到了五十九号街的高楼，一个街区的柔和灯光照到下面公园中来。我跟盖茨比和汤姆·布坎农不一样，还未痴迷到看见阴暗的屋檐和炫目的招牌就想起上面飘着她的倩影，于是我把身边这个女孩子拉得更近一点，同时胳臂搂得更紧。她那张苍白、轻藐的嘴嫣然一笑，于是我把她拉得更紧一点，直到贴着我的脸。