了不起的盖茨比（克里普斯普林格弹琴）

导读：克里普斯普林格只是吃白食，似乎几乎住在盖茨比的豪宅里，花盖茨比的钱，却毫无感恩之心。盖茨比一死，克利普斯普林格就消失了，他不仅没有参加葬礼，还毫无羞耻地打电话给尼克，说他把一双网球鞋留在盖茨比的豪宅里。

    I began to walk about the room, examining various indefinite objects in the half darkness. A large photograph of an elderly man in yachting costume attracted me, hung on the wall over his desk.

    我开始在屋子到处走走，在昏暗的光线中察看各种各样模糊不清的摆饰。一张大相片吸引了我的注意，那是一个身穿游艇服的老先生，相片挂在他书桌前的墙上。

　　“Who’s this?”

     "这是谁？"

　　“That? That’s Mr. Dan Cody, old sport.”

     "那个？那是丹·科迪先生，老兄。"

　　The name sounded faintly familiar.

    那名字听着有点耳熟。

　　“He’s dead now. He used to be my best friend years ago.”

     "他已经过世了。很多年前他曾是我最好的朋友。"

    There was a small picture of Gatsby, also in yachting costume, on the bureau—Gatsby with his head thrown back defiantly—taken apparently when he was about eighteen.

Defiant：  违抗的;蔑视的;挑战的;不服的。

    五斗橱上有一张盖茨比本人的小照片，也是穿着游艇服的--盖茨比昂着头，一副桀骜不驯的样子--显然是十八岁左右照的。

   “I adore it,” exclaimed Daisy. “The pompadour! You never told me you had a pompadour—or a yacht.”

pompadour：蓬巴杜头是一种以法国国王路易十五的情妇蓬帕杜夫人（1721-1764）命名的发型。指将大量头发从面部向上扫起，并高高挂在额头上，有时也会在两侧和背部上翘。尽管有这个名字，但这个发型和蓬帕杜夫人的发型毫无共同之处，她把头发往后梳而不是往上梳，头顶没有多余的卷发。这个名字是在20世纪创造的。

     "我好喜欢这张相片，"黛西嚷嚷道，"这个蓬巴杜发型！你从来没告诉我你留过蓬巴杜发型，也没告诉我你有一艘游艇。"

　　“Look at this,” said Gatsby quickly. “Here’s a lot of clippings—about you.”

     "来看这个，"盖茨比连忙说，"这里有好多剪报--都是关于你的"

　　They stood side by side examining it. I was going to ask to see the rubies when the phone rang, and Gatsby took up the receiver.

    他们俩并肩站着细看那些剪报。我正想要求看看那些红宝石，电话忽然响了，盖茨比就拿起了听筒。

　　“Yes. . . . well, I can’t talk now. . . . I can’t talk now, old sport. . . . I said a SMALL town. . . . he must know what a small town is. . . . well, he’s no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town. . . .”

     "是的……那个，我现在不方便谈……真的不方便谈，老兄……我说的是一个小镇……他一定知道什么是小镇……得啦，他对我们没什么用处，如果连底特律都被他认为是小镇的话……"

　　He rang off.

    他挂了电话。

　“Come here QUICK!” cried Daisy at the window.

     "到这儿来，快！"黛西在窗口喊道。

　　The rain was still falling, but the darkness had parted in the west, and there was a pink and golden billow of foamy clouds above the sea.

    雨还在下，可是西方的乌云已经散开，海湾上空翻腾着粉红色和金色的云霞。

　　“Look at that,” she whispered, and then after a moment: “I’d like to just get one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around.”

     "瞧那个，"她低声道，顿了一会儿又说，"我真想采一朵那粉红色的云彩，把你放在上面，推着你到处走。"

　　I tried to go then, but they wouldn’t hear of it; perhaps my presence made them feel more satisfactorily alone.

    我这时欲走，谁知他们不依。也许有我在场他们更可以心安理得地待在一起。

　　“I know what we’ll do,” said Gatsby, “we’ll have Klipspringer play the piano.”

     "我知道我们该干点什么了，"盖茨比说，"我们让克利普斯普林杰弹钢琴。"

　　He went out of the room calling “Ewing!” and returned in a few minutes accompanied by an embarrassed, slightly worn young man, with shell-rimmed glasses and scanty blond hair. He was now decently clothed in a “sport shirt,” open at the neck, sneakers, and duck trousers of a nebulous hue.

    他走出屋子喊了一声"艾温"，又过了几分钟才回来，带来一个局促拘谨，略显憔悴的年轻人，一副玳瑁边眼镜，稀稀的金黄色头发。这会儿他倒是穿戴得体了，穿着一件敞领的运动衫、一双运动鞋和一条说不清颜色的粗布裤子。

　　“Did we interrupt your exercises?” inquired Daisy politely.

     "我们刚才打扰您做体操了吗？"黛西礼貌地问。

　　“I was asleep,” cried Mr. Klipspringer, in a spasm of embarrassment. “That is, I’d BEEN asleep. Then I got up. . . .”

     "我在睡觉，"克里普斯普林格先生叫道，表情一阵尴尬，“我是说……我本来‘一直’在睡觉。然后我起床了……”　　“Klipspringer plays the piano,” said Gatsby, cutting him off. “Don’t you, Ewing, old sport?”

     "克利普斯普林格会弹钢琴，"盖茨比打断了他，"是不是，艾温老兄？"

　　“I don’t play well. I don’t—I hardly play at all. I’m all out of prac——”

     "我弹得不好。我不会……没法弹。我好久没练……"

　　“We’ll go down-stairs,” interrupted Gatsby. He flipped a switch. The gray windows disappeared as the house glowed full of light.

     "我们到楼下去。"盖茨比打断了他的话。他拨了拨一个开关，灰暗的窗户就不见了，整个房子立刻大放光明。

　　In the music-room Gatsby turned on a solitary lamp beside the piano. He lit Daisy’s cigarette from a trembling match, and sat down with her on a couch far across the room, where there was no light save what the gleaming floor bounced in from the hall.

    在音乐厅里，盖茨比只开了钢琴旁边的一盏灯。他颤抖着用一根火柴为黛西点燃了香烟，然后和她一道坐在房间另一头的沙发上，，那里除了地板上从过道里反射过来的一点亮光之外没有其他光线。

　　When Klipspringer had played THE LOVE NEST. he turned around on the bench and searched unhappily for Gatsby in the gloom.

    克利普斯普林格弹完了《爱巢》之后，在凳上转过身来，满不高兴地在一室幽暗中寻找盖茨比的身影。。

　　“I’m all out of practice, you see. I told you I couldn’t play. I’m all out of prac——”

     "我都不练琴了，你看。我跟你说过我没法弹。我好久没弹了……"

　　“Don’t talk so much, old sport,” commanded Gatsby. “Play!”

     "别说那么多，老兄，"盖茨比命令道，"弹吧！"

     “IN THE MORNING,

       IN THE EVENING,

       AIN’T WE GOT FUN——”

      "每天早上，每天晚上，玩得欢快……"

　　Outside the wind was loud and there was a faint flow of thunder along the Sound. All the lights were going on in West Egg now; the electric trains, men-carrying, were plunging home through the rain from New York. It was the hour of a profound human change, and excitement was generating on the air.

    外面风刮得呼呼的，海湾沿岸隐约翻滚着一阵雷鸣电闪。此刻西卵所有的灯都亮了。电动火车满载归客，在雨中从纽约疾驰而来。这是人类发生深远变革的时刻，空气中洋溢着兴奋的情绪。

　　　　“ONE THING’S SURE AND NOTHING’S SURER

          THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET—CHILDREN.

          IN THE MEANTIME,

          IN BETWEEN TIME——”

"有件事千真万确，再没比它更确凿的事

　　　　　富人生财，而穷人—生孩子。

　　　　　在这时代，

　　　　　在这期间……"

 ” Ain't We Got Fun?”对及时行乐的渴望（"Every morning / Every evening," and "In the meantime, / In between time"）已经成为了咆哮的20年代的象征，并且出现在这十年的一些主要文学作品中，包括F.Scott Fitzgerald的《了不起的盖茨比》和Dorothy Parker在1929年获奖的短篇小说《金发碧眼》（Big Blonde）。这首歌还包含了“富人变得更富有，穷人变得更穷”（例如，用“孩子”代替“更穷”）这一短语的变体；尽管这一短语早于这首歌，但它的使用随着歌曲的流行而增加。

    As I went over to say good-by I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness. Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon whe Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.

Vitality：[vaɪˈtæləti] 生命力;活力;热情。

    我去道别之时，看到那种迷惘的神情又出现在盖茨比脸上，仿佛他有点怀疑他目前幸福的性质。几乎五年了！即使那天下午，也一定有某些时刻，黛西离他的梦想还有距离--并不是由于她本人的错，而是由于他的幻梦有强大的生命力，强大到超越了黛西，超越了一切。他以一种创造性的激情投入了这个幻梦，不断地添枝加叶，哪怕是从他身边飘过的一根炫丽羽毛，都会被他拿来装点修饰它。再多的激情或活力都比不上一个孤凄如幽魂的男人内心所能饱含的情思。

　　As I watched him he adjusted himself a little, visibly. His hand took hold of hers, and as she said something low in his ear he turned toward her with a rush of emotion. I think that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, feverish warmth, because it couldn’t be over-dreamed—that voice was a deathless song.

    我注视着他的时候，明显看得出来他调整了一下自己以适应眼前的现实。他伸手握住黛西的手。黛西在他耳边低声说了些什么，他便动情地转向她。我看最使他着迷的是她那婉转悠扬、情感炽热的声音，因为那是无论怎样幻想都不可能企及的--那声音是一曲永恒的歌。

　　They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby didn’t know me now at all. I looked once more at them and they looked back at me, remotely, possessed by intense life. Then I went out of the room and down the marble steps into the rain, leaving them there together.

   他们已经忘了我的存在，不过黛西还是抬眼瞥见了我，伸手想与我握别；而盖茨比此刻压根认不得我了。我又看了他俩一眼，他们也回看我，好像远在天涯，沉浸在激情四射的人生里。我随即走出屋子，走下大理石台阶，走进了雨里，留他们在那里享受二人世界。